Tell us about the work at the Center of Biomedical and Life Sciences. Most of our foundation work is looking at drug development with different pharmaceutical companies, for example, Merck and other companies. We test drugs in different model systems, and we also do saliva diagnostic work as well, trying to see if we can find novel biomarkers in saliva that can do things and correlate with disease. We’re now moving into a wound-healing model, and we’re working with Crosslink – one of the JVIC affiliates – on that. We are a team of about 20 – about one-third each in full-time staff, graduate students and undergraduates.
What product is the center working on with Crosslink? We’re working with them to come up with what we call a smart bandage – bandages that actually will release drugs. We went to an international wound-healing meeting and talked to the people at Johnson & Johnson and other companies, and what we found out is that there really isn’t any evidence-based medicine to back up why we even put a Band-Aid on a wound. … We really don’t have much literature to really support why we do anything when it comes to wound healing, and I think it’s a major issue for us and for our culture because of all the diabetics. It’s estimated that one in three Americans will be diabetic in the next 20 years or so. … We study the nervous system, so diabetic neuropathies are going to be very much a problem. So we need to figure out if somebody does get a wound, how can we help it heal faster and heal better … because the faster you can heal a wound, the more likely you are not to have infections and other secondary problems. Our real goal is to develop bandages and technology to have scar-less healing.
You filed paperwork for a grant from the National Institutes of Health on July 1. What would that fund? That one is on migraines and temporomandibular joint disorders. We’re trying to come up with new therapeutic strategies. … We won’t hear until after the first of the year probably, if we’ll get it. … What we’re coming back to is that what you eat is really important in controlling inflammatory responses. … Think about it from a diabetic point of view. A lot of people will go on drugs to control their diabetes, but once they lose the weight and eat properly, they don’t need the drugs anymore. The whole term is called epigenetics. … Most people are familiar with genetics, or the genes that we get from our parents. But what we’re not really pushing as much as we should is that we also have the epigenome, which sits above the genome and regulates the expression of different genes. Let’s say you have a predisposition toward cardiovascular disease, which runs in your family. … What it means is … if you don’t eat right, sleep right or you take the wrong path, you’re probably going to end up with cardiovascular disease at a very early age. But on the other hand, if you know (something) runs in your family, the epigenome comes into play, and that’s controlled by your environment. So if you minimize stress, you eat right and sleep right and exercise, your body pretty much takes care of itself.
Are you working on projects with local companies outside JVIC? One of the things we’re really excited about is a partnership with International Dehydrated Foods. IDF is actually going to start looking at what the nutritional value is in their food products and (whether the company) can change its processing to make food more nutritional. … Most of the foods we eat are very flavorful but not very nutritious. And based on epigenetics, if you’re not eating really healthy food, you’re not controlling your epigenome, which means you’re not controlling your disease state. (With processed food), how much nutritional value is actually left? We don’t ask those questions, but IDF is going to start. … We’ve also done research with Askinosie Chocolate … to isolate a compound active in the cocoa, and it’s actually a steroid drug.
What capabilities can you offer to businesses? Chemical analysis is something that we do quite a bit of. We have lasers and different coating applications that we can do. We do a lot of microbiology services for companies. If they have a contaminant and want to know what it is, we can analyze it and make recommendations on what to do to control it. We can do biological and physical testing (and) elemental analysis of metals. [[In-content Ad]]
