Recent Publications
The Anthony Lab studies homeostatic responses to changes in nutrient supply and environmental stress. Our experiments aim to identify dietary components and cellular processes that prevent and treat serious diseases and promote healthspan. Over the years my group has published numerous high impact publications which delineate mechanisms of metabolic and proteostasis control by diet, drugs, genetics and environmental stressors. These works have spanned many organ systems including endocrine, gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary, immune, lymphatic, muscular and the central nervous system. With respect to diet and nutrient supply, we study how amino acid insufficiency or imbalance alters tissue proteostasis in the whole animal. We use experimental models that alter amino acid availability and work to understand how altering the supply of amino acids, in total or individually, is sensed and communicated under different metabolic states. We also are interested in metabolic and molecular responses to exercise and the crosstalk between diet and physical activity. Current projects in the laboratory may be grouped into the following areas:
Alterations in amino acid availability and balance are sensed by overlapping signal transduction cascades. Two major signaling nodes responsive to amino acid supply in mammals are the: 1) Integrated Stress Response (ISR), also called the Amino Acid Response (AAR) and 2) mechanistic Target Of Rapamycin Complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway. While the mTORC1 pathway functions as a sensor of amino acid abundance to stimulate growth, the ISR/AAR is activated by amino acid deprivation to slow growth and instead favor cytoprotective and adaptive processes. How these signaling pathways work together to regulate gene-specific translation and promote cellular resilience is a major research focus of the lab. This project uses genetic strains of mice with targeted deficiencies in the ISR/AAR in combination of sophisticated molecular biology and stable isotope techniques to assess control of proteostasis and metabolism in tissues of mice.
Asparaginase is an important part of the remission induction regimen for treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common childhood cancer. The enzyme breaks down circulating asparagine and glutamine, creating a physiologically relevant model of amino acid deficiency. In leukemic cells which express very little asparagine synthetase (the enzyme that makes asparagine), asparaginase inflicts a lethal amino acid starvation. Yet for reasons not completely understood, cancer patients may unpredictably suffer severe complications, such as thromboembolism, liver failure and pancreatitis. Our lab was the first to report that phosphorylation of the translation factor, eIF2, by the amino acid sensor, GCN2, is activated by asparaginase. We were also the first to describe the ISR as the body’s first responder to asparaginase exposure. Since then we have gone on to show the impact of obesity and age on liver responses to asparaginase and we continue to use this agent as a research tool and study it to improve its efficacy to treat cancer and other diseases. This project utilizes a combination of biochemical, dietary, metabolic and molecular approaches in mice to identify mechanisms by which asparaginase causes metabolic complications and cell death. These results will be used to increase the safety and efficacy of asparaginase and to develop improved personalized approaches to the treatment of serious diseases.
Chemical, environmental or nutritional perturbations that disrupt homeostasis within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) activate a mechanism called the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR, also called the ER Stress Response). Phosphorylation of the translation factor eIF2 by PERK constitutes one arm of the UPR which serves to alleviate cell stress and re-establish homeostasis through a reprogramming of gene expression driven by the transcription factor ATF4. My laboratory is interested in exploring how the PERK-eIF2-ATF4 arm of the UPR contributes to the overall cellular effort to promote cellular adaptation and survival in response to a wide variety of environmental insults and proteotoxic stress agents.
The interface of dietary protein and exercise as it relates to optimization of lean body mass is a longstanding area of interest and study. Previous projects in the lab include identifying metabolic and transcriptional signatures in the muscle of exercised horses, and varying the composition, distribution, source and/or timing of dietary protein on mTORC1 signaling and protein synthesis in mice. Information gained in this area will be targeted to relevant populations to improve performance and promote recovery and resilience.
Martin J. Blaser holds the Henry Rutgers Chair of the Human Microbiome at Rutgers University, where he also serves as Professor of Medicine and Microbiology, and as Director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine. Previously, he served as Chair of the Department of Medicine at New York University. A physician and microbiologist, Dr. Blaser has been studying the relationships we have with our persistently colonizing bacteria. His work over 30 years focused on Campylobacter species and Helicobacter pylori, which also are model systems for understanding the interactions of residential bacteria with their hosts. Over the last 20 years, he has also been actively studying the relationship of the human microbiome with health and important diseases including asthma, obesity, diabetes, and cancer. Dr. Blaser has served as the advisor to many students, post-doctoral fellows, and junior faculty. He currently serves as Chair of the Presidential Advisory Council for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB). He holds 28 U.S. patents, and has authored over 600 original articles. He wrote Missing Microbes, a book targeted to general audiences, now translated into 20 languages.
Dr. Buckley’s Complete List of Publications (PDF)
Recent Publications
See complete list of Dr. Buckley’s publications in PubMed
Stephen Burley currently serves as Henry Rutgers Chair and University Professor, Founding Director of the Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine, and Director of the RCSB Protein Data Bank at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He is also a Member of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, where he Co-Leads the Cancer Pharmacology Research Program. Burley is an expert in structural biology, proteomics, bioinformatics, structure/fragment based drug discovery, and clinical medicine/oncology.
From 2008 to 2012, Burley was a Distinguished Lilly Research Scholar in Lilly Research Laboratories. Prior to joining Lilly, Burley served as the Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of SGX Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company that was acquired by Lilly in 2008. Until 2002, Burley was the Richard M. and Isabel P. Furlaud Professor at The Rockefeller University and an Investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
He has authored/coauthored more than 280 scholarly scientific articles. Following undergraduate training in applied mathematics and physics, Burley received an M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School in the joint Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program and, as a Rhodes Scholar, received a D.Phil. in Structural Biology from Oxford University. He trained in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and did post-doctoral work with Gregory A. Petsko at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Nobel Laureate William N. Lipscomb, Jr. at Harvard University. With William J. Rutter and others at the University of California San Francisco and Rockefeller, Burley co-founded Prospect Genomics, Inc., which was acquired by SGX in 2001. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the New York Academy of Sciences, and recipient of a Doctor of Science (Honoris causa) from his alma mater the University of Western Ontario.
Research Areas
The main interest in my laboratory is to study the molecular mechanisms of melanoma development using a line of transgenic mice (TG-3) generated in my lab several years ago. From mapping studies, we have determined that about 70 kb of host sequences have been deleted by the insertion of the transgene. The host DNA had been deleted from a region of mouse chromosome 10 which is syntenic to the long arm of human chromosome 6. This region of human chromosome 6 has been shown to be highly rearranged in a large number of human nonfamilial malignant melanomas. A combination of techniques were used to identify intron 3 of metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (Grm1) as the gene disrupted by the insertion of the transgene. The metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) belong to a family of seven transmembrane domain, G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). Expression of mGluRs is usually restricted to neuronal cells, but the signaling pathways activated by these receptors are widely distributed in both neural and non-neural cells. Mice with null mutations in Grm1 display reductions in hippocampal long term potentiation, and abnormalities of motor coordination and associative learning. In the TG-3 line, we showed that Grm1 is expressed only in ear tumors, but not normal ear as demonstrated by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, Western immunoblots, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. Co-localization of Grm1 and the melanocyte-marker Tyrp-1 was detected only in tumors and not in the normal counterparts. Based on these results, a new transgenic line was generated with targeted Grm1 expression to melanocytes, by using Grm1 cDNA under the melanocyte-specific Dct (dopachrome tautomerase) promoter. Founder of Dct-Grm1 exhibited melanotic tumors on the tail at 7.5 months of age. High levels of Grm1 expression were observed in tail tumors but not in normal tail. Histopathological analysis showed these tumors to be very similar to those of TG-3. These results provide the compelling evidence suggesting the improtance of Grm1 signaling in melanocytic neoplasia.
Together with Dr. J. Goydos at CINJ, we begin to explore the potential role of the aberrant expression of Grm1 in human melanoma development and progression. Our data on human melanoma biopsy samples (7/19) showed expression of Grm1. Grm1 expression was not detected in two benign nevi and one normal skin samples. Similar analyses were also done with 18 human melanoma cell lines, 12/18 of these cell lines showed Grm1 expression, these results were confirmed by immunofluorescence. Co-localization of Grm1 and Tyrp1 (a melanocyte-specific marker) was detected only in lines that also showed Grm1 expression.
Research Highlights
Scholarly Activities
Recent Publications
Gene and growth factor regulation of neurogenesis during mammalian brain development, with a focus on models of human neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, schizophrenia and environmental teratogens. One direction of research explores the roles of extracellular growth factors, such as IGF1, bFGF and PACAP, in regulating proliferation of neural precursors in cerebral cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum, working via cell cycle machinery, especially cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors. Another area of interest examines the effects of environmental teratogens, including methylmercury and neurotherapeutic valproic acid, on neural stem cell proliferation in prenatal cortex and postnatal hippocampus, defining effects on proliferation and programmed cell death, as well as neurogenesis and behavioral consequences. Finally, we are defining the roles of the autism-associated gene, Engrailed 2, in development of cerebellum and hindbrain, as well as secondary effects on forebrain structure and functions. These studies are performed in neural stem cell cultures, and in embryonic and postnatal rodent brains, altering growth factors, genes and microRNAs by using knock out technology, gene over/under expression methods (transfection, in utero electroporation) and pharmacological approaches with subsequent analyses of mRNAs, proteins, cell and tissue morphology and animal behaviors.
Dr. Furmanski’s background is in cancer molecular and cell biology, mechanisms of tumor progression, experimental therapeutics of cancer and other invasive/infectious processes, preclinical and human clinical trials. He has expertise in a number of areas, including pathogenesis of environmental toxin-induced disease, role of macrophages in inflammatory processes related to environmental exposures, health effects of nanoparticles, genetic and epigenetic regulation of cellular functions, among others. As a result of long service to the scientific community on a number of Editorial Boards, grant review committees, advisory boards, he is very active as a mentor for junior faculty and those newly moving into the field (as well as more senior members) in many aspects of the scientific and administrative process, including interactions with industry (big pharma, biotech, materials and devices).
Scholarly Activities
Recent Publications
Dr. Gallo is a Professor in the Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology, and a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences. Dr Gallo is an Adjunct Professor both in the School of Public Health and in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy of Rutgers University. He is a founding member of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute where he served as Director of Toxicology, and as Director of the NIEHS Center of Excellence. He was the founding Director of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Associate Dean for Research. Dr. Gallo is a renowned toxicologist with expertise in the area of dioxins and PCBs, experimental models in pharmacology and toxicology, cytoplasmic and cell surface receptors, hormone biology and mechanisms of hormonal and environmental carcinogenesis. His avocation is History of Toxicology. Dr. Gallo served on several NIH committees including the ALTOX-4 Study Section, Chair of the Board of Scientific Councilors of the National Toxicology Program, and member of the NIEHS Board of Councilors. He also served as Chair of the NCI Centers Review committee, as well as a member of several NAS/NRC Expert committees including Drinking Water and Health; Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children; Risk Assessment Methodology; and the National Research Council/Institute of Medicine Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research and Medicine. He served the US-EPA as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board, and the Dioxin Review Science Advisory Board. Dr. Gallo was Chair of the New Jersey Governor’s Pesticide Control Council, and the New Jersey Cancer Risk Commission. Dr. Gallo serves as a consultant to the academic, government and private sectors.
