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scribe Winter 2002 - Volume 13, No. 1 |
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scribe Winter 2002 - Volume 13, No. 1 |
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current issue | past issues | alum notes | contact info | home |
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Articles
New Curriculum Addresses Aging and Geriatrics
Providing Answers About Viruses and Drug Resistance
Publication Shows Gene Programming is Coming Soon
Antacids May be More Important than Calcium in Osteoporosis Prevention
Congressman Rallies for Graduate Medical Education
Tracking Software Evaluates Students' Clinical Rotations
Prayer and Fellowship Promote Healthy Outcomes
Diabetes Program Participants See Sharp Drop in Risk Factors
Master's Degree Offered in Genetic Counseling
Influenza Vaccine Research Targets Large Capacity Virus
WSU School of Medicine Recognizes Excellence in Medical Student Research
In Memory of Professor Emeritus Maurice Bernstein
School Begins Multi-Million dollar Energy Savings Project
WSU Establishes Metabolic Research Center Dedicated to Diabetes/Obesity Research
Drug Delivery System Uses Liposomes to Treat Ocular Tumors
Medical Students Learn and Practice Professionsl Values
Leukemia Drug Gets Priority Approval
Psychiatry Students Awarded for Research
Lower Cardiovascular Risk is Added Benefit of Exercise
$5 Million Grant Partners WSU and Florida A&M for Environmental Health Research
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Drug Delivery System Uses Liposomes to Treat Ocular Tumors
Dr. Rod Braun is trying to design better treatments for ocular tumors, but he consistently faces two distinct problems. “First, we have to figure out how to get the drug through the blood vessel wall and into the tumor. Then, we have to figure out how to get the drug to penetrate deep into the tumor,” he says. “One way to try to do this is to encapsulate the drug in fat droplets, called liposomes. These liposomes cross the vessel wall and accumulate in the tumor, and they can be triggered to release their contents all at once.” Joining Wayne State University from Duke University Medical Center, Dr. Braun brings with him a National Institutes of Health/National Eye Institute grant to study “Roles of Nitric Oxide and Oxygen in Ocular Melanoma.” He is interested in blood flow in ocular tumors and looks specifically at blood supply in rat choroidal vessels. “By understanding blood flow in tumors, we may be able to design better treatments for them. If we can selectively increase tumor blood flow and concentrate drugs in targeted ways, we may be able to get more drug into the tumor, but limit the peripheral effects throughout the rest of the body,” said Dr. Braun. A chemical engineer by trade, Dr. Braun makes liposomes in the lab and uses them to carry drugs to targeted sites and to mark blood flow. As he begins to study drug delivery systems, his research may go in a number of directions, depending on results from his preliminary studies and collaborations. “These are exciting times,” Dr. Braun said. “I am excited to be starting a research program here.” Dr. Braun was named assistant professor of anatomy and cell biology in 2001 and has a dual appointment with the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute. Majoring in chemical engineering, he earned a bachelor’s degree from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Northwestern University in Illinois. Since 1998, Dr. Braun was an assistant professor of radiation oncology at Duke in North Carolina. |
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