一项针对OUWB的首次研究

365英国上市官网 William Beaumont School of Medicine’s first wet lab has opened — a big step in furthering the school’s commitment to increasing its research endeavors.

位于365英国上市官网的道奇大厅, 这个实验室价值超过450美元,000 -由卢卡·库库洛领导, Ph.D.他是牛津大学商学院的教授，主要从事研究工作.

库库洛于2020年9月加入OUWB. 还有20多年的研究经验, Cucullo brought a number of significant projects for which he serves as principal investigator.

这些项目是由 美国国立卫生研究院 (NIH)，特别是由 国家神经疾病和中风研究所 (研究所) 国家药物滥用研究所，和 美国食品药品监督管理局.

除了基础设施, the new lab has been set up with pieces of equipment Cucullo bought with NIH funding, 还有那些通过创业融资获得的.

这一切都是OUWB发展的一大步.

"一旦一所医学院在学术活动中站稳脚跟, 湿实验室基本上是下一步,库库洛说. “没有这些，你就无法前进.”

Cucullo leads a of team of researchers already working on the funded projects with plans to take on even more new research.

“Having the lab is really good because we will be able to pursue so many different kinds of research questions that we have,Aditya Bhalerao说, 在实验室工作的三个研究生研究助理之一.

“我们很高兴能够使用所有这些可用的技术, 希望有一些好的科学数据可以帮助病人.”

不断超越自己

Ramin Homayouni博士.D., 被雇佣 担任人口健康信息学的创始主任. 1, 2018. 他是该校第一位主要从事研究工作的教员.

库库洛是第二位. 当雇佣, Cucullo said he wanted OUWB “to be a medical school that pushes boundaries beyond what we currently know.他的背景表明，他非常适合帮助领导这些努力.

原产于意大利, he earned his doctoral degree in chemistry and pharmaceutical technology (biotechnology) from the University of Pisa, 药学院, in 2000.

He continued his education via post-doctoral training at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine in the Department of Neurosurgery/Cerebrovascular 研究 Center, where his specialty was in vitro cerebrovascular modeling with emphasis on CNS vascular pathophysiology.

After rising in the ranks at the Cleveland Clinic — and prior to OUWB — Cucullo spent nearly a decade at Texas Tech University. 他在德州理工大学任职期间, he held the positions of associate professor and vice chair for 研究 in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

同时, he built a strong research portfolio with a large portion focused on investigating the pathophysiology of tobacco smoke and e-cigarette toxicity at the neurovascular unit.

除此之外, Cucullo has led research efforts that have uncovered and exploited side mechanisms of action of well-established antidiabetic drugs (such as Metformin and Rosiglitazone) to promote nuclear erythroid-related factor 2 (Nrf2) activity to counteract oxidative stress-related cerebrovascular pathologies inherent to chronic smoking/vaping. Those research endeavors are supported by two of the NIH-funded projects where Cucullo is principal investigator (see infographic for more on the NIH-funded projects).

还有新项目, Cucullo says his team will continue working on smoking-related research — including one study funded for about $2.到2025年，这一数字将达到900万.

新实验室

除了Bhalerao, 库库洛的研究团队由塞尔瓦托·曼库索组成, Aditya Bhalerao, Farzane Sivandzade, 和Snehal Raut, Ph.D.

balerao、Raut和Sivandzade跟随Cucullo从德克萨斯理工大学来到OUWB.

除了劳特, the research assistants are graduate students from OU’s Department of Biological Sciences.

Cucullo says OUWB’s medical students are focused on learning the practice of medicine, 从其他项目招收研究生的主要原因是什么.

“Even if (medical students) wanted to they wouldn’t have enough time to spend in a lab,库库洛说.

去年，该团队一直在规划实验室的后勤工作. 有很多原因, 包括COVID-19的影响, it wasn’t until this past summer that they were able to finally install equipment and begin working in their new space.

这个实验室大约由1人组成,200 square feet split between two rooms that are now full of equipment that will allow the research team to further its work.

设备包括, 除此之外, a microfluidic system that allows the researchers to mimic blood vessels in the brain, 还有细胞成像机, 超高倍率的荧光显微镜, 3D打印机, 蛋白质分析机, 孵化器, 还有冰箱. There also is a machine that allows for the researchers to study the effects of cigarette smoke and e-cigarette vapor in vivo using mice models.

正确看待先进设备的价值, 单是细胞显像仪就花费了127美元,000.

更多的设备正在运送途中, 太, including a bioprinting platform enabling the design and creation of 3D cell multi-culture microfluidic constructs or organs-on-a chip for in-depth mechanistic study and drug discovery/testing applications.

“There are a lot of hypotheses that requires us to do trial-and-error,” says Raut. “These technologies…can save time and allow us to focus on the topics and problems that we are working on.”

蛋白质分析机, 例如, allows the team to analyze proteins in about three hours compared with the Western Blot method that takes three days and can be more susceptible to human error.

Having these research 太ls at their disposal allows for the researchers to get involved in projects requiring fast and accurate analysis.

One example of how such computing power can be useful is a collaboration with Beaumont Hospital. Cucullo’s team of researchers is comparing proteins of patients who had COVID-19 and were or were not smokers.

库库洛说:“以前，这需要几个月的时间才能完成. “现在，需要几个星期. 它大大加快了这个过程……基本上，没有人为错误.”

It’s those kinds of capabilities in his lab that have Cucullo often smiling these days.

“My job as a (principal investigator) is to make sure (the researchers) have everything they need,库库洛说. “我很高兴我能做到这一点. 现在，真正的乐趣开始了.”