IHSFC Research Highlights
With the establishment of the IHSFC and the newly renovated outpatient clinical research space, EHSC members now have available to them the capacity to conduct translational human clinical research in-house at OSU. We have also developed close collaborations with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland to conduct larger studies or studies with ill populations.
Highlights of research supported by IHSFC:
The research of EHSC and LPI member, Distinguished Professor Emeritus Dr. George Bailey, exemplifies the progression of translational research from basic science into clinically relevant applications. His lab has focused on innovative cancer chemoprevention research, including prevention of liver cancer from aflatoxin (AFB) exposure. IHSFC in-house clinical services enabled Dr. Bailey’s research on chemotherapeutic interventions to move forward into human studies from in-vitro and animal models. IHSFC staff screened potential participants for study entry criteria include physical assessment. We utilized a system to collect frequent blood samples from an indwelling peripheral IV catheter so that precise pharmacokinetic determinations could be made. Without this system, participants would have had to undergo 15 needlesticks in a 72 hour period. Results have shown (Manuscript in preparation.)
EHSC member and LPI director Dr. Balz Frei’s translational study, The Role of R-alpha Lipoic Acid in Prevention and Treatment of Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease, will commence in summer of 2008 in collaboration with Oregon Health & Science University’s Clinical and Translational Research Center. Dr. Frei’s research focuses on the ameliorating effects of dietary supplements on endothelial dysfunction. This study brings Dr. Frei’s basic science discoveries into the human realm. IHSFC staff had key roles in designing the study, writing the human protection sections of the grant renewal proposal, and developing the collaboration between the two institutions, the first of its kind for an EHSC member.