Research Areas
Dioxins; Experimental Models; Pharmacology and Toxicology; Ocular Toxicity; Cytoplasmic Receptors; Hormones; Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis; Cell Surface Receptors; and Chemical Carcinogenesis
Scholarly Activities
Recent Publications
Research Areas
Mechanisms of hepatotoxicity caused by lipopolysaccharide or acetaminophen, including cellular and molecular effects on isolated hepatocytes, liver macrophages and endothelial cells; characterization of subpopulations of liver macrophages and endothelial following toxicant injury; modulating the immune response to hepatotoxicants to modify liver injury by using knockout mice; and mechanisms of tissue repair following toxicant-induced injury.
Research Highlights
Recent Publications
Dr. Gordon received her BS in Chemistry (1973) and PhD. in the Rutgers-UMDNJ joint graduate program in Biochemistry in 1986. Dr. Gordon’s last year of graduate school was completed at Harvard Medical School in the Anatomy and Cell Biology Department, where she stayed to do post doctoral training. After a second post doctoral fellowship in the Anatomy and Cell Biology Department at Tufts Medical School she joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor, and remained there for 7 years. She came to the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy in 1998, and is presently an Associate Professor in the Pharmacology and Toxicology Department.
Dr. Gordon has been continuously funded by NIH since 1988. She teaches the PharmD students in their P1 and P2 years in the Pathophysiology and in Pharmacology I and II courses. She has served on the thesis committees of 31 graduate students, and in her laboratory she has trained 2 MD research residents, 8 medical and graduate students (2 from Tufts Medical School), 13 pharmacy students (including 2 honors research students), as well as 1 MIT and 9 Rutgers undergraduate students. She has been thesis advisor to 1 M.S. student and 3 Ph.D. students in the Joint Program in Toxicology.
Dr. Gordon has served on the editorial boards for Developmental Dynamics, Anatomical Record, and on the editorial board of Matrix Biology. She currently serves on the Anterior Eye Disease Study Section of the NIH. She has been very active in the American Association of Anatomists, serving this national society as an executive officer for 5 years.
Research Areas
Dr. Gordon’s research examines corneal development and functional integrity as it relates to extracellular matrix. Projects involve the contribution of diverse collagens to corneal transparency, how they facilitate the attachment of epithelial and stromal cell layers, and what role the molecules play in wound healing. Dr. Gordon is also interested in collagen pathologies, especially fibrosis, in other organs. These investigations examine how Fibril-Associated Collagens with Interrupted Triple helices (FACITs) play a role in normal and pathological assembly of fibrils in the lung, liver, umbilical arteries and fetal membranes. The laboratory has also studied the roles of 3 transmembranous molecules, EMMPRIN, collagen XVII, and collagen XXIII, in development, wound healing, and cancer.
Research Highlights
Collagens, wound healing, fibrosis, corneal development, collagen pathologies, sulfur mustard injury, chemical counterterrorism
Scholarly Activities
Recent Publications
Education
Research Areas
Mechanisms of nitric oxide signaling in a wide variety of pathophysiological conditions; molecular mechanisms involved in controlling nitric oxide signaling and the role of nitric oxide in cardiopulmonary diseases such as emphysema, acute lung injury, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, sickle cell disease and diabetes; Nitric oxide in inflammatory cells such as macrophages and microglia.
Research
Our laboratory investigates mechanisms of Nitric Oxide signaling in a wide variety of pathophysiological conditions. We seek to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in controlling Nitric Oxide signaling and answer the question as to how nature uses such a simple molecule to control a multitude of biological processes and in almost every organism. In particular, we investigate the role of Nitric Oxide in cardiopulmonary diseases such as emphysema, acute lung injury, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, sickle cell disease and diabetes. We are particularly interested in the function of Nitric Oxide in inflammatory cells such as macrophages and microglia. It is thought that by better understanding the mechanisms involved in Nitric Oxide signaling that we can design appropriate pharmacological interventions for human diseases in which Nitric Oxide metabolism is disrupted.
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Dr. Guo is an Associate Professor at the Department Pharmacology and Toxicology in the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy of Rutgers University. She is an adjunct faculty of the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics in School of Medicine at the University of Kanas Medical Center. Dr. Guo obtained her MBBS degree from the West China University of Medical Sciences in 1993 and a PhD degree from the University of Kansas Medical Center in 2001, as well as post-doctoral training at the NCI, NIH in 2004. From 2004-2012, Dr. Guo has served as a faculty at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Research Areas
Liver is essential for life and liver functions are tightly regulated. Particularly, the impact of intestine on liver homeostasis, function and diseases is significant, but this impact has been less studied. Our group has been focusing on determining the effects of intestine-liver crosstalks on liver metabolism and pathogenesis and the underlying molecular mechanisms, especially following disruption of endogenous homeostasis and exposure to xenobiotic chemicals.
Scholarly Activities
Recent Publications
Research Areas
Biochemical Pharmacology and Toxicology. A major focus of work has been to define events regulating the metabolism of drugs and foreign chemicals in intact cells and tissues. Emphasis has been directed primarily at the metabolism of biologically active compounds via Phase II conjugation reactions. Recent research projects include: identifying isoforms of sulfotransferase and sulfatase in neural tissue, and investigating their possible involvement in modulating levels and activities of neuorsteroids in the central nervous system; and, secondly using a unique model of estrogen-dependent mammary tumors in ACI rats to explore relationships between the metabolism of estradiol and the occurrence and progression of hormone-dependent breast tumors.
