{"id":2394,"date":"2016-11-17T22:09:07","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T22:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spokane.wsu.edu\/extra\/?p=2394"},"modified":"2020-09-03T19:28:46","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T19:28:46","slug":"wsu-spokane-research-tackles-drug-delivery-sleep-deprivation-genetics-fatigue-disaster-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spokane.wsu.edu\/news\/research\/wsu-spokane-research-tackles-drug-delivery-sleep-deprivation-genetics-fatigue-disaster-response\/","title":{"rendered":"WSU Spokane research tackles drug delivery, sleep deprivation and genetics, fatigue in disaster response and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Research<\/a><\/p>\n

Zhenjia Wang (left) talks to postdoctoral research associate Zhang Canyang at Wang\u2019s research lab in the Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences Building.<\/i><\/p>\n

(This story appears in the latest edition of the <\/i>WSU Spokane Magazine<\/i><\/span><\/a>)<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

By Judith Van Dongen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Researchers at WSU Spokane are busy working to create healthier communities. Here’s a roundup of recent research news:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

$1.7M Grant Funds Nanoparticle Research to Improve Drug Delivery<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"Zhenjia<\/a>Good things come in small packages, which in the case of one WSU researcher\u2019s work are measured in nanometers, or billionths of a meter. Zhenjia Wang<\/strong>, Ph.D., an assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences, designs new therapeutics\u2014tiny nanoparticles capable of carrying drug molecules across the blood vessel barrier, directly to diseased tissue. <\/span><\/p>\n

With a new five-year, $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Wang will be testing nanoparticles he created from albumin, a plasma protein that is already running through our veins in abundance. He will determine whether the albumin nanoparticles can successfully attach themselves to neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that is known to automatically travel through the blood vessel barrier to fight infection or inflammation at its source. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn this study, we specifically look at infectious and inflammatory lung diseases, such as pneumonia and acute lung injury, but this same technology could be applied to any disease that involves infection or <\/span><\/p>\n

inflammation, including cancer,\u201d Wang said. In a separate project, he is looking at neutrophils as potential carriers for chemotherapy drugs.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If his hypothesis holds up, Wang\u2019s study could lay the groundwork for more effective and efficient delivery of a wide variety of existing drugs. Since drugs would reach only the targeted site\u2014rather than be released throughout the body\u2014toxicity to healthy tissues would be minimized and drug doses could be lowered. Wang said targeted drug delivery is crucial to improving quality of life and increasing treatment options for patients, some of whom might not survive the side effects that come with the higher doses required by conventional drug delivery.<\/span><\/p>\n

Research Identifies Sleep Deprivation Resilience Gene <\/span><\/h3>\n

Why do some people handle lack of sleep so much better than others? It\u2019s one question that researchers in the WSU Sleep and Performance Research Center have been trying to answer. Previous studies by WSU sleep scientists have found that differences in performance impairment in response to sleep deprivation are rooted in our biology and vary depending on the type of task we are trying to tackle. Based on those findings and other WSU research, graduate neuroscience student Brieann Satterfield<\/strong>, B.S., is working to find the genes that could help explain these differences.\u00a0\"Brieann<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

One discovery Satterfield has made is that, during sleep deprivation, people who have a specific mutation in the gene that controls the brain protein TNF-alpha perform significantly better on a reaction time test that measures sustained attention than those who do not. Sustained attention, or the ability to stay focused on a task, is critical for driving a car, flying a plane, or monitoring systems in a power station. Satterfield\u2019s finding, which is based on data from 88 participants in sleep deprivation lab studies, was published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the TNF-alpha gene explains just part of the study participants\u2019 performance differences, Satterfield said her discovery brings scientists one step closer to identifying the combination of genes or other biomarkers that could best predict how well sleep-deprived people will perform in different task environments. That knowledge could eventually lead to targeted interventions to help those less resilient to sleep deprivation. It could also be used as the basis for developing an objective, blood- or saliva-based drowsiness test for drivers.<\/span><\/p>\n

New Center to Reduce Health Disparities in Native People<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"Dedra<\/a>A WSU researcher has received a $10 million grant to establish a new collaborative research center aimed at reducing health risks related to high blood pressure in U.S. Native populations. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dedra Buchwald<\/strong>, M.D.\u2014a professor in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine and the founder and director of the Initiative for Research and Education to Advance Community Health (IREACH)\u2014will lead the effort with co-investigator Spero Manson of the University of Colorado Denver. Funding for the five-year grant comes from the National Institute on Minority Health Disparities, a component of the National Institutes of Health. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNative populations suffer many health inequities related to hypertension, including elevated rates of heart disease, stroke, and chronic kidney disease,\u201d said Buchwald. \u201cOur center will forge new partnerships and leverage existing ones to conduct culturally informed studies to improve blood pressure control to prevent these diseases.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Research taking place within the center will include three intervention studies to:<\/span><\/p>\n