Research
Our faculty work on clinical trials related to inflammatory bowel diseases, eosinophilic esophagitis, gastroparesis, alcoholic and non-alcoholic hepatitis, NASH, and other gastrointestinal and hepatology illnesses.
The Alcohol Liver Study Unit is comprised of a large team of basic scientists conducting ongoing research investigating:
- How alcohol consumption affects protein degradation in the liver and the brain.
- Ethanol metabolism on cellular replication.
- Ethanol as it relates to altered protein trafficking and the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver injury.
- The role of iron as a secondary risk factor in liver diseases, including oxidative stress induced by agents such as alcohol or hepatitis C viral proteins is one of the primary underlying mechanisms of iron overload.
Understanding these processes may help researchers develop novel diagnostic markers and therapeutic strategies.
Meet the Research Support Team
Faculty Research
Peter J. Mannon, MD, MPH
Director of the Frederick F. Paustian Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, specimen and tissue banking for the study of inflammatory bowel diseases
Jacques Izard, PhD
Inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's and ulcerative colitis, ostomy
Rana Al-Sadi, PhD
Intestinal epithelial tight junction barrier, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's and ulcerative colitis, epithelial biology and physiology, probiotic enhancement of the intestinal barrier
Carol Casey, PhD
Understanding how ethanol consumption and/or administration affects the dynamics of lipid droplets in hepatocytes, alcohol's deleterious effects on protein trafficking
Benita McVicker, PhD
Altered protein trafficking and hepatocellular injury in animal models of alcohol-associated liver disease, role of alcohol in the potentiation of colorectal liver metastases, study of hepatic stellate cell transformation and models of liver fibrosis, targeting profibrotic mechanisms using anti-miRNA nanoparticles, pre-clinical assessments using human precision-cut liver slices
Michel Ouellette, PhD
The biology of telomeres and telomerase and the biochemistry of the Kras/Rac1 pathway. In the context of pancreatic cancer cells, his lab is currently studying the role of these systems in the development of the tumors and their potential value as therapeutic targets for the treatment of the disease.
Kusum Kharbanda, PhD
Efficacy of betaine and betaine analogs and esters in preventing and treating liver injury of various etiologies including alcohol and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, alcoholic liver injury including steatosis, apoptosis, accumulation of damaged proteins, impaired proteasome function, decreased creatine synthesis, and altered protein-protein interactions, alcohol/high-caloric intake-induced methylation defects on alterations in lipid droplet structure and function that leads to their persistence in the liver while promoting their lipolysis in the adipose tissue
Fedja Rochling, MD
Faruq Pradhan, MD
Alexander Hewlett, DO
Outcomes in gastroparesis, pharmacological studies in eosinophilic esophagitis, patient outcomes in eosinophilic esophagitis
Jiongru Wu, PhD
Experience with various specialized and advanced skills in biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology and immunology; cell culture; model of in vitro organogenesis in 3D-culture; bacteriological genetics; protein expression and purification; DNA and RNA preps; molecular cloning and transfection with mammalian cell line; immunoanalytical techniques (antibody production, immunoprecipitation, ELISA, western blot); flow cytometry analysis; advanced PCR techniques (ligation-mediated PCR; real-time PCR; primer design); gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE); DNA sequencing; in situ hybridization; microarray technology (high-throughput data analysis and clustering); HPLC with chromatography applications; spectroscopy (UV-vis, fluorescence, circular dichroism); microcalorimetry (DSC, ITC); biological database; computer-aided data analysis software.