Two USF Health Morsani College of Medicine research-focused institutes rank among the Top 10 Institutes and Centers within Florida’s State University System (SUS).  The ranking was derived from the SUS 2018 survey of its 536 university institutes and centers engaged in scientific research, education, community service and other scholarly activity supported by public and private funds.

The USF Health Informatics Institute (HII) was the No 1 institute with $69.6 million in total expenditures. HII is led by Distinguished University Professor Jeffrey Krischer, PhD, who ranks in the top 1 percent of all National Institutes of Health-funded principal investigators worldwide (Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, 2018). He has made USF an international hub for NIH epidemiological research initiatives in both type 1 diabetes and rare diseases.

The USF Health Heart Institute, directed by Samuel Wickline, MD, professor of cardiovascular sciences, attained the No. 7 spot, with $13.4 million in total expenditures. The Heart Institute, created with the support of state and county funding, brings together NIH-funded laboratory researchers and physician-scientists to pioneer new discoveries for heart attacks, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases.

Jeffrey Krischer, PