Biomedical / Health-Related Interests or Themes at NDSU
This is intended to bea sort of “Inventory” of biomedical expertise at NDSU compiled by the Research, Creative Activities and Technology Transfer Office. The information was originally compiled during Winter 2003. It is a working document; we are continuing to collect, revise, and add information about existing or potential multi-disciplinary interest areas. These are not necessarily externally-funded projects. Many represent areas that these researchers are interested in pursuing further.
Behavioral Science
Investigators:
Linda Langley, Christine Malone - Cognitive information processing and memory
Verlin Hinsz - Group information processing and decision-making
Kevin McCaul, Michael Robinson, Kit O’Neill, Clayton Neighbors, David Wittrock – Health-related behaviors (reducing heath risks, increasing healthy behaviors, stress-related disorders
Michael Robinson, Jim Council, Paul Rokke - Personality, psychopathology, and emotion
Ray Miltenberger - Behavioral analysis and modification
Wendy Gordon - Developmental psychology (children’s social relationships)
Bioengineering - Tissue Engineering
Investigators:
Bor Jang, Josh Wong, Qun Huo, James Stone, Kalpana Katti, D.K. Srivastava
Tissue engineering involves the development of effective techniques to repair, replace, or regenerate damaged or diseased tissues by manipulating cells, creating artificial implants, or synthesizing laboratory-grown substitutes. This research group seeks to establish the materials, processing and biomedical science base for a novel and innovative approach to the design and fabrication of multi-functional, biomimetic composite scaffolds which are predictable and controllable for tissue engineering.
Biomaterials - Polymeric
Investigators:
Philip Boudjouk, Thomas Ready, Shane Stafslien
This research concentrates on polymeric bio-materials. These materials have potential for use as drugs or applications related to humans, animals and plants. Research is ongoing for the use of these materials towards novel biosensors.
Cancer Prevention and Control
Investigators:
Kevin McCaul,
Research involves behavioral science applied to prevention (behavioral changes that can prevent the occurrence of cancer) and control (behavioral changes that can facilitate coping with the disease).
Cardiovascular Coupling
Investigators:
Dan Ewert, Larry Reynolds, Mark Sheridan, Stephen O’Rourke, Avadhesh Sharma, Roger Green
The focus of this research group is to elucidate mechanisms at the systems and molecular levels involved in ventricular and vascular function. Cardiovascular coupling involves the strategy employed by the body’s cardiovascular control system to deliver adequate oxygenated bloodflow to the body, as efficiently as possible, while maintaining optimal flight/fight reserves. This research will merge understanding of system’s level performance with the molecular mechanisms responsible for impaired cardiac and vascular function. Knowing these interrelationships is key to solving many of today’s current cardiovascular disease issues. Research also includes biomedical signal processing, including techniques for the real-time processing of biomedical signals - pulse-Doppler blood flow signal analysis, as well as analysis of cardiac and ventricular functions.
Child Development & Family Science
Investigators:
Jim Deal, Joel Hektner, Brandy Randall, Greg Sanders, Marlys Brattelli
Research focuses on personality development in children, specifically on defining constructs and examining the convergent and discriminate validity of these constructs. Understanding the nature of these constructs in childhood will allow an understanding of how personality is linked to coping and adaptation, as well allow the derivation of guidelines for intervention and prevention.
Other research is on prevention programs for elementary and middle school children that would reduce the level of alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse in the later adolescent (high school) years (Joel Hektner).
Still another study focuses on influences on the development of prosocial behavior tendencies, including the influence of emotions and temperament - how prosocial behaviors are then related to psychological well-being. Proposed data collection will focus on rural and urban children in kindergarten, first, and second grade and will utilize longitudinal information from a variety of sources (the children, parents, teachers, and observation). (Brandy Randall)
Finally, other research investigates the cross-racial/ethnicand gender equivalence of a popular measure of depression (the CES-D) among adolescents. This study will be done using data collected as part of a national, longitudinal study of adolescents in the US (Add Health). (Brandy Randall)
Computer-aided Drug Design
Investigators:
Stefan Balaz, William Shelver, Kenton Rodgers, Sanku Mallik, D.K. Srivastava
Computational methods are being applied to the design of drug molecules with the goal of increasing design efficiency. The computational methods facilitate prediction of (a) how a potential drug molecule would be distributed in the body, (b) whether potential drug molecules might interact with biomolecules involved in a particular disease, and (c) whether those interactions might be of therapeutic value.
Development, Cell Signaling and Growth
Investigators:
Mary Stewart, Mark Sheridan, Anne Hinderliter, Inder Sehgal
Project 1:
Recent work has implicated some components of the insulin receptor signaling pathway in human cancers. These research studies hope to identify new components of the insulin receptor pathway or other pathways that lead to cell growth.
Project 2:
In humans, an evolutionarily conserved gene called bystin functions in cell adhesion and embryo implantation. We are applying the genetic tools of the model organism, Drosophila melanogaster, to study the role of the Drosophila counterpart of bystin. We expect that this work will shed light on a novel developmentally important gene in Drosophila and may also be applicable to understanding the function of bystin in humans.
Enzyme Catalysis - Structure-Function Relationships
Investigators:
D.K. Srivastava, Kenton Rodgers
Enzymes facilitate a multitude of vital chemical reactions in living organisms that would normally be inefficient even under harsh laboratory conditions. Such catalyzed reactions make life as we know it possible. However, the causes of many human and animal diseases can be traced to enhancement or suppression of these enzyme-catalyzed processes. This research strives to elucidate the molecular details of enzyme function. The results of these studies strengthen and extend the knowledge base and understanding upon which improved diagnosis and treatment of diseases are based.
Emergency Management
Investigators:
Arthur Oyola-Yemail, Jennifer Wilson
Epidemiology
Investigators:
Charles Stoltenow, Animal & Range Sci., Margaret Khaitsa, Vet & Microbio Sci., John McEvoy, Vet & Microbio Sci.
Food Safety
Investigators:
Catherine Logue, Charlene Wolf-Hall, Julie Garden-Robinson,
Monisha Bhattacharya, Greg Lardy, Michael Robinson, Marty Marchello, William Nganje, Suranjan Panigrahi, Penelope Gibbs, Verlin Hinsz
Annually, 76 million Americans suffer foodborne illness; of these, 5,000 die (Mead et al., 1999). The Great Plains Institute of Food Safety (GPIFS) was developed at NDSU to combat such threats to the public health. To ensure the security of our food supply and otherwise serve the food safety needs of our students and other stakeholders, the Institute employs a tripartite approach to food safety with education and outreach, service, and research components.Faculty participants come from a wide variety of disciplines allowing us to apply multidisciplinary approaches to problems all along the food chain. All participants are avid teachers and researchers, each dedicated to serving the public's food safety needs.
Functional Genomics
Investigators:
Mary Stewart, Mark Sheridan, Anna Grazul-Bilska, Catherine Logue, Penelope Gibbs, William Perrizo, Dale Redmer, Larry Reynolds
Functional genomics is the study of how genes function in biological systems. Through genomic approaches, making use of new high throughput approaches and advanced computing/data analysis methods, scientists will gain insight into how environmental and other factors affect the expression of genes. This information will provide a rational basis for development of new treatments (e.g., gene therapy) for various human diseases (e.g., cancer, etc.).
Gerontology
Investigators:
Greg Sanders, Marlys Bratteli, Margaret Fitzgerald, Julie Garden-Robinson, Susan Ray-Degges
Research in gerontology focuses on three main (but not unrelated) areas that include informal caregiving to elders, community involvement and community supports in later life, and the quality of relationships in later life. Future research plans focus on the first two areas, informal caregiving to elders and community involvement and community supports in later life. Research areas are interdisciplinary, including such topics as economics of aging, nutrition and health in later life, and environments and aging.
