Molecular Biomedial Engineering Research Overview

Brink, Peter R.

Professor and Chair, Physiology & Biophysics

Peter.Brink@sunysb.edu

Summary : Biophysical properties of gap junction properties.

Chen, Weiliam

Associate Professor

Weiliam.Chen@sunysb.edu

Summary : Our research is focused on the application of biocompatible/biodegradable natural carbohydrates to address various clinically relevant biomedical problems including wound repair, cerebral aneurysm, arteriovenous malformation, abdominal aortic aneurysm endoleak and controlled delivery of therapeutic agents (small molecules, proteins and DNA) through interdisciplinary research efforts. Localized application provides the maximum efficacies of therapeutic agents while minimizing their undesirable effects. Other efforts are targeted towards ophthalmic issues and enhancing the biological responses of polymeric medical devices.

Clark, Richard

Professor

Richard.Clark@SUNYSB.EDU

Summary : Our laboratory focuses on the design and development of bioactive peptides and 3-D complex extracellular matrices (ECM) that will enhance soft tissue repair and regeneration. Peptides are assayed for biologic activity in vitro and in vivo for their ability to protect tissue cells and organs from injury, stimulate tissue cell migration and proliferation, and modulate stem cell and tissue cell differentiation. The ECM constructs tethered with bioactive peptides are analyzed for their physical, chemical and immunologic properties by such modalities as goniometry for hydrophilicity, static and dynamic stress and strain for viscolastic material properties, atomic force microscopy for Young’s elastic moduli and surface topography; HPLC, mass spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography and gel electrophoresis for chemical analysis; and fluorescence immunoassays for immunologic epitope mapping. In addition, cell interactions with the 3-D ECM constructs are examined at the transcriptional, protein and functional level as judged by real-time PCR, DNA microarray analyses, Western blots, proteomics, quantitative fluorescence microscopy, and cell viability, migration and proliferation assays. Special in vitro systems have been created to quantify sprout angiogenesis, epithelial sheet migration and neurite axon extension. Bioactive peptides and engineered ECM containing peptide biomimetics will also be tested in a variety of animal models and hopefully enter into clinical trials. This robust array of bioactive peptides and 3-D ECM constructs will provide new therapies for soft tissue injury and disease.

Cohen, Ira S.

Professor

icohen@notes.cc.sunysb.edu

Summary : Electrophysiology of the heart; synaptic physiology.

Dhundale, Anil

Research Assistant Professor

Anil.Dhundale@sunysb.edu

Summary : My interests are in commercialization of technology, i.e.- translating research discoveries into useable commercial products. These products can be therapeutics to treat disease, diagnostics for identifying or classifying disease, or tools for researchers to use. But in addition all technology based products include Information Technologies, Clean/Alternative Energy, etc. Currently I manage the Stony Brook Technology Business Incubators Program from an office at the Long Island High Technology Incubator (www.LIHTI.org). This position is to assist academic researchers to start companies and mentor established small technology businesses, all with a goal to translate discoveries into novel products and services. The Stony Brook campus and our partner research institutions on Long Island have a long established, highly successful, culture of invention. There is also an extensive Economic Development network (http://www.sunysb.edu/ecodev/) with many individuals that have and continue to guide a broad range of technologies from discovery through development. Our goal for economic development is to create and retain high technology jobs and have positive economic impact in the Long Island region.

Entcheva, Emilia

Associate Professor

Emilia.Entcheva@sunysb.edu

Summary : The focus of the Cardiac Cell Engineering Laboratory is designing and characterizing heart cell networks and heart tissue in the lab to gain a better understanding of how cardiac cells self-organize and function. We are motivated to provide useful tools for physiomics type of studies, drug, gene and stem cell therapy testing 3D cellular platforms - an experimental setting for validation of computer models of excitable tissue, and ultimately to contribute to strategies for the regeneration of the heart. This research is multidisciplinary in nature and involves a spectrum of experimental molecular and cell biology procedures, along with the application of design concepts from electrical, optical, mechanical and chemical engineering to create the enabling technology for our studies. New imaging modalities, image processing algorithms and computer modeling are essential complementary tools developed and applied by our team. Key research areas include: 1) optical mapping of excitation; 2) advanced signal and imageprocessing; 3) cardiac cell and tissue engineering; 4) unraveling the mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias.

