Charles A. Kuszynski, Ph.D.

Department Affiliations
Associate Professor
Director, UNMC Cell Analysis Facility

Interests
Flow Cytometry, Adult sources of stem cells, Gene Therapy, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, Apoptosis
Growth Factor and Cytokine Receptors, Chemical Carcinogenesis

My main research interests are in the application of flow cytometry to biological systems. In this regard, I have used flow cytometric techniques to identify, isolate and help characterize stem cells from numerous adult tissues.  The technique involves utilization of the Godell procedure for labeling stem cells with Hoechst 33342 and isolating the low fluorescent populations.  These cells have proven to reconstitute and differentiate various organs following induced damage. It was found that this characteristic of stem cells relates directly to the activity of the ABCG2 membrane pump. Recently, this pump has been identified in many tumor cells and that tumors may in fact have a stem like component that makes them particularly refractive to chemotherapy. My laboratory has provided cells for studies in xenotransplantation studies where pigs are “tolerized” with bone marrow from donor xenografts and the organs recovered are resistant to rejection when transplanted into the host of the source stem cells.  Other studies involve the transfer of genes into stem cells with the goal of replacing defective genes and the correction of disease states like diabetes. My laboratory also provides services for the quantitation of soluble proteins like cytokines and chemokines using fluorescent multiplex assays.
 
Education and Training
B.S., University of Nebraska at Lincoln, 1972
M.S., University of Nebraska Medical Center, 1979
Ph.D., University of Nebraska Medical Center, 1992

Teaching Activities
Graduate Students:
Team teaching Biochemistry 850, BRTP 822 and Pathology and Microbiology 992 Special Topics
Lecture on flow cytometry and image analysis
Medical Students:
Small Group and problem based learning
Microbiology laboratories

National Activities
Faculty Advisor, Midwest Student Medical Research Forum

Notable Publications
El-Metwally, TH, Hussein, MR, Pour, PM, Kuszynski, CA, Adrian, TE  Natural Retinoids Inhibit Proliferation and Induce Apoptosis in Pancreatic Cancer Cells Previously Reported to be Retinoid Resistant.  Cancer Biol Ther 4:474-483 2005

El-Metwally, TH, Hussein, MR, Pour, PM, Kuszynski, CA, Adrian, TE  High concentrations of retinoids induce differentiation and late apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells in vitro  Cancer Biol Ther 4: 802-811 2005.

Robinson, SN, Seina, SM, Gohr, JC, Kuszynski, CA, and Sharp, JG.  Evidence for a qualitative hierarchy within the Hoechst 33342 ‘Side Population” (SP) of Murine Bone Marrow.  Bone Marrow Transplant, 35: 807-818 2005.

Zhang J-L, Cai J, Walls S, Jackson JD, Kuszynski CA, Zhao Y, Pawliuk R, Leboulch P, Fox IJ. Tolerance by selective in-vivo expansion of foreign MHC-transduced autologous bone marrow. Transplantation 80: 362-369, 2005.

Zhang J-L, Cai J, Jackson JD, Kuszynski CA, Walls S, McIvor RS. Fox IJ. Long-term transgene expression and survival of transgene-expressing grafts following lentivirus transduction of bone marrow Side Population (SP) cells. Transplantation, 79: 882-888 2005.

Zhang J-L, Cai J, Jackson JD, Walls S, Kuszynski CA, Fox IJ. Competitive equality of donor cells expressing a disparate MHC antigen following stem cell-enriched bone marrow transplantation. Transplantation, 79:1332-1337 2005.

Paveletic, S., Bociek, G., Foran, J., Rubocki, R., Kuszynski, C., Wisecarver, J., Hatcher, L., Lucas, David, Grever, M., Lynch, J., Joshi, S., Hardiman, P., Hock, L., McGuire, T., Bierman, P., Vose, J., Armitage, J., Kessinger, A., and Talmadge, J.  Lymphodepleting effects and safety of Pentostatin for non-myeloablative allogeneic stem-cell transplants Transplantation. 76(5) (Sep15): 877-881 2003.

Beschorner, W.E., Sudan, D.L., Radio, S.J., Yang, T., Franco, K.L., Hill, A.C., Shearon, C., Thompson, S.C.,Dixon, R.S., Johnson, N.D., Kuszynski, C.A., Rubocki, R.J., Lechtenberg, K.F.,Matamoros, Jr., A., Goertzen, T.C., Fox, I.J., and Langnas, A.N.  Pig Heart Xenograft Survival with Chimeric Pig Donors and Modest Immune Suppression.  Annals of Surgery, 237(2)(Feb): 275-272, 2003.

For a detailed list of publications, click here.