Medicine

The personalized diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of cancer.

Depression is a major health problem that is often chronic or recurrent. Existing treatments have limited effectiveness, and are provided wihtout a clear indication that they will match a particular patient's needs. In this era of precision medicine, we strive to develop neurally-informed treatments for depression and related disorders.

We are interested in understanding the genetic basis for bacterial interactions with other organisms (be they plants, insects, fungi, other bacteria), and on how evolution shapes these interactions. By better understanding the rules and molecules that structure such relationships, we hope to develop new ways to manipulate these interactions (e.g. through the development of specific antimicrobial compounds) or shape their evolutionary dynamics through time.

I develop new optical imaging devices that can detect cancer at the earliest stage. Optics has the resolution and sensitivity to find these small, curable lesions, and we design the endoscope that provide access to organs inside the body. .

Unravel the phylodynamics and transmission-specific determinants of emerging plant virus/fastidious bacteria-insect vector complexes, and translate new knowledge to abate pathogen spread in food systems.

Peptides and proteins play a vital role in almost every cellular process in living organisms. Our research discovers and determines structural information on peptides and proteins to design drugs to more effectively treat human disease.

We aim to understand the mechanisms of HPV infection, the cellular responses to HPV infection, and how the interplay between host and virus influences the outcome

Dr. Connick is a physician scientist who has dedicated her career to the improvement of health of individuals living with or at risk for HIV-1 infection. Her research ranges from laboratory based investigations of HIV-1 immunopathogenesis to clinical and epidemiological studies of novel immunotherapies and other interventions to improve health outcomes in people living with HIV-1.

Approximately 795,000 Americans suffer a stroke each year, and 400,000 will experience long-term disability. The number of stroke survivors in the population is expected to double by 2025. Currently, treatments for stroke patients are limited to tissue plasminogen activator (TPA), but its use is limited to the first few hours after stroke. Therefore, the goal of our research is to develop new therapeutics that can promote repair and recovery in this rapidly growing population.

Janet Funk's work includes a focus on metastatic breast cancer that spans the research spectrum from bench to bedside, translational arthritis studies of the pharmacokinetics and safety of turmeric, and collaborative endocrinological studies evaluating the effects of obesity and insulin resistance on bone development in Hispanic girls, as well as effects of obesity on breast cancer risk in older women.

I examine the molecular functions of the different cells found in the tissues and organs of plants and animals and how they combine these functions to optimize the health and vigor of the organism.

Valley Fever (coccidioidomycosis) occurs more in Arizona than anywhere else. My research and others at the Valley Fever Center for Excellence involve understanding how disease is caused by infection, how the immune system stops or prevents illness, and how we can better diagnose, treat, or prevent this public health problem.

The Garcia laboratory works to understand the molecular mechanisms of lung inflammatory processes, particularly those producing lung edema or vascular leak. The laboratory focus is to investigate gene discovery, protein function assessment, SNP discovery, genetic manipulation, in vivo testing, and candidate gene and biomarker identification, working to translate basic research into potential novel clinical therapies.

Scott Going is an expert in models and methods for assessment of changes in body composition during growth, and with aging, and is currently investigating the effects of chronic exercise versus hormone replacement therapy on bone, soft tissue composition and muscle strength in postmenopausal women, as well as the role of exercise in obesity prevention in children.

Stefano Guerra's work includes an epidemiologic study, which used a household-based approach to assess prevalence and longitudinal changes in respiratory health. Other biomarker projects include a study on molecular biomarkers of asthma and COPD from the European Community Respiratory Health Survey.

Discovery of natural products from plants and their associated microorganisms as potential drugs to treat cancer. Application of medicinal chemistry approach for structure-activity relationship studies and to obtain compounds for preclinical evaluation. Development of alternative agricultural systems for sustainable utilization of natural resources.

We are involved in banking clinical specimens obtained from various patients for use in biomarker discovery and clinical therapies. Clinical therapies may include regenerative medicine, transplant or gene therapy.

The long-term goal of research in my lab is to understand the molecular mechanisms of muscle contraction. I am especially interested in how contractile proteins of muscle sarcomeres regulate the force and speed of contraction in the heart. The question is important from both basic science and clinical perspectives because mutations in sarcomere proteins of muscle are a leading cause of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in the young and a prevalent cause of heart failure in adults. Myosin binding protein-C (MyBP-C) is a muscle regulatory protein that speeds actomyosin cycling kinetics in response to adrenaline (b-adrenergic stimuli) and is one of the two most commonly affected proteins linked to HCM. Currently, the major research focus in my lab is understanding the mechanisms by which cMyBP-C regulates contractile speed and mechanisms by which mutations in cMyBP-C cause disease.