Frame, Molly

Associate Professor & Undergraduate Program Director

Mary.Frame@sunysb.edu

Summary : " Our emerging understanding of oxygen delivery to the tissues is that the blood flow within the smallest arterioles is tightly organized within repeating networks across the tissue. Central to this new paradigm are the concepts of vascular communication between the beginning and end of the network (via gap junctions), and its relation to flow sensing by the vascular endothelium. Our work has shown that different types of microvascular flow patterns can be triggered by direct stimulation of the focal adhesions (alpha-v-beta-3 integrins, i.e., wound healing), compared to adenosine (i.e., metabolic change), compared to nitric oxide (i.e., inflammation), hence we can control the flow patterns. Among the goals of this work are in vitro construction of transplantable microvascular networks, using bionanotechnology to create the sturdy scaffolding, and verification of nanofabricated drug delivery units within the vasculature. To this end, equally important are mechanotransduction of the physical forces associated with flow change (i.e., wall shear stress), the pharmacologic signal transduction systems involved (which guide drug discovery and intervention), and the molecular basis for the committed step that ensures healthy flow delivery. Our work employs computational modeling of the fluid mechanics, the physiology of arteriolar network blood flow (in vivo and in vitro), and precise genomic manipulation of key proteins in healthy and vascular disease states. "

Hadjiargyrou, Michael

Associate Professor

Michael.Hadjiargyrou@sunysb.edu

Summary : The overall goal of this laboratory is to implement innovative approaches for engineering new musculoskeletal tissue utilizing knowledge derived from molecular/cellular biology and biomaterials. More specifically, we are actively involved in understanding the molecular mechanisms that underlie the wound healing process. The repair of a fractured bone is a complex biological event that essentially recapitulates embryonic development and requires the orchestration of a number of different cell types undergoing proliferation, migration, adhesion and differentiation, all under the direct control of a host of different genes. Understanding the temporal and spatial expression of these genes during the progression of a healing callus will ultimately enable us to comprehend the essential processes of inflammation, chondrogenesis, ossification, and remodeling. The latest methods in molecular/cellular biology are applied in the pursuit of gene discovery, gene structure and function analysis, expression studies and functional perturbations. By identifying and studying genes that play essential roles during the healing process, we hypothesize that this knowledge will facilitate a greater understanding in our ability to elucidate the process of bone development and regeneration and identify ideal gene candidates for possible therapeutic intervention via the use of biomaterials.

Hainfeld, James F.

hainfeld@bnl.gov

Summary : James Hainfeld develops organometallic cluster compounds to be used as high resolution molecular labels. These heavy metal clusters are covalently attached to peptides, antibodies, other proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates or lipids to map sites of macromolecules or complexes for visualization in the Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM). Such clusters have been useful in studying the proteasome, pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme complex, actin filaments, viruses, blood clotting components, nuclear proteins, and other structures. Use of clusters in anomalous X-ray scattering or for isomorphous replacements is being investigated also. Gold, platinum, palladium, silver, iridium, and other metal clusters have been synthesized. Recently, gold clusters having Nickel-NTA for binding 6x-His tagged proteins, gold-liposomes, gold-cluster-ATP, and giant platinum clusters have been studied. Dr. Hainfeld also founded Nanoprobes, Inc., a bio-nanotechnology biotech company, and serves as the CEO. Nanoprobes researches and develops organometallic nanoparticles for use in biomedical and material science applications. for more information see: www.biology.bnl.gov/stem/stem.html and www.nanoprobes.com

Hannon, Gregory J.

