Centers
Eight Research Centers are currently in operation at the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, along with several core facilities. Although senior investigators and their associates pursue their individual research goals, there are thematic approaches the different laboratories have in common.
Current Centers:
Cardiovascular Genetic Research studies heart disease, stroke, and atherosclerosis.
Hans J. Müller-Eberhard and Irma Gigli Center for Immunology and Autoimmune Diseases studies allergies, autoimmunity, asthma, infectious lung disease, skin, and kidney diseases.
Human Genetics addresses a range of diseases including heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and cerebrovascular disorders.
Metabolic and Degenerative Diseases focuses on noninsulin-dependent diabetes, the most common form of the disease affecting our population today. By investigating the genes responsible for risk factors such as obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, we may provide physicians with the new tools to help diagnose and treat diabetes long before debilitating complications can arise, or even before the disease itself can strike.
Molecular Imaging develops and engineers new imaging instrumentation, algorithms, and agents for in vivo molecular imaging in small animals. The Center uses in vivo imaging of unique animal models to answer key biological questions of collaborators. It also focuses upon translating scientific discoveries and new imaging approaches into the clinic such as the current trials of for near-infrared fluorescence lymphatic imaging and non-invasive PET and optical imaging for nodal staging of cancer.
Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine explores the mechanisms behind stem cell self-renewal and differentiation with plans to expand current studies to develop stem cell lines designed to benefit transplantation medicine and the regeneration of tissues, and to provide vectors for gene therapy with direct implications for the treatment of a wide range of chronic diseases.
- Senator Lloyd and B.A. Bentsen Center for Stroke Research promotes research and collaboration leading to the prevention of stroke, a medical problem affecting countless individuals and families. With three-quarters of a million new or recurrent strokes each year in the U.S., research is vital to better understand, treat and help people avoid stroke. Researchers involved in the Bentsen Center - in areas including stem cell therapy, genetic predictors of stroke, induced hypothermia/hibernation, molecular imaging of the vascular system, and others - will have tremendous impact on the medical field as the center goes forward.
Texas Therapeutics Institute Texas Therapeutics Institute (TTI) which is jointly funded by the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) and the University of Texas (UT) is establishing research laboratories in three UT campuses: UT Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), and UT-Austin (UTA).
TTI faculties will coordinate their research activities to provide the necessary inter-institutional infrastructure to advance drug discovery and development in the State of Texas. TTI faculties will establish independent, complementary, and collaborative translational drug discovery programs.
Translational Cancer Research studies novel biochemical reagents and mathematical methods with which to treat futures patients with personalized medical procedures for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Work in the center includes mathematical prediction of the optimal chemotherapy dosage based on a patient's tumor morphology, personalized aptamer targeting agents, morphology-based targeting agents, and bioinformatics. The center has state-of-art mass spectrometry equipment for both research and CLIA-certified clinical applications.
