Medical and Pharmaciutical Introduction

KEY RESEARCH AREAS

Metabolic health
Disease diagnosis
Population genetics
Targeted drug delivery, cancer diagnosis and treatment
Vaccine technology

Scientific strategic objectives of these programs

1. Metabolic health

The main goal for this branch is to investigate the molecular pathways that can lead to the development of metabolic disorders, including obesity and diabetes. This will be achieved by utilizing molecular biology techniques and cell signaling technology. Molecular biology advances have led to the identification of cellular proteins that are involved in disease processes like inflammation and programmed cell death. This will open the door for the development of small molecules drugs that alter the activity of these proteins and prevent or inhibit disease. The available core facilities in our institution (cell culture laboratory, animal and transgenic facility, etc.) will enable us to study the molecular bases for these metabolic diseases, which are rapidly progressing in our society and carry significant health consequences and economical burden.

2. Disease diagnosis

Disease diagnosis is essential in improving health care in the society. The goal of this branch is to develop novel diagnostic tests for diseases with high impact in the society. Utilizing cutting edge technologies in this field will open the way for implementing these technologies in the diagnosis of a wide spectrum of diseases.

3. Population genetics

The general aim of this branch is to study the population in Saudi Arabia to determine the distribution of specific genetic variants that are associated with cancer (e.g. lung, colon, and breast cancer), and polygenetic diseases (e.g. Asthma, and T2DM). This will enable us to better understand the pathogenesis of these complex diseases, with the promise of improving preventive strategies, diagnostic tools, and therapies.

4. Targeted drug delivery, cancer diagnosis and treatment

Targeted drug delivery is the most important goal of pharmaceutical and biotechnological research and development. In this context drug targeting is defined in the broadest sense, that is, to optimize a drug’s therapeutic index by strictly localizing its pharmacological activity to the site or organ of action. This is an important distinction from the basic targeting concept, where the specific drug receptor is the target and the objective is to improve fit, affinity, and binding to the specific receptor that ultimately will trigger the pharmacological activity.

In principle, drug targeting can be achieved by physical, biological, or molecular systems that result in high concentrations of the pharmacologically active agent at the pathophysiologically relevant site. If successful, the result of the targeting would be a significant reduction in drug toxicity, reduction of the drug dose, and increased treatment efficacy. All in all, it is evident that with a biologically active agent of reasonable activity at hand, targeting to the site of action should be superior to molecular manipulations aimed at refining the receptor substrate interactions.

5. Vaccine technology

In recent years with the development of biotechnology in medicine, a new type of vaccine created from an infectious agent's DNA called DNA vaccines has been developed. DNA-based vaccines consist of a segment of viral DNA, made in the laboratory. When it is inserted into the body, the artificial DNA is taken up by cells, which translate the DNA into viral proteins. This triggers the immune system to produce antibodies for the viral proteins, therefore also giving the body protection against the virus, which the protein came from. DNA-based vaccines would be a great improvement over current vaccines. The use of DNA-based vaccines attracted much attention recently and shows promising results nowadays. In addition to their ability to elicit both humoral and cellular immune responses they are very stable, safe and cost effective in manufacturing and storage.

RESEARCH GOALS AREAS

Metabolic health

The study of the molecular bases of obesity is a major focus of the center. The study of adipocyte biology with a focus on adipocyte signaling carries high potentials to discover novel therapeutic approaches to prevent and treat obesity. Goals are:

To study the interactions and cross-talk between chemerin, adiponectin, MAP kinases and insulin signaling pathways during different phases of adipocyte differentiation in visceral and peripheral adipose tissue.
To elucidate the inflammatory and oxidative stress markers profile both in lean and obese subjects.
To study the role of AMP-activated protein kinase and different phosphorylation events in the regulation of whole-body energy balance.
To design new therapeutic measures for the prevention and treatment of obesity and its related disorders.

Disease Diagnosis
The specific goals in this area include:

To use silicon nano-particles as biosensors for detecting single-point or multiple mutations using DNA- based modification of these nano-particles.
To develop high-throughput amenable bioassay for interferon in form of stable genetically engineered cell line clone.
To develop genetic markers as a prognostic tool for infectious diseases and cancer.

Population Genetics
The specific goals in the area include:

To determine the frequency of genetic variants (Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP's)) in the normal Saudi population and compare it with other populations, to determine population differences.
Ascertain the distribution of disease causing mutations in patients with genetic disease in Saudi Arabia.
To establish a SNP database for the Saudi population.
To develop informative and effective diagnostic assays for common mutations associated with these diseases in Saudi population.

Targeted drug delivery, cancer diagnosis and treatment
The specific goals in the area include:

To design a novel drug delivery system that target bleomycin (BM) specifically to the colon for the treatment of colon cancer. Two systems will be made one by the preparation of BM nanocapsule using chitosan, the other by the formation of solid lipid nanopaticles with suitable lipid base. The prepared nanocapsules or nanoparticles will be further filled into hard gelatin capsule either as dry powder or as an aqueous suspension. Then the hard gelatin capsule will be sealed and coated with a special enteric coating polymer that dissolves in high pH.
To design a novel targeting drug delivery system using immunoliposomes techniques, in which a monoclonal antibody (mAb) or its fragments are conjugated to liposomes, represent the next generation of molecularly targeted drug delivery systems to usefully treat lymphoma.
To ensure the superiority of such technique with regard to higher therapeutic efficacy and mush less toxicity over the currently marketed BM formulations.
To Introduce novel drug delivery system(s) for superior therapeutic efficacy and less toxicity profile.

Vaccine technology
The goal of this proposed research:

To develop and deliver DNA vaccines via a route of administration other than injection. Oral delivery system is chosen for this proposed research aiming to improve patient compliances and increase immunogenicity. Hepatitis B vaccine was chosen as a model DNA vaccine.
Genetic engineering of an existing Hepatitis B DNA vaccine plasmid will be one of the aims of this work to optimize the antigen expression in the target cells by tuning the HBs cDNA sequence the human codon-usage preference. Different carrier systems including liposomes, niosomes, micro and nano suspensions will be formulated for the delivery of DNA vaccine. The different formulations will be characterized, optimized and compared in vitro. The most promising formulations with high stability and good physical characteristics will be subjected to in vivo study in small and higher animals.
To establish the efficacy and safety of the different vaccine formulations and to asses that by measuring the antibody and cellular responses post-immunization. Based on these immunological studies the successful formulation that will show high immunogenicity are planned to be evaluated in human volunteers aiming to produce market formulations for oral delivery of hepatitis B vaccine.

Last Updated on Monday, 26 December 2011 08:03