Bio

Specific Research Experience:

Generated primary fibroblast cultures from biopsies of very large and very small mammals including the blue whale and the Etruscan shrew.

Established a biobank of primary cell lines from a variety of species including several marine mammals. This work is ongoing in collaboration with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

Established novel protocols for isolating induced pluripotent stem cells from several nonhuman mammalian species including mouse, rat and the pig, which is considered a nonpermissive species.

Established human induced pluripotent stem cell lines from patient derived lymphoblastoid cell lines.

Characterized induced pluripotent stem cells and ES cells using a variety of assays including cardiomyocyte differentiation and immunofluorescence.

Established Karyotyping procedures for wild and domestic animal species using the LEICA CytoVision imaging system.

Developed novel Cell-SELEX procedures and discovered DNA aptamer reagents for stem cells and cell surface expressed protein targets.

Conducted peptide phage display experiments with stem cell cultures.

Maintained human embryonic stem cells using various culture conditions.

Developed in vitro assays (phosphorylation, signal-transduction, migration, flow-cytometry) leading to the discovery of an anti-cancer therapeutic antibody now in phase-3 clinical trial.

Prepared a proposal for a tissue microarray pilot study.

Developed quantitative in-vivo assays for testing the inhibitory effect of therapeutic antibodies on receptor phosphorylation and signaling in mouse liver and xenograft tumor tissues (IGEN, MSD, Luminex technologies)

Applied antibody phage display technology and automated screening procedures such as robotic ELISAs for the discovery of therapeutic anti-cancer antibody reagents.

Developed in vitro cell based assays for inhibitors of angiogenesis and an in vivo model for angiogenesis called CAM (Chick chorioallantoic membrane) assay.

Studied growth, differentiation and signal transduction of avian bone marrow derived hematopoietic cells.

Generated a panel of monoclonal antibodies and characterized rabies virus strains.

Participated in the development of a rabies vaccine for foxes and dogs.