Our lab is focused on the development of novel peptides to inhibit this inflammatory cascade and improve brain blood flow. These peptides are designed to significantly improve serum half-life and penetrate the blood-brain-barrier. These peptides act to inhibit the inflammatory pathways at both the level of brain blood vessels and the brain itself.

Melanie Hingle's work focuses on understanding determinants of energy balance behaviors (i.e. how and why behaviors are initiated and sustained), and identifying contributors to the success of interventions (i.e. when, where, and how interventions should be delivered) are critical steps toward developing programs that effectively change behavior, thereby mitigating unhealthy weight gain and promoting optimal health. Current projects include: Determinants of metabolic risk, and amelioration of risk, in pediatric cancer survivors, Guided imagery intervention delivered via a mobile software application to increase healthy eating and physical activity in weight-concerned women smokers, and Family-focused diabetes prevention program delivered in partnership with the YMCA.

The Horton lab uses biophysical, biochemical, and molecular biology to study protein-DNA interactions and filament formation by enzymes. Current projects include the investigation of mechanisms of disease caused by the Human Parvovirus B19, and advantages of filament formation by enzymes such as the sequence specific DNA endonuclease SgrAI, and the important metabolic enzyme PFK.

Chengcheng Hu has worked on a broad range of areas including cancer, occupational health, HIV/AIDS, and aging. He has extensive collaborative research in conducting methodological research in the areas of survival analysis, longitudinal data, high-dimensional data, and measurement error. His current methodological interest, arising from studies of viral and human genetics and biomarkers, is to develop innovative methods to investigate the relationship between high-dimensional information and longitudinal outcomes or survival endpoints.

We seek to develop tools and strategies to expedite the understanding and treatment of the dengue virus. These advances will be transferable to other areas of virology and biochemistry. Along these lines, we are engaged in three core synergistic projects to answer the following questions: (1) Do unnatural metabolites incorporated into DENV serve as reporters for host-pathogen interactions? (2) What are the host-pathogen interactions in DENV that are targetable for diagnosis or treatment? (3) Is there a chemical reaction between two small molecules that reports on the interaction between DENV and host proteins?

Metals such as calcium and iron are essential to living organisms. Some metals in excess, like copper, are detrimental to bacteria. My laboratory studies this phenomenon in Streptococcus pneumoniae to find novels method for killing pathogenic bacteria.

We are developing low-cost in vivo microscopy devices that can visualize cellular details of human tissues in vivo and help disease diagnosis and treatment in low-resource settings, high-speed tissue microscopy technologies that can examine entire organ under risk of having malignant diseases and detect small, early-stage lesions, and miniature microscopy devices that have the potential to examine anatomically-challenging human organs and facilitate integration of microscopic imaging with other imaging modalities.

Augmenting immune responses to cancer. Reducing relapse and graft versus host disease after hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Chelsea Kidwell specializes in prevention and treatment of stroke. She has special interests in medical imaging and stroke as well as ethnic and racial disparities among stroke patients.

My research examines neural factors which affect language functions, and how these change across life-span and are influenced by stroke, brain injury and neurodegenerative disorders. In my work, I use combination of cognitive measures and multimodal neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, EEG/ERPs, MEG). I am also interested in recovery of function, and treatment approaches involving speech-language therapy in combination with noninvasive brain stimulation techniques.

I use human genetic data to find associations of genetic markers with complex traits and diseases, to shed light on disease pathophysiology, causal pathways, and health disparities, and to inform precision medicine.

We study how a common intracellular parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, persists in, and potentially changes, the mammalian brain. Understanding the Toxoplasma-brain interaction offers the opportunity to develop better therapies to treat toxoplasmosis as well as giving new insights into how to manipulate the brain immune response which has been implicated in many neurodegenerative diseases.

Michael Kuhns' research program is focused on (i) increasing our basic understanding of how T cell fate decisions are made (e.g. development, activation, differentiation, effector functions), and (ii) increasing their working knowledge of how to manipulate these decisions to direct T cells towards a desired outcome, such as increasing responses to vaccines or tumors, preventing transplant rejection, or attenuating autoimmunity.

I develop mathematics of biomedical imaging. All modalities of tomography imaging rely heavily on mathematical algorithms for forming an image. I develop the theory and the algorithm enabling this technology.

We are interested in the effects of early life exposures to environmental toxicants on lung growth and development. We determine if the early life exposures leads to adult disease.

Julie Ledford's research focuses on respiratory disease, and genetic and molecular mechanisms of allergic airway diseases in children.

