Project Title: Drug development to target neuroinflammatory insults and non-small cell lung carcinoma
Research overview. The Ferrer laboratory focuses on the identification and study of drugs that help decrease chronic neuroinflammatory insults such as ischemic stroke. We also aim to find and optimize non-toxic drugs that can help decrease the growth, proliferation, and migration of Non-small cell lung carcinoma.
Research Interests
1) Dr. Ferrer has several research projects in the area of Neuroscience and Cancer. Within the field of Neuroscience, her projects focus on studying the specific contribution of astrocytes in ischemic stroke, study nicotinic signaling in these cells, and elucidate mechanisms by which their reactivity can be regulated. Her laboratory uses primary cell cultures of astrocytes, in vitro and ex-vivo models of ischemic stroke (such as oxygen-glucose deprivation in cells and mouse hippocampal slices), and in vivo mouse models of ischemic stroke to answer her questions. Investigating the molecular mechanisms that lead to astrocyte reactivity upon neuroinflammation will lead to the discovery of targets for the development of effective treatments that could promote neuroprotection after an ischemic stroke.
2) In her cancer projects, she targets Non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), which encompasses ~85% of lung cancer cases. She uses a syngeneic mouse model, called the Lewis Lung Carcinoma model, and it is an immune-competent mouse system to study tumorigenesis. To target NSCLC, she is testing several strategies, from the use of natural compounds to induce nicotinic inhibition and decrease tumor growth, to the use of targeted nanoparticles delivering drugs that induce cell-death into the tumor cells. Our studies aim towards the development of low-dose, non-toxic, drugs, and targeted drug delivery systems to treat lung carcinoma either alone or as adjuvant treatments in vivo.
Techniques: Among the techniques used in her laboratory are: Western blots, ELISA, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, genotyping (PCR), cancer line cell culture, brain primary cell isolation and culture, fluorescent and infrared imaging, proteomics, tumor implant/monitoring, among others.
Skills: The students who compromise to the laboratory will learn basic laboratory skills, from the preparation of solutions, laboratory preservation, notebook keeping, and aseptic techniques, to performing cell culture, Molecular Biology, and in vivo techniques. Students will learn how to design, perform experiments, obtain data, analyze it, and present it in a scientifically meaningful way.
Research Interests
1) Dr. Ferrer has several research projects in the area of Neuroscience and Cancer. Within the field of Neuroscience, her projects focus on studying the specific contribution of astrocytes in ischemic stroke, study nicotinic signaling in these cells, and elucidate mechanisms by which their reactivity can be regulated. Her laboratory uses primary cell cultures of astrocytes, in vitro and ex-vivo models of ischemic stroke (such as oxygen-glucose deprivation in cells and mouse hippocampal slices), and in vivo mouse models of ischemic stroke to answer her questions. Investigating the molecular mechanisms that lead to astrocyte reactivity upon neuroinflammation will lead to the discovery of targets for the development of effective treatments that could promote neuroprotection after an ischemic stroke.
2) In her cancer projects, she targets Non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), which encompasses ~85% of lung cancer cases. She uses a syngeneic mouse model, called the Lewis Lung Carcinoma model, and it is an immune-competent mouse system to study tumorigenesis. To target NSCLC, she is testing several strategies, from the use of natural compounds to induce nicotinic inhibition and decrease tumor growth, to the use of targeted nanoparticles delivering drugs that induce cell-death into the tumor cells. Our studies aim towards the development of low-dose, non-toxic, drugs, and targeted drug delivery systems to treat lung carcinoma either alone or as adjuvant treatments in vivo.
Techniques: Among the techniques used in her laboratory are: Western blots, ELISA, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, genotyping (PCR), cancer line cell culture, brain primary cell isolation and culture, fluorescent and infrared imaging, proteomics, tumor implant/monitoring, among others.
Skills: The students who compromise to the laboratory will learn basic laboratory skills, from the preparation of solutions, laboratory preservation, notebook keeping, and aseptic techniques, to performing cell culture, Molecular Biology, and in vivo techniques. Students will learn how to design, perform experiments, obtain data, analyze it, and present it in a scientifically meaningful way.
To contact Dr. Ferrer you can write to the address below
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]