Howard Hughes Medical Institution Investigator

Gregory.Hannon@chsli.edu

Summary : Dr. Hannon received a B.A. degree in biochemistry and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Case Western Reserve University, where he trained in the laboratory of Tim Nilsen. From 1992 to 1995, he was a postdoctoral fellow of the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Research Fund in the laboratory of David Beach, where he explored cell cycle regulation in mammalian cells. Dr. Hannon, along with collaborators, was able to identify p21, p15 and p16. His work and that of others has linked each of these to major tumor suppressor pathways, with the two latter genes being tumor suppressors in their own right and p21 being a major effector of the p53 tumor suppressor. After becoming an Assistant Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in 1996 and a Pew Scholar in Biomedical Sciences in 1997, in 2000, he began to make seminal observations in the emerging field of RNA interference. His laboratory identified the effector complex of RNAi, which is called RISC, and showed that it contained small RNAs, now known as siRNAs, that were similar in size to those originally observed by David Baulcombe in his study of plants that were silencing transgenes by co-suppression. The origin of such small RNAs was revealed with his discovery of the Dicer enzyme; an RNAseIII family member that cleaves dsRNAs into discretely sized small RNAs that enter RISC. In 2002 Dr. Hannon accepted a position as Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory where he continued his studies to reveal that endogenous non-coding RNAs, then known as small temporal RNAs and now as microRNAs, enter the RNAi pathway through Dicer and direct RISC to regulate the expression of endogenous protein coding genes. In recognition of his research, Dr. Hannon was appointed to the Faculty of 1000, received the U.S. Army Breast Cancer Research Program’s Innovator Award and the American Association for Cancer Research’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research. He assumed his current position in 2005 and continues to explore the mechanisms and regulation of RNA interference as well as its applications to cancer research.

Judex, Stefan

Associate Professor

Stefan.Judex@sunysb.edu

Summary : Research in this laboratory focuses on the identification of precise parameters that define skeletal tissue quantity and quality and their perturbation to applied physical stimuli. To this end, state of the art imaging techniques (e.g., microCT or synchrotron infrared spectroscopy) are combined with molecular (e.g., RT-PCR), genetic (e.g., QTL), and engineering techniques (e.g., finite element modeling) to determine genes, molecules, forces, as well as chemical and structural matrix properties. An example for a recent study includes the demonstration that extremely small amplitude oscillatory motions (~ 100µm), inducing negligible deformation in the matrix, can serve as an anabolic stimulus to osteoblasts in vivo, producing a structure that is mechanical stronger and more efficient to withstand forces. Recent results also indicate that there is not only a genetic basis for bone architecture, but also that the sensitivity of bone tissue to both anabolic and catabolic stimuli is influenced by subtle genetic variations. The identification of the specific chromosomal regions that modulate this differential sensitivity is in progress. Clinically, our studies may lead to the development of effective prophylaxes and interventions for osteoporosis, without side-effects and tailored towards the genetic make-up of an individual.

Kolsky, Kathryn L.

Scientist

kolsky@bnl.gov

Summary : Kathryn Kolsky’s primary research interest is in the development and production of radioisotopes using the BLIP facility, a high-energy charged particle accelerator at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Many of these isotopes have applications in the field of Nuclear Medicine. Of current interest is the development of techniques for the production of no-carrier added tin-117m (an Auger emitter) for tumor therapy. Most malignant tumors express one or more receptor proteins that are absent or subdued in normal cells. Targeting such exclusive proteins with radionuclides to image or treat tumors is a very attractive approach. The targeting moiety most often is an analog of the natural ligand for the receptors. We are developing methods to synthesize Sn-117m labeled precursors that will selectively bind to the estrogen receptor on malignant breast carcinoma, while sparing the surrounding normal tissue.