Jonathan Lifshitz's research questions primarily investigate traumatic brain injury as a disease process that dismantles, repairs and regenerates circuits in the brain. The underlying principle is that adaptive repair and regeneration fail, leaving a miswired brain and neurological impairments that decrease quality of life.

Kirsten Limesand's research program has its foundation in radiation-induced salivary gland dysfunction; mechanisms of damage, clinical prevention measures, and restoration therapies. They utilize a number of techniques including: genetically engineered mouse models, real-time RT/PCR, immunoblotting, immunohistochemistry, primary cultures, siRNA transfections, and procedures to quantitate salivary gland physiology and integrate this information in order to understand the complete system.

Our current research program use an integrative approach at the whole animal, isolated organ, cellular and molecular levels to investigate developmental adaptations in pancreatic β-cells and insulin sensitivity that result from early life risk factors, such as intrauterine growth restriction, and increase risk of glucose intolerance and Diabetes in later life.

Precise diagnosis and treatment of disease requires an ability to target agents to specific tissues and cell types within those tissues. We are developing agents that exhibit cell type specificity for these purposes.

We seek to produce new drugs that harness molecules produced during the natural immune response in order to treat cancer and pain. Such compounds may also provide new treatments for heart failure and alcoholism.

Dr. Parthasarathy has expertise in noninvasive home ventilation for sleep-related breathing disorders and invasive ventilation in critically ill patients. His major areas of focus have been in promoting adherence to nonivasive ventilation devices in the home setting and patient-ventilator interaction during critical illness. He serves as Chief of Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine at COM-T and as a Special Advisor to NH/NHLBI.

I analyze MRI images to understand more about how human language works. We use functional MRI to determine which brain regions are involved in different language tasks. We also look at diffusion MRI to learn about the quality of the wiring between regions.

Renquist Lab Research aims to address the causes and consequent diseases of obesity. To this end we have research focused on 1) type 2 diabetes and obesity associated hypertension, 2) development of effective, ligand-directed, chemotherapeutic for cancer, and 3) central nervous system control of visceral blood flow and food intake.

Our work seeks to develop novel approaches towards controlling mosquito-borne diseases. We are interested in better understanding the relationship between the mosquito vector and the pathogens they transmit. Through genetic engineering we hope to generate fit, pathogen resistant mosquitoes that could be used to control the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.

My laboratory aims to identify the genetic and environmental reasons that certain individuals are predisposed to develop complex diseases like heart disease. We use new technologies, experimental, and computational approaches to identify molecular patterns indicative of disease predisposition.

We use integrative omics, physiological human imaging and human iPSC-based microphysiological systems to elucidate the science of nutrient-responsive sensing and signaling processes with the aim of rationally applying this knowledge in development of effective personalized interventions. My topical expertise is in age-related macular degeneration and nutrition. My research teams have a central interest in mitochondrial physiology as a target system.

We are studying how tumor cells escape immunosurveillance, a hallmark of cancer, in aggressive lymphomas. MHCII is a protein important for immunosurveillance. We are studying the underlying mechanisms of altered regulation of MHCII in lymphoma cells and its effects on tumor immunosurveillance.

How do bacteria "talk" to the body? How does the body reply to the microbe? How does this conversation affect your health and well being?

Our research efforts focus on bacteria that cause serious healthcare-associated infections, and those associated with antibiotic use. This infections disproportiOur federally-funded research focuses on infection prevention. Specifically, we study diseases such as Clostridium difficile Infection that affect populations worldwide ("One-Health" issue). Our current efforts are aimed at translating bench-research findings to the bedside. We have recently been awarded two patents for a novel biologic agent invention aimed at preventing bacterial infections in humans as well as food animals.onately affect the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems. One overarching goal of our studies is to develop safe, cost-effective, non-antibiotic interventions to prevent and treat bacterial diarrheas.

Around the world, diarrhea kills ninety children every hour. My laboratory uses the latest technology to understand how bacteria cause diarrhea in children. In addition to providing clues for new ways to prevent disease, our research helps us understand how the body maintains good health.

Francesca Vitali, PhD, research interests are in precision medicine, bioinformatics, artificial intelligence and big data techniques.

We are working to uncover the molecular mechanisms of aging and neurodegenerative diseases using a combination of genetic, computational and pharmacological tools, and a diverse array of experimental models. We also seek to develop therapies for ALS and related neurodegenerative diseases.

Our research approaches apply a combination of advances in nanoscience, molecular biology and omics to a new generation of biological tools and sensors based on nano and microscale technologies for breakthrough applications in healthcare delivery.