Scholarly Activities
Recent Publications
Publications
Research Areas
The overall focus of our research is immunotoxicology. We are particularly interested in inflammatory mechanisms of tissue injury. Our focus is on macrophages. Although the involvement of macrophages in protecting against invading pathogens and tumor cells is well documented, studies from my laboratory have demonstrated that macrophages also have a “dark side”. Thus, they can be activated to release excessive quantities of proinflammatory and cytotoxic mediators that actually promote tissue injury. An analysis of this process represents the main focus of our research. Two rodent models are being utilized to investigate the role of macrophages and inflammatory mediators in toxicity: the lung and the liver. In each of these tissues, we found that exposure of animals to xenobiotics such as acetaminophen and endotoxin in the liver and ozone, nano/microparticles, mustard vesicants, and chlorine is associated with localized accumulation of macrophages. Moreover, macrophages isolated from the lung or liver of animals treated with tissue specific toxicants are “activated” to release increased quantities of inflammatory mediators such as tumor necrosis factor alpha, nitric oxide and superoxide anion. To analyze the role of these cytotoxic mediators in toxicity, both pharmacologic inhibitors and transgenic mice are being utilized. Another aspect of our studies is to elucidate biochemical and molecular mechanisms mediating macrophage activation in the lung. This has involved investigations on signaling molecules, transcription factors, epigenetic regulators and microvesicles. We have also begun to assess the role of macrophages in tissue repair with a focus on impaired resolution of inflammation as a mechanism underlying tissue injury.
Research Highlights
Recent Awards and Honors
Other Recent Activities
Recent Publications
Distinguished Professor
Department of Environmental & Occupational Health
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute
Rutgers University School of Public Health, Piscataway, NJ
Director of the Division of Toxicology
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI)
Rutgers University School of Public Health, Piscataway, NJ
Director
Rutgers University CounterACT Research Center of Excellence
Rutgers University School of Public Health, Piscataway, NJ
Research Areas
Dr. Jeffrey D. Laskin is a Distinguished Professor in the School of Public Health at Rutgers University. He is Director of the Division of Toxicology at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI) and is Deputy Director of the Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology at Rutgers University. He is Director of the Rutgers University CounterACT Research Center of Excellence, a major research effort to develop the most promising scientific discoveries that lead to improved medical countermeasures to protect Americans against a chemical attack.
Dr. Laskin received a B.A. in Chemistry and Biology from New York University, NY and a Ph.D. in Experimental Therapeutics from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, SUNY at Buffalo, NY. He was a post-doctoral fellow in the Institute for Cancer Research at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in NY before joining the faculty the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the School of Public Health at Rutgers University. Dr. Laskin has served on numerous study sections for the National Institutes of Health and was an invited participant at the National Institutes of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disorders Roundtable on Wound Healing. He is a member of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Rutgers University and is Deputy Director of the Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology at Rutgers University. Dr. Laskin has also served as a member of the corporation of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
Dr. Laskin has served as a reviewer on over 30 journals that deal with pharmacology, toxicology and cancer research. With over 250 peer-reviewed publications, three books, and numerous book chapters and editorials, he has been recognized as one of the most cited scientists in the field of chemical toxicology. His research focuses on mechanisms of chemical-induced skin, lung and liver toxicity. He is an expert in mechanisms of chemical toxicity, phototoxicology and redox chemistry. Dr. Laskin has been continuously funded by the NIH for the last 35 years and has served as PI on numerous RO1’s, as a Program Project PI and as a Center Director. Currently, he is completing research on exposure and health effects of chemical warfare agents and is working to identify countermeasures to sulfur mustard exposure.
Research Highlights
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Research Areas
Our laboratory is multi-disciplinary, with projects that range from organic to biological to analytical. Recent projects include: (i) exploring how damaged DNA differs from normal DNA. Mutated bases are linked to carcinogenesis and cell death and it is therefore important to understand how these damaged bases differ from normal bases. In particular, we are interested in how the damaged bases are identified and excised by enzymes; (ii) identification of small RNAs in cell lysates (collaborative project); (iii) studying the properties of silanols, particularly acidity, to characterize their potential as catalysts (collaborative project); (iv) examining the properties and reactivities of N-heterocyclic carbenes, which are a “hot” topic nowadays due to their versatility (as organometallic ligands, organocatalysts, components in environmentally friendly solvents). Our methods include traditional organic tools (including synthesis) as well as spectroscopy (mass spectrometry, UV absorbance, NMR), and computational chemistry.
Recent Publications
Dr. Tamara Minko is a Professor II and Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She is also a member of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute. Her current research interests include drug delivery; biopharmaceutics; nanotechnology; molecular targeting; antisense oligonucleotides, siRNA and peptide delivery; mechanisms of multidrug resistance; intracellular fate and molecular mechanisms of action of anticancer drugs; bioimaging; macromolecular therapeutics; preclinical evaluation of new therapeutics; modulation of cell death mechanisms during hypoxia.
Professor Minko is author and co-author of more than 400 publications (peer-reviewed papers, books and textbook chapters, conference proceedings, patents). Many of her papers are well cited and published in prestigious journals with high impact factors including PNAS, Nature Nanotechnology, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, Advanced Drug Delivery Review, Journal of Controlled Release, etc. Dr. Minko is a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, elected member of the Board of Scientific Advisors of the Controlled Release Society, recipient of numerous awards, Editor of Pharmaceutical Research, member of editorial board of several scientific journals and a member of Study Sections at NIH, DOD, American Heart Association and other national and international review panels. Her research is supported by grants from NIH, NSF, DOD and other national and international sources.
Research Areas
Biopharmaceutics; nanotechnology; molecular targeting; antisense oligonucleotides, siRNA and peptide delivery; mechanisms of multidrug resistance; intracellular fate and molecular mechanisms of action of anticancer drugs; bioimaging; macromolecular therapeutics; preclinical evaluation of new therapeutics; modulation of cell death mechanisms during hypoxia.
Ongoing/Recent Research Support
Research Highlights
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Dr. Radbel is Assistant Professor in the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He is a pulmonary and critical Care physician, who specializes in the treatment of patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). He is a member of Rutgers Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute and the Rutgers NJ Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science (NJACTS) Society of Scholars.
