The Department of Basic Medical Sciences encompasses molecular
to whole animal approaches and generally emphasizes molecular
processes in development as applied to growth, differentiation,
regeneration, and oncogenesis.
Model systems are employed to investigate both animal and
human disease, as well as biomedical engineering.
Current research programs involve: signal transduction in
development and oncogenesis, cell adhesion molecules in development
and oncogenesis; growth factors in musculoskeletal development;
ovarian follicle development; neural regeneration; implantable
therapeutic or diagnostic devices, and application of computers
in veterinary and medical education.
Research facilities and equipment are excellent and include:
state-of-the-art cell culture, electron and confocal microscopy,
flow cytometry, microspectrofluorometry, image analysis, patch-clamp
station, and HPLC systems, as well as a highly integrated
computer network. |
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Dr.
Paul Robinson
The Robinson lab studies microvascular function, tissue
injury, and wound healing. Current projects are related to
alterations in immune functions after tissue injury, as well
as studies on the effects of toxic chemicals on immune function
of neutrophils and monocytes. Particular interests are in
flow cytometry, confocal microscopy, as well as the Biomedical
engineering components of high technology research tools.
In addition, the development of multimedia tools for educational
purposes is also explored.
Dr.
Kevin Hannon
Musculoskeletal atrophy, the decrease in size and strength
of muscle, bone and connective tissue, is a sequela of many
different diseases and states (e.g. aging, cancer, heart disease
and stroke) as well as prolonged illness requiring bed rest.
This atrophy progressively robs a person of his/her ambulatory
function, thereby markedly diminishing the quality of life
of millions of Americans each year. Age-associated musculoskeletal
atrophy often necessitates costly nursing care, and disease-associated
atrophy increases hospitalization time and extends requirements
for regenerative therapy. Thus, in addition to quality of
life issues, musculoskeletal atrophy is an important factor
that drives up the cost of medical care. Our group's long-range
goal is to discover potential treatments to prevent or reverse
musculoskeletal atrophy. One approach our group has taken
to treat atrophy is by gene therapy, as we have found that
electroporation and ectopic expression of anabolic growth
factors such as IGF-I and Shh within
the gastrocnemius muscle significantly attenuated the lost
of muscle fiber area, muscle mass and muscle mass density
that normally occurs during disuse muscle atrophy. |
 Dr.
Paul Robinson of the BMS department has published a paper
that has a citation index (Thompson (ISI)) placing it in
the top 1% in its field: link
to the article.
 Dr. Susan Mendrysa
joined the BMS department October 1st, 2005. She
has come as an Assistant Professor of Basic Medical Sciences.
She was formerly a post-doctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington where she
took an integrated genetic-genomic approach combining
mice with retroviral insertional mutagenesis in order
to identify new oncogenes involved in cancer. Through
these studies she has identified two new oncogenes that
promote B cell lymphomagenesis in cooperation with c-Myc,
a gene frequently deregulated in human cancer. In addition
she has identified over 30 loci that are also predicted
to harbor new cellular oncogenes. Her current research
is focused on harnessing the power of mouse genetics to
understand how the signaling pathways in which these oncogenes
are involved contribute to the development of B cell lymphoma.
Dr. James Leary joined the BMS department
on July 1, 2005. He has come as a Professor of Basic
Medical Sciences (75%) and as a Professor of Biomedical Engineering
(25%). He was formerly a Professor of Internal Medicine,
Pathology, Biophysics, Microbiology and Immunology, and Human
Biological Chemistry and Genetics at the University of Texas
Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston. He also served as
Assistant Director of the Biomedical Engineering Center and
is an Affiliated Senior Scientist in the Sealy Centers for
Molecular Sciences, Structural Biology, Cancer Biology, Vaccine
Development and the Program in Bioinformatics. In addition,
he taught in several graduate programs at the UTMB and the
University of Rochester where he did his pioneering work on
high-speed flow cytometry technologies, rare-event mathematical
modeling, and single-cell molecular biology. Dr. Leary
will be involved in the Birck Nanotechnology Center and the
Bindley Bioscience Center in addition to his roles in the
two departments. His current funded research spans three
general areas: (1) engineering of new high-throughput
cell separation technologies, including bio-mems microfluidic
devices, (2) microgenomics and cell/tissue engineering of
adult human stem cells, and (3) engineering of integrated,
"smart" bionanosystems for nanomedicine.
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