Photo: Pete Wishnok.

3D bioreactors - 'liverchips'. Dr. Linda Griffith’s group is collaborating with the Tannenbaum group and with a pharmaceutical company to develop new integrated micro-bioreactor systems to grow 3D tissues for use in drug development. To get a thorough understanding of “liver chip” functions and clear directions for improving the physiological functions of new chips, I’ve developed LC/MS/MS methods to analyze drugs and metabolites in model bioreactors. The fast, reliable and environmentally friendly analytical protocols within a very narrow time frame was built up to determine the clearance of drugs during liver metabolism to evaluate the behavior of these “liver-chip” models. Thid should result in a better in vitro model for predicting human liver response to drugs timely and at low cost.

Inflammation and cancer. To better understand the role of inflammation in the progress of cancer, Professor James Fox’s laboratory is investigating the relationship between Helicobacter hepaticus infection and liver tumor development in mice. Mice were stratified based on their genotype (constitutive androstane receptor), tumor initiation (diethylnitrosamine) and tumor promotion status (Hh), and a sensitive LC/MS/MS method is being used to measure the serum concentrations of selected bile acids in those mice. The results will reveal whether toxic bile acids and their metabolites in the blood may be associated with liver cancer in infected mice. In the long run, and, ultimately, to understand how chronic infection and sustained inflammation lead to liver cancer in humans.
email Joy.