Education
Research Areas
Ozone is a ubiquitous urban air pollutant that has been directly linked to the development of the heavily morbid acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Dr. Radbel is currently funded by an NIEHS K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08ES031678) to study the role of macrophage efferocytosis in ozone-induced ARDS. He works in the laboratories of his mentors Debra L. Laskin PhD and Andrew J. Gow PhD. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he served as the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School site PI for the multicenter Study of the Treatment and Outcomes in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19 (STOP-COVID) database.
Scholarly Activities
In the News
Research Areas
Drug delivery and targeting with an emphasis on AIDS, cancer, and chemical counterterrorism, biomaterials, hydrogels and nanocarriers, mechanism-based pharmacokinetics and biopharmaceutics; transport and metabolism, and bioavailability.
Research Highlights
Dr. Sinko’s research is focused on the mechanisms and applications of biopharmaceutics and polymers to drug delivery and targeting. His laboratory is located in the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. His group’s research efforts focus on the design, fabrication and evaluation of molecular-scale drug and diagnostic delivery technologies applied broadly to asthma, AIDS, cancer, and chemical counterterrorism. Dr. Sinko’s research efforts have been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health, various nonprofit organizations and the Pharmaceutical and Biotech industries.
The research group is organized into therapeutic areas focusing on AIDS, cancer, and chemical counter-terrorism. Drug delivery at the molecular scale (i.e., nano) using biodegradable and biocompatible polymer platforms is a central theme. The scope of current projects includes a molecular mechanistic component, chemical design and synthesis, and biological and efficacy characterization (in vitro, in situ, and in vivo) with an emphasis on translation from concept to clinic.
Scholarly Activities
Recent Publications
Dr. Stapleton is an Assistant Professor in the Rutgers University, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and the Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology. She received her B.S. in Biology and Athletic Training from State University of New York (SUNY) College at Cortland, a M.S.Ed. in Kinesiology from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from West Virginia University. She completed her postdoctoral training within the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at West Virginia University.
Research Areas
The microcirculation branch of the cardiovascular system encompasses the arterioles, capillaries, and venules within an organ or tissue of interest. These highly active vessels serve to maintain homeostasis by regulating blood flow and tissue perfusion, thus providing nutrients and removing waste. Central to proper reactivity is the health and function of the endothelium, a single cell layer lining the vasculature. The Stapleton laboratory investigates the microvascular perturbations associated with normal physiological challenges (exercise or pregnancy), disease, and exposures to environmental and/or occupational xenobiotics.
Using engineered nanomaterials, studies focus on the question: how can something we inhale affect the cardiovascular system? Recently, her research group has investigated non-traditional models of exposure by incorporating reproductive toxicology. These studies focus on exposures during pregnancy leading to the development of a hostile gestational environment identified through microvascular evaluations of the mother. These prenatal exposures impact fetal development and may predispose future generations to cardiovascular aberrations. The Stapleton laboratory is funded by a NIEHS ONES award, NIH R01 ES031285.
Research Highlights
Awards
In the News
Recent Publications
Research Interests
Awards and Honors
Recent Publications
Research Areas
Broadly, our research centers around human heredity and the somatic cell biology of mutations that produce disease. Our interests encompass psychiatric genetics, addiction biology and mechanisms of gene regulation and include the production of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) and engineered mouse genetic models for disease as key tools to understand biological mechanisms.
Research Highlights
One research focus is Tourette disorder (TD), a neuropsychiatric condition that is characterized by verbal and motor tics and which is observed in about 1 in 150 children. We have analyzed inherited, disease-producing genetic variants of specific genes in large TD families using neurons derived from iPSCs and molecular genetics tools. In contrast, our “TIC Genetics” collaborative group has discovered and is now characterizing new gene mutations that have arisen in the TD children of unaffected parents. We aim to understand how these gene variants function on a cellular level by comparing iPSC-derived neurons from affected and unaffected individuals. At the same time, we hope to model TD behavior, neuroanatomy and neurophysiology with mice engineered to have mutations identical to those that we have discovered in TD humans.
Other research foci include collaborative research on the genetics and functional mechanisms of alcohol abuse and cellular opioid responses. We also continue with loss of heterozygosity (LOH) experiments to determine what features along the mitotic chromosome promote recombination that results in LOH. Additional lab projects include development of drugs to treat cystinuria, a disease characterized by painful, recurrent cystine kidney stones, using an engineered mouse model for cystinuria.
Recent Publications
Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Electronic address: lee0@mgh.harvard.edu; Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. (606 Collaborators.) Genomic Relationships, Novel Loci, and Pleiotropic Mechanisms across Eight Psychiatric Disorders. Cell. 2019 Dec 12;179(7):1469-1482.e11. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.11.020.
Salvatore JE, Barr PB, Stephenson M, Aliev F, Kuo SI, Su J, Agrawal A, Almasy L, Bierut L, Bucholz K, Chan G, Edenberg HJ, Johnson EC, McCutcheon VV, Meyers JL, Schuckit M, Tischfield J, Wetherill L, Dick DM. Sibling comparisons elucidate the associations between educational attainment polygenic scores and alcohol, nicotine and cannabis. Addiction. 2019 Oct 28. doi: 10.1111/add.14815. [Epub ahead of print]
Meyers JL, Chorlian DB, Johnson EC, Pandey AK, Kamarajan C, Salvatore JE, Aliev F, Subbie-Saenz de Viteri S, Zhang J, Chao M, Kapoor M, Hesselbrock V, Kramer J, Kuperman S, Nurnberger J, Tischfield J, Goate A, Foroud T, Dick DM, Edenberg HJ, Agrawal A, Porjesz B. Association of Polygenic Liability for Alcohol Dependence and EEG Connectivity in Adolescence and Young Adulthood. Brain Sci. 2019 Oct 17;9(10). pii: E280. doi: 10.3390/brainsci9100280.