Health, Nutrition & Exercise Sciences
Investigators:
BradfordStrand, Donna Terbizan, Yeong Rhee, Ardith Brunt, Jane Edwards, Julie Garden-Robinson, Bryan Christenson
One research area is focused on investigation of effects of functional foods and trace minerals on prevention of chronic diseases and on immune responses. Blood/urine samples are collected to measure biochemical parameters such as serum glucose, cholesterol etc. and to investigate immune responses such as cell proliferation and differential cell profiles.
Anther current research project focuses on nutrition in the elderly (using nutrition to keep older adults in their own home) and NDSU's student population (current intake).
There is also interest in proposing research which is more biomedical--preventing diabetes in those who are glucose intolerant.
A new research areais looking into the demands of the worksite that can influence food consumption, physical activity patterns, and the body weight of the employees. Working in primary and acute health care settings is often stressful with time constraints on the job which may discourage eating healthful foods or getting adequate physical exercise. Using a social ecological perspective and a food systems approach, the long-term goal of this research is to develop an effective community based intervention, using worksites as the communities to decrease the prevalence of obesity, reducing the development of chronic diseases, health care costs and absenteeism. Collaborators at MeritCare Health Systems include Pat Pollert, Connie Sigurdson, and Sherri Haugen.
Health Information Technology and Workflow Redesign
Investigators: John Cook, Canan Bilen-Green, and Reza Maleki
The overall goal of the research is to demonstrate the value of the adoption and utilization of health information technology (HIT) and workflow redesign to improve quality of care and productivity. The study will generate a usable HIT business model that will facilitate HIT adoption by other healthcare organizations. The study will utilize an industrial engineering approach of workflow analysis and redesign to identify patient safety risks in existing clinical settings and develop workflow changes (including HIT assists) to moderate these patient safety concerns. Collaborators at MeritCare Health Systems include Rhonda Ketterling, Julie Blehm, Kristie Invie, and Sue Olson
Impact Biomechanics
Investigators:
Mariusz Ziejewski
Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) is a very serious national health problem that affects many citizens. As of today there is not a reliable diagnostic tool to assist the emergency physician when he or she sees a patient with mild traumatic brain injury. The objective of this research is to provide a complementary tool to current existing trauma detection techniques for accurate and fast diagnosis of TBI under a telemedical scenario to overcome the geographical, distance and human resource availability barriers. This allows the attending physician to benefit from over 40 years of extensive research in the aerospace and automotive industries in the area of impact biomechanics.
Infectious Diseases
Investigators:
Eugene Berry, Penelope Gibbs, Charlene Hall, Margaret Khaitsa, Catherine Logue, Michael Robinson, and Lisa Nolan
Research focuses on the animal health, public health, and food safety aspects of infectious diseases. Our group includes those with expertise in virology, pathogenic bacteriology, immunology, epidemiology, and food microbiology. We work with a range of pathogens, and our research includes elucidating mechanisms of virulence, documenting the occurrence and distribution of infectious disease in various populations, developing novel approaches to disease control and parasite detection, and understanding the host:parasite relationship.
Iron Transport & Regulation
Investigators:
David Hamilton, Mahesh Jaseja
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
Investigators:
Marjorie McCullagh…
Several studies have shown that farmers are at risk of noise-induced hearing loss. Farmers are exposed to hazardous noise levels in their farming activities, such as operation of tractors and grain dryers, and shop work. Noise-induced hearing loss is permanent and causes increased safety risks, impaired communication, and tinnitus (ringing in the ears). Although noise-induced hearing loss can be prevented by using hearing protection devices (such as foam plugs), most farmers don't wear them enough to protect their hearing. The purpose of this research is to identify factors that influence farmers' use of hearing protection. The research provides information for nurses and farm safety specialists to use to increase the effectiveness of programs
designed to increase hearing protector use.
Novel Drug Delivery Systems
Investigators:
Jagdish Singh, Michael Robinson, Larry Reynolds, Sanku Mallik
The development of a whole new generation of potent therapeutic agents based on biotechnology and genetic engineering has brought the limitations of conventional drug delivery into sharp focus. Many of these exciting new compounds are unstable polar macromolecules with very short biological half-lives whose clinical application is prevented by problems with delivery. If methods can be devised to overcome the natural barriers to their absorption, transport and uptake, these agents promise to revolutionize drug therapy and bring enormous benefits to medicine and mankind. Our drug delivery research efforts are directed towards the mechanistic studies for developing novel delivery technologies to deliver biotechnologically derived molecules (e.g., peptide, protein, and plasmid DNA).
