Joshua M. Hare
Louis Lemberg professor of medicine/director, Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Joshua M. Hare's research could reduce the need for drugs in repairing hearts.

» Joshua Hare hopes his new stem cell therapy can repair hearts organically, reducing the need for drugs and transplants. Until now, when damage occurred to a heart, cardiologists were able to treat the damage but not repair it or reverse it. Hare and his team of researchers discovered that stem cells injected into enlarged hearts reduced heart size, reduced scar tissue and improved function to injured heart areas.

"The big discovery is that we can treat heart disease with stem cells," Hare says. "When people think of stem cells, they think of embryonic stem cells. These are adult stem cells."

In a preliminary clinical trial, physicians used a corkscrew-shaped catheter to inject stem cells from the patient's own bone marrow. The patients were eight men, with an average age of 57, who had chronically enlarged, low-functioning hearts. All patients in the study benefited from the therapy and tolerated the injections. No one had serious adverse effects. The stem cell injections even improved old cardiac injuries.

Hare says his findings support more extensive testing that will take three to five years and involve hundreds of patients before the stem cell therapy is able to win FDA approval for routine use.

Marco Pahor
Chairman, Department of Aging and Geriatrics Research, University of Florida

Marco Pahor is researching the long-term effectiveness of a physical activity program for seniors. [Photo: Ray Carson/University of Florida]

» Marco Pahor, director of the University of Florida Institute on Aging, wants to use research and training programs to help older adults stay healthy and physically independent. Pahor, 53 and an avid runner, scrutinizes the impact of physical activity on the aging process.

Under his direction, the institute has received more than 90 grants and has 40 more grant proposals pending. The grants include UF's largest — $64 million from the National Institute on Aging — to determine conclusively whether physical activity or a successful aging health education program can help older adults remain mobile longer. Pahor is leading a six-year study that researches the long-term effectiveness of a physical activity program and the effectiveness of a health education program for seniors. Until now, little has been known about whether physical activity or health education can actually help prevent major movement disability. "The loss of capacity to walk is a major problem for seniors," Pahor says. His study also will look at secondary outcomes such as falls, pulmonary events, cognition and memory. "We want to make sure there's truly a good way to improve our quality of life as we age."

Pahor and researchers at 15 other universities across the country are recruiting 1,600 people older than 70 to participate at eight sites. Pahor will begin compiling the data in the first quarter of 2014.

Beyond the new study, Pahor's team is tackling a range of aging-related issues, among them: Identifying cellular processes behind hearing loss and muscle loss and investigating whether a red wine extract can improve brain function.

Stephen Gardell
Director, Translational Research Resources, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute at Lake Nona

Stephen Gardell's research could help scientists understand and treat obesity and metabolic diseases. [Photo: Michael Cairns]

» Stephen Gardell and his study of metabolomics is breaking new ground in research that could help understand and treat obesity and metabolic diseases. Metabolomics is the measurement of metabolites (small molecules) in blood and tissues. Humans have 7,000 to 8,000 metabolites in our bodies such as amino acids, sugars or fat, Gardell says. "They are what make us all tick." He believes metabolites provide a signature of our health, disease and the effects of drugs. "They are a window to gauge what is happening."

Gardell is optimistic that measuring biomarkers will help in recognizing differences in how diseases develop. Understanding how that happens, he says, could help with individualized prevention and treatment plans.

In early 2011, Gardell and his team became part of a corporate-sponsored research agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical and the Translational Research Institute at Florida Hospital. Under the agreement, the institute provides biological source material such as blood and tissues from humans for Gardell's team to measure metabolites.

The aim of the collaboration is to identify biomarkers and novel drug strategies for developing more personalized treatments for obesity. "What we need to understand is why people have a predisposition to obesity."

Gardell says his team's work could provide information to help with drug treatment strategies for diseases such as cancer and diabetes. The team is participating in numerous investigations for researchers at Sanford-Burnham and elsewhere.

Patricia A. Kruk
Professor of pathology and cell biology, University of South Florida

Patricia A. Kruk is working on developing a simple screening test that can detect ovarian cancer before it spreads. [Photo: Mark Wemple]

» Patricia Kruk's research could lead to a simple, more sensitive screening test for ovarian cancer to detect the disease before it spreads. Kruk studies molecular changes responsible for early stages of ovarian cancer — a deadly disease that's usually detected late because its symptoms are vague and there's no accurate early screening test. She has worked with colleagues at USF, Moffitt Cancer Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer to develop urinary biomarkers for cancer detection. Her goal is to create a simple urine test that would become part of women's annual exams and catch ovarian cancer before it spreads beyond the ovaries.

Kruk's research has discovered that the level of an anti-apoptotic protein in urine, called Bcl-2, is 10 times higher in women with ovarian cancer than it is in healthy women. She is awaiting approval of a patent for her method of measuring urinary levels of Bcl-2. Additionally, USF is pursuing a licensing partner for the technology.

When she joined the USF College of Medicine in 1996, Kruk was already known for originating a successful technique to isolate and culture ovarian surface epithelial cells, including those derived from women with inherited ovarian cancer. At USF, she developed a research project focused on the molecular regulation and biological consequences of reactivation of the enzyme telomerase in ovarian cancer. She won two grants to study the urinary biomarker and is doing research to further validate her initial data. Until now, researchers had looked at blood biomarkers, which typically are monitored after ovarian cancer is detected. Kruk is considered among the pioneers conducting research in urinary biomarkers. She recently was presented with the USF Excellence in Innovation Award.

"When I pursued my Ph.D., I was advised to find something I would be passionate about in research," she says.

"I followed that advice."