Halikere A, Popova D, Scarnati MS, Hamod A, Swerdel MR, Moore JC, Tischfield JA, Hart RP, Pang ZP. Addiction associated N40D mu-opioid receptor variant modulates synaptic function in human neurons. Mol Psychiatry. 2019 Sep 3. doi: 10.1038/s41380-019-0507-0. [Epub ahead of print]
Rao X, Thapa KS, Chen AB, Lin H, Gao H, Reiter JL, Hargreaves KA, Ipe J, Lai D, Xuei X, Wang Y, Gu H, Kapoor M, Farris SP, Tischfield J, Foroud T, Goate AM, Skaar TC, Mayfield RD, Edenberg HJ, Liu Y. Allele-specific expression and high-throughput reporter assay reveal functional genetic variants associated with alcohol use disorders. Mol Psychiatry. 2019 Sep 2. doi: 10.1038/s41380-019-0508-z. [Epub ahead of print]
Lai D, Wetherill L, Kapoor M, Johnson EC, Schwandt M, Ramchandani VA, Goldman D, Joslyn G, Rao X, Liu Y, Farris S, Mayfield RD, Dick D, Hesselbrock V, Kramer J, McCutcheon VV, Nurnberger J, Tischfield J, Goate A, Edenberg HJ, Porjesz B, Agrawal A, Foroud T, Schuckit M. Genome-wide association studies of the self-rating of effects of ethanol (SRE). Addict Biol. 2019 Jul 3:e12800. doi: 10.1111/adb.12800. [Epub ahead of print]
Vazquez BN, Thackray JK, Simonet NG, Chahar S, Kane-Goldsmith N, Newkirk SJ, Lee S, Xing J, Verzi MP, An W, Vaquero A, Tischfield JA, Serrano L. SIRT7 mediates L1 elements transcriptional repression and their association with the nuclear lamina. Nucleic Acids Res. 2019 Sep 5;47(15):7870-7885. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz519. PMCID: PMC6735864.
Woodard LE, Welch RC, Veach RA, Beckermann TM, Sha F, Weinman EJ, Ikizler TA, Tischfield JA, Sahota A, Wilson MH. Metabolic consequences of cystinuria. BMC Nephrol. 2019 Jun 20;20(1):227. doi: 10.1186/s12882-019-1417-8. PMCID: PMC6585015
Wetherill L, Lai D, Johnson EC, Anokhin A, Bauer L, Bucholz KK, Dick DM, Hariri AR, Hesselbrock V, Kamarajan C, Kramer J, Kuperman S, Meyers JL, Nurnberger JI Jr, Schuckit M, Scott DM, Taylor RE, Tischfield J, Porjesz B, Goate AM, Edenberg HJ, Foroud T, Bogdan R, Agrawal A. Genome-wide association study identifies loci associated with liability to alcohol and drug dependence that is associated with variability in reward-related ventral striatum activity in African- and European-Americans. Genes Brain Behav. 2019 Jul;18(6):e12580. doi: 10.1111/gbb.12580. Epub 2019 Jun 11.
Lai D, Wetherill L, Bertelsen S, Carey CE, Kamarajan C, Kapoor M, Meyers JL, Anokhin AP, Bennett DA, Bucholz KK, Chang KK, De Jager PL, Dick DM, Hesselbrock V, Kramer J, Kuperman S, Nurnberger JI Jr, Raj T, Schuckit M, Scott DM, Taylor RE, Tischfield J, Hariri AR, Edenberg HJ, Agrawal A, Bogdan R, Porjesz B, Goate AM, Foroud T. Genome-wide association studies of alcohol dependence, DSM-IV criterion count and individual criteria. Genes Brain Behav. 2019 Jul;18(6):e12579. doi: 10.1111/gbb.12579. Epub 2019 Jun 4. PMCID: PMC6612573
Aijaz A, Li M, Smith D, Khong D, LeBlon C, Fenton OS, Olabisi RM, Libutti S, Tischfield J, Maus MV, Deans R, Barcia RN, Anderson DG, Ritz J, Preti R, Parekkadan B. Biomanufacturing for clinically advanced cell therapies. Nat Biomed Eng. 2018 Jun;2(6):362-376. doi: 10.1038/s41551-018-0246-6. Epub 2018 Jun 11. Review. PMCID: PMC6594100
Yu D, Sul JH, Tsetsos F, Nawaz MS, Huang AY, Zelaya I, Illmann C, Osiecki L, Darrow SM, Hirschtritt ME, Greenberg E, Muller-Vahl KR, Stuhrmann M, Dion Y, Rouleau G, Aschauer H, Stamenkovic M, Schlögelhofer M, Sandor P, Barr CL, Grados M, Singer HS, Nöthen MM, Hebebrand J, Hinney A, King RA, Fernandez TV, Barta C, Tarnok Z, Nagy P, Depienne C, Worbe Y, Hartmann A, Budman CL, Rizzo R, Lyon GJ, McMahon WM, Batterson JR, Cath DC, Malaty IA, Okun MS, Berlin C, Woods DW, Lee PC, Jankovic J, Robertson MM, Gilbert DL, Brown LW, Coffey BJ, Dietrich A, Hoekstra PJ, Kuperman S, Zinner SH, Luðvigsson P, Sæmundsen E, Thorarensen Ó, Atzmon G, Barzilai N, Wagner M, Moessner R, Ophoff R, Pato CN, Pato MT, Knowles JA, Roffman JL, Smoller JW, Buckner RL, Willsey AJ, Tischfield JA, Heiman GA, Stefansson H, Stefansson K, Posthuma D, Cox NJ, Pauls DL, Freimer NB, Neale BM, Davis LK, Paschou P, Coppola G, Mathews CA, Scharf JM; Tourette Association of America International Consortium for Genetics, the Gilles de la Tourette GWAS Replication Initiative, the Tourette International Collaborative Genetics Study, and the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Tourette Syndrome Working Group. Interrogating the Genetic Determinants of Tourette’s Syndrome and Other Tic Disorders Through Genome-Wide Association Studies. Am J Psychiatry. 2019 Mar 1;176(3):217-227. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.18070857.