Pharmaceutical Care via Telepharmacy
Investigators:
Charles Peterson, Donald Miller
The federally funded telepharmacy program is currently using audio and video computer links that allow a licensed pharmacist to supervise pharmacy technicians from remote locations. Rural communities that had lost their pharmacies are able to have local drug inventories, staffed by a technician. In addition to connecting the supervising pharmacist to the sites, there also are plans to link the college's Concept Pharmacy program with the remote locations.
Physiology – Reproduction, Nutrition, and Lactation
Investigators:
Larry Reynolds, Joel Caton, Dale Redmer, Anna Grazul-Bilska, Greg Lardy, Chung Park, Marc Bauer
This research will enable us to begin to develop optimal nutritional management strategies to achieve healthy offspring in both normal and compromised pregnancies. The focus is on studying the influence of undernutrition, overnutrition, and specific nutrients on placental and fetal growth and development, maternal metabolic adaptations to pregnancy, and long-term health of the neonate and adult offspring. These studies will be conducted using several animal models, including adolescent or aged pregnancies, pregnancies of differing fetal and maternal genotypes, and pregnancies with single or multiple fetuses.
Other research focuses on contact-dependent cellular interactions within organs and tissues (e.g., ovaries, uterus, healing wounds) in physiological conditions. These interactions are extremely important for normal growth, development and function of cells and organs. Defects in cellular interactions may lead to the development of tumors, and abnormal growth and function of organs."
Lactation physiology research focuses on nutritional immunology (Chung Park, Marc Bauer) and deals with relationships of maternal nutrition and neonatal health and immune function. In the area of lactation and mammary cancer (Chung Park), investigations are on nutritional control of normal mammary gland development along with strategies for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.
Protease Research
Investigators:
Mukund Sibi, Kenton Rodgers, Sanku Mallik, Inder Sehgal, Stefan Balaz, Gregory Cook
The Center for Protease Research (CPR), funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE), focuses on the development of therapeutic inhibitors for matrix metalloproteinases and serine proteases. A multidisciplinary approach involving in vitro cellular interactions, synthesis, drug design, targeting, delivery and bio pharmaceutics is being undertaken. The Center serves as a productive institution in the development of new drug possibilities.
Public Health
Investigators: Charles Stoltenow, Margaret Khaitsa
Signal Transduction & Biological Sensing
Investigators:
Kenton Rodgers, Gudrun Lukat-Rodgers
We are investigating the molecular-level details of O2 and NO sensing. These projects are relevant to bacterial nitrogen fixation and denitrification, as well as a number of O2 and NO dependent regulatory processes in mammals.
Substance Abuse and Addiction
Investigators:
Kevin Thompson, Clayton Neighbors
Research studies the impact of Juvenile Drug Courts in ND on reducing recidivism and substance abuse. Other research interests lie in examining social psychological principles in broadly defined health related behaviors - social and motivational mechanisms involved in etiology and prevention of addictive, compulsive, and high-risk behaviors (e.g., drinking, gambling, aggressive driving, and eating disorders).
Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience
Investigators:
Mark McCourt, Mark Nawrot, Barbara Blakeslee, Michael Robinson, Robert Gordon, Linda Langley, Hyungjun Kim, Wendy Gordon, Christine Malone, Paul Rokke
This group of investigators conducts research on various aspects of the neural mechanisms and functional significance of visual perception, visual cognition, and action. Visual performance in normal and dysfunctional states is studied. Goals are to develop clinically useful diagnostic tests for assessing visual performance, to understand the neural mechanisms that control eye movements under natural environmental conditions, to understand how the brain processes visual information, how neural activity is related to visual perception, and how visual processing interacts with other brain systems which underlie cognition and action.