McCombie, W. Richard

Associate Professor

mccombie@cshl.edu

Summary : Our lab is taking a proactive approach to the genome information explosion by developing databases, data-analysis tools, and user interfaces to organize, manage, and visualize that vast body of information. One current project is the development of a third-party annotation system for the Caenorhabditis elegans genome sequence. This system will allow researchers to add comments and observations to the C. elegans database and to conveniently view the annotations of others with a Web browser. The system uses the ACEDB database in conjunction with the Java and Perl interfaces that have been developed in our lab. A second project is the development of a genome informatics tool kit, a modular collection of database query tools, sequence-analysis programs, and user interfaces that will allow biologists to solve data-management problems without the assistance of a computer programmer.

Rubin, Clinton

Distinguished Professor & Chair

Clinton.Rubin@sunysb.edu

Summary : Encouraging results show that the application of extremely low level strains to animals and humans will increase bone formation, and thus may represent the much sought after "anabolic" stimulus in bone. More than 15 years of research into non-invasive, non-pharmacological intervention to control osteoporosis, was referenced in Dr. Rubin's paper published in the journal Nature (August 9, 2001; 412:603-604). Dr. Rubin's studies suggest that gentle vibrations on a regular basis will help strengthen the bones in osteoporosis sufferers and increase bone formation. In his study, adult female sheep treated with gentle vibration to their hind legs for 20 minutes daily showed almost 35% more bone density. Clinical trials have been completed on post-menopausal women, children with cerebral palsy, and young women with osteoporosis, all with encouraging results. In expanding the research platform into other physiologic systems, current work demonstrates that these low-level signals influence mesenchymal stem cell differentiation, such that their path to adipocytes is suppressed, and markedly reduces adipose tissue.

Sitharaman, Balaji

Assistant Professor

Balaji.Sitharaman@sunysb.edu

Summary : Our laboratory seeks to integrate advances in nanoscience and technology with the biological sciences and clinical medicine to achieve significant advances in simultaneous molecular diagnostics and therapeutics (theragnosis), drug delivery, and bioengineering. Towards these ends, our research interests involve a multidisciplinary approach for the development of functional (electronic, optical, magnetic, or structural) bionanosystems as contrast agents for molecular imaging, as carriers for drug delivery, and as structural scaffolds for tissue engineering. Our current projects capitalize on the unique properties of carbon nanobiomaterials to develop a) advanced contrast agents (CAs) for molecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), b) nanocomposites to improve the physical and biological (osteoconduction and osteoinduction) properties of polymer scaffolds for bone tissue engineering and c) non-viral vectors for gene transfection. We have exploited the potential of Gd-based carbon nanostructures: Gd@C60 metallofullerenes (gadofullerenes) and Gd@Ultrashort-tubes (gadonanotubes) as a new generation of advanced CAs for MRI and shown them to have efficacies up to 100 times greater than current clinical CAs. Our recent studies show that they are particularly well suited for passive (magnetic labels for cellular MRI) and active (pH sensitive probes for cancer detection) MRI-based Molecular Imaging. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been proposed as the ideal foundation for the next generation of materials due to their excellent mechanical properties. We have dispersed SWNTs and ultra short SWNTs into fumarate-based polymers to form nanocomposite scaffolds that exhibit mechanical properties far superior to the polymers alone and are osteoconductive as well osteoinductive. Our research work involves material synthesis techniques, physico-chemical characterization techniques, tissue culture and in vivo studies.

Strey, Helmut

Associate Professor & Graduate Program Director

Helmut.Strey@sunysb.edu

Summary : Nature's ability to assemble simple molecular building blocks into highly ordered materials, such as those found in cell membranes, cell nuclei, cytoskeleton, cartilage, or bone presents many fascinating and unanswered questions. We are interested in how to tune the interactions of water-soluble building blocks so as to induce their self-assembly into useful microstructures much needed for the next generation of controlled drug delivery, biosensors and DNA sequencing applications. In particular, we are working on long-range ordered polyelectrolyte-surfactant microemulsions that are used as templates for solid nanoporous materials using polymerization and/or cross-linking strategies. Such materials, because of their well-ordered porous structure, will allow more efficient molecular separation and drug delivery. In addition, we are developing biosensors that are based on biopolymer chiral liquid crystals and quantum dot colloidal crystals. In both cases the softness of the systems allows the induction of a strong optical response to external stimuli. Such sensors should be able to quantitatively detect and measure analyte concentrations at hormonal levels.