Kapoor M, Wang JC, Farris SP, Liu Y, McClintick J, Gupta I, Meyers JL, Bertelsen S, Chao M, Nurnberger J, Tischfield J, Harari O, Zeran L, Hesselbrock V, Bauer L, Raj T, Porjesz B, Agrawal A, Foroud T, Edenberg HJ, Mayfield RD, Goate A. Analysis of whole genome-transcriptomic organization in brain to identify genes associated with alcoholism. Transl Psychiatry. 2019 Feb 14;9(1):89. doi: 10.1038/s41398-019-0384-y. PMCID: PMC6376002
Tabakin AL, Sadimin ET, Tereshchenko I, Kareddula A, Stein MN, Mayer T, Hirshfield KM, Kim IY, Tischfield J, DiPaola RS, Singer EA. Correlation of Prostate Cancer CHD1 Status with Response to Androgen Deprivation Therapy: a Pilot Study. J Genitourin Disord. 2018;2(1). pii: 1006. Epub 2018 Jul 31. PMCID: PMC6358174
McClintick JN, Tischfield JA, Deng L, Kapoor M, Xuei X, Edenberg HJ. Ethanol Activates Immune Response In Lymphoblastoid Cells. Alcohol. 2019 Jan 9;79:81-91. doi: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2019.01.001. [Epub ahead of print] PMCID: PMC6616005
Wang S, Mandell JD, Kumar Y, Sun N, Morris MT, Arbelaez J, Nasello C, Dong S, Duhn C, Zhao X, Yang Z, Padmanabhuni SS, Yu D, King RA, Dietrich A, Khalifa N, Dahl N, Huang AY, Neale BM, Coppola G, Mathews CA, Scharf JM; Tourette International Collaborative Genetics Study (TIC Genetics); Tourette Syndrome Genetics Southern and Eastern Europe Initiative (TSGENESEE); Tourette Association of America International Consortium for Genetics (TAAICG), Fernandez TV, Buxbaum JD, De Rubeis S, Grice DE, Xing J, Heiman GA, Tischfield JA, Paschou P, Willsey AJ, State MW. De Novo Sequence and Copy Number Variants Are Strongly Associated with Tourette Disorder and Implicate Cell Polarity in Pathogenesis. Cell Rep. 2018 Dec 18;25(12):3544. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.12.024. No abstract available.
Sahota A, Tischfield JA, Goldfarb DS, Ward MD, Hu L. Cystinuria: genetic aspects, mouse models, and a new approach to therapy. Urolithiasis. 2019 Feb;47(1):57-66. doi: 10.1007/s00240-018-1101-7. Epub 2018 Dec 4. PMCID: PMC6592844
Johnson EC, Tillman R, Aliev F, Meyers JL, Salvatore JE, Anokhin AP, Dick DM, Edenberg HJ, Kramer J, Kuperman S, McCutcheon VV, Nurnberger JI Jr, Porjesz B, Schuckit M, Tischfield J, Bucholz KK, Agrawal A. Exploring the relationship between polygenic risk for cannabis use, peer cannabis use, and the longitudinal course of cannabis involvement. Addiction. 2018 Nov 26. [Epub ahead of print]
Abdulkadir M, Mathews CA, Scharf JM, Yu D, Tischfield JA, Heiman GA, Hoekstra PJ, Dietrich A. Polygenic Risk Scores Derived From a Tourette Syndrome Genome-wide Association Study Predict Presence of Tics in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Cohort. Biol Psychiatry. 2019 Feb 15;85(4):298-304. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.09.011. Epub 2018 Sep 29. PMCID: PMC6342633
Edwards AC, Deak JD, Gizer IR, Lai D, Chatzinakos C, Wilhelmsen KP, Lindsay J, Heron J, Hickman M, Webb BT, Bacanu SA, Foroud TM, Kendler KS, Dick DM, Schuckit MA; Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). Collaborators: Porjesz B, Hesselbrock V, Edenberg H, Bierut L, Hesselbrock V, Edenberg HJ, Nurnberger J Jr, Foroud T, Liu Y, Kuperman S, Kramer J, Porjesz B, Bierut L, Rice J, Bucholz K, Agrawal A, Schuckit M, Tischfield J, Brooks A, Almasy L, Dick D, Goate A, Taylor R, Parsian A, Chen H. Meta-Analysis of Genetic Influences on Initial Alcohol Sensitivity. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2018 Oct 1. [Epub ahead of print]
Publicaitons via PubMed
Biographical Info
Dr. Shuo Xiao is a tenured Associate Professor from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. He earned his MBBS in Preventive Medicine and MS in Toxicology from Peking University, followed by a PhD in Female Reproductive Biology and Toxicology from University of Georgia. He completed his Postdoctoral Training in Dr. Teresa Woodruff’ lab at Northwestern University. Dr. Xiao’s current research is dedicated to advancing women’s reproductive health. His research is funded by NIH (NIEHS and NICHD), DOD, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Xiao has published > 60 peer-reviewed papers in high impact journals, including Nature Communications, Environmental Health Perspectives, Biology of Reproduction, and Toxicological Sciences. Dr. Xiao now serves as the Chair of Basic Science Committee of Oncofertility Consortium, President of American Association of Chinese in Toxicology (AACT), Secretary/Treasurer of the Society of Toxicology (SOT) Reproductive and Developmental Specialty Section (RDTSS), and Toxicology Division Councilor of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET).
