Nitrite and Nitric Oxide in Sickle Cell Blood

描述(由申请人提供)： 候选人的教学和服务负担将会减少，这样他就可以将75%以上的时间花在研究上。在获得物理学硕士学位后，这位候选人于1993年在加州大学伯克利分校获得生物物理学博士学位。在NIH资助的博士后培训期间，他开始研究镰状细胞疾病。自1996年加入维克森林大学物理系以来，他一直专注于镰状细胞疾病。维克森林大学拥有约3800名本科生、600名研究生和1500名医学、法律和商业专业学院的学生。候选人目前有一个宽敞的实验室和终身物理学副教授的办公室。他目前是美国国立卫生研究院资助的一项拨款(R01 HL58091)的首席研究员(PI)，专注于镰状细胞血液中一氧化氮(NO)的影响。镰状细胞性贫血患者有异常的NO相关血管活性，这是由于无细胞血红蛋白清除NO所致。没有任何治疗方法可以恢复正常的NO血管活性，最近发表的数据也表明，NO可能上调胎儿血红蛋白，从而减少镰状。这位候选人也是羟基尿素(一种FDA批准的治疗镰状细胞疾病的药物)一氧化氮捐献特性研究的关键合作者。此外，候选人将扩大他的研究范围，通过观察亚硝酸盐在脱氧血红蛋白转化为一氧化氮的作用，从而在体内充当一氧化氮的储存库，来研究镰状细胞血液中一氧化氮的影响。最后，候选人计划开发非侵入性成像工具来研究镰状细胞病患者微循环的病理以及疗法的效果。应聘者目前的教学和服务负担很重。K02奖将解除他的一些职责，这样他就可以有更多的时间与同事互动，参加研讨会和会议，以及做研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The candidate will have his teaching and service load reduced so that he can spend greater than 75% of his time on research. After earning a M.S. in physics, the candidate earned a Ph.D. in biophysics at UC Berkeley in 1993. He began studying sickle cell disease during his NIH-funded postdoctoral training. He has continued his focus on sickle cell disease since joining the Physics Department at Wake Forest University in 1996. Wake Forest University has about 3800 undergraduates, 600 graduate students, and 1,500 students in the professional schools of medicine, law, and business. The candidate currently has a spacious laboratory and office as a tenured Associate Professor of Physics. He is currently the principal investigator (PI) on a NIH-funded grant (R01 HL58091) focusing on the effects of nitric oxide (NO) in sickle cell blood. Patients with sickle cell anemia have been shown to have abnormal NO-related vasoactivity due to the scavenging of NO by cell-free hemoglobin. NO therapy may restore normal NO vasoactivity, and data has also recently been published suggesting that NO may upregulate fetal hemoglobin and thereby reduce sickling. The candidate is also a key collaborator on a study of the NO donating properties of hydroxyurea (an FDA approved drug for sickle cell disease). In addition, the candidate will expand his studies looking at the effects of NO in sickle cell blood by looking at the effects of nitrite as converted to NO by deoxygenated hemoglobin and thus serves as a reservoir for NO in the body. Finally, the candidate plans to develop non-invasive imaging tools to study pathology of the microcirculation in patients with sickle cell disease and the effects of therapeutics. The candidate currently has a heavy teaching and service load. A K02 award will relieve him of some of these duties so that he can spend more time interacting with his colleagues, attending seminars and meetings, and doing research.