Thanos, Panayotis (Peter) K.

Assisant Professor

thanos@bnl.gov

Summary : "Gene therapy and dopaminergic mechanisms of alcohol and drug abuse Funded by NIDA, NIAAA and DOE # The role of dopamine and its receptors on alcohol, drug abuse and obesity using animal models (knockout mice, rats). -Developing gene therapy techniques for treatment of these addictions. -microPET imaging of the rodent brain treated with gene therapy -Correlating these findings with clinical studies on alcoholism, drug abuse and obesity)"

Tracey, Kevin

Director, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research

Summary : Systemic inflammation is an important process in the development of shock, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, stroke, and other diseases. Our research focuses on the roles of individual mediators of systemic inflammation, and their regulation by interactions between the brain and the innate immune system. Our discovery of the inflammatory action of TNF in non-malignant disease led directly to clinically approved treatments for rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. To discover new mediators of systemic inflammation, we screened products of endotoxin-stimulated macrophage cultures. This resulted in the discovery that HMG-1, a DNA binding protein that was widely studied for its intracellular roles, is a mediator of endotoxin lethality. In contrast to TNF and IL-1, which are released early after endotoxin exposure, HMG-1 is released late after exposure to endotoxin. Antibodies to HMG-1 completely protect mice from endotoxin lethality, even when treatment is delayed several hours. In critically ill patients, the highest serum HMG-1 levels exist in lethal cases, indicating that HMG-1 may be a therapeutic agent. Ongoing research addresses the mechanisms of HMG-1 toxicity and action, as well as the identification of signal transduction pathways.

Vazquez, Marcelo

Scientist

vazquez@bnl.gov

Summary : Because successful operations in space depend on the performance capabilities of astronauts, radiation-induced neurological damage could jeopardize the successful completion of mission requirements, as well as have long-term consequences on the health of astronauts. Thus, it is necessary to understand the nature of this risk in order to assess its seriousness and to develop countermeasures. Dr. Vazquez's has focus his research primarily in the study of the mechanisms of central nervous system (CNS) damage induced by space radiation using in vitro (neural stem cells and neurons) and in vivo models (mice). His research interest is the identification of the molecular, cellular and system responses as well as behavioral alterations induced by heavy ion exposures. His long-term research goals are the development and testing of radioprotectant compounds to be utilized humans exposed to ionizing radiation (astronauts, radiation workers, radiation therapy patients, etc.). In addition, Dr. Vazquez is interested in the short and long-term effects of space radiation on bone and the cardiovascular system using state-of-the-art imaging techniques as well as molecular and cellular methods. His work is supported by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) and the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA). He is also the Associate director of the NASA Space Radiation Summer School and the NASA/NSBRI Space Radiation Liaison Scientist.

Zhu, Wei

Professor

Zhu@ams.sunysb.edu

Summary : Wei Zhu is a biostatistician. Her major research areas are brain image analysis, design and analysis of clinical trials and other biomedical studies, and genetics modeling. In the brain image analysis area, she is collaborating with medical researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) to identify and quantify changes in brain functional relationships under drug influence. She is among the pioneers in applying the concept of multiple-objective optimal design to clinical trials and quantal dose-response experiments. In genetics, she is working on the analysis of gene microarray expression data to ascribe genes to various functional groups and to ascertain genes that are linked to certain diseases. She has experience with the analysis of large data sets on the scale of terabytes and is an affiliate of the BNL Center for Data Intensive Computing. In addition to her close collaboration with BNL, Wei Zhu has also worked with researchers at USB, the New York State Department of Health, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Merck Research Laboratories, and Veeco UPA in the past three years.