Dr. Xiao has received several major awards to recognize his research in female reproductive biology and toxicology, such as the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) Toxicology Division Early Career Award in 2024, Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR) Virendra B. Mahesh New Investigator Award in 2024, the JOINN Biomere Outstanding Young Toxicologist Award from AACT in 2023, the Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) Chancellor Basic Sciences Researcher Award in 2022, and the New-Career Scientist Award from the Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology Specialty Section (RDTSS) of Society of Toxicology (SOT) in 2022.
Research Areas
The Xiao lab research is primarily focused on women’s reproductive health. There are multiple active projects including (1) the impacts of classic and emerging environmental contaminants on women’s reproductive health, in particular of women’s ovaries and uterus and associated menstrual cycles, fertility, and early pregnancy; (2) engineering an ovary-on-a-chip and female reproductive system-on-chip using microfluidic and organoid technologies; (3) development of novel birth control pills for women; and (4) women’s reproductive diseases such as premature ovarian failure and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).
Scholarly Activities
Dr. Xiao has received several major awards to recognize his research in female reproductive biology and toxicology, such as the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) Toxicology Division Early Career Award in 2024, Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR) Virendra B. Mahesh New Investigator Award in 2024, the JOINN Biomere Outstanding Young Toxicologist Award from AACT in 2023, the Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) Chancellor Basic Sciences Researcher Award in 2022, and the New-Career Scientist Award from the Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology Specialty Section (RDTSS) of Society of Toxicology (SOT) in 2022.
Dr. Xiao is active on serving professional societies:
Recent Publications as the corresponding author (in past 5 years)
The full publication list is available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=shuo+xiao
Research Areas
Mechanisms of carcinogenesis and its prevention, including development of new animal models for colon ad prostate cancers as well as studies on the inhibition of carcinogenesis by tea constituents, tocopherols, and their combination with commonly used drugs. Research is being conducted in animal models, on molecular investigation with cell lines, and in humans.
Research Highlights
Scholarly Activities
Recent Publications
Research Areas
Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Drug/Xenobiotic Absorption, Distribution and Elimination, Membrane Transporters
Drug transporters mediate the absorption, distribution, and excretion of a diverse array of clinically important drugs, including anti-HIV therapeutics, anti-tumor drugs, antibiotics, anti-hypertensives, and anti-inflammatories, and therefore are critical to the survival of the mammalian species. The goal of Dr. You’s research is to elucidate the molecular, cellular, and functional characteristics of these transporters, their implications in human physiology and diseases, and their applications to drug therapy. Techniques in molecular and cellular biology, physiology, biochemistry, and biophysics are used to investigate the transport mechanisms both in vitro and in vivo. The knowledge gained from these studies will have significant impact on the future design of strategies aimed at maximizing therapeutic efficacy and minimizing toxicity, and will permit insight into the molecular, cellular, and clinical bases of renal, hepatic, neurological and fetal toxicity and disease.
Research Highlights
Dr. You’s lab, standing at the forefront of drug transport research, a research area of highly pharmacological and clinical importance, has uncovered several mechanisms underlying the regulation of drug transporters OATs. Her lab is the first to report that OAT activity can be regulated by membrane trafficking, ubiquitination, glycosylation, phosphorlation, and environmental pH.
Scholarly Activities
Recent Publications
Dr. Zarbl serves as the Director of the NIEHS sponsored Center for Environmental Exposures and Disease. He is also the Associate Director For Public Health Sciences at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. He serves on numerous national research review and advisory panels, and editorial panels.. Dr. Zarbl is known for his work in areas of toxicogenomics, and mechanisms of and genetic susceptibility to chemical carcinogenesis, mechanisms of mutagenesis and toxicity, and technology development. These research efforts have to date resulted in over 70 scientific papers and book chapters.
Research Areas
Research has focused largely on toxicogenomics and functional genomics, carcinogenesis, molecular and cellular biology, and toxicology. Specifically this has included work understand to molecular mechanisms of chemical carcinogenesis and the genetic basis for differential susceptibility to mammary carcinogenesis using animal and in vitro model systems, and then translating the findings to human breast cancer.
Research Highlights
Studies in the rat model have included analysis of oncogene activation, mechanisms of signal transduction, and genetic linkage analysis to identify mammary tumor suppressor genes. He has also used toxicogenomics to dissect mechanisms of mechanism carcinogenesis, tumor progression and chemoprevention. His studies in the area of toxicogenomics include the development and application of standards for DNA microarray experiments, and phenotypic anchoring of response of human cells, model organisms (yeast) and target organs (rodents) to toxicants, providing insights into dose and temporal responses, as well as mechanisms of action. He is also actively involved in technology development for functional genomics and biomarker screening.
Recent Publications
Research Areas
The Zhou laboratory is interested in the mechanisms mediating cell-cell communication and their roles in normal development, physiology, and diseases. Specifically the Zhou laboratory is investigating the functions of a large family of tyrosine kinase receptors, the Ephs, and their ligands, the ephrins, in neural circuit formation, eye development, and behavior regulations including motor activity, circadian rhythm, and aggression. The Zhou laboratory employs both in vitro and in vivo techniques, including neuron cultures, transgenic and knockout mice, as well as behavior assays.
Research Highlights
Demonstration of a repulsive function of ephrins in axon guidance
Discovering signal transduction pathways mediating ephrin-induced growth cone guidance
Establishing a novel cataract mouse model
Elucidating regulation of cell-cell adhesion by ephrins
Scholarly Activities
Member of editorial board: Neuroscience Bulletin; Cell & Bioscience
Membership in: AAAS, Society of Neuroscice, ARVO
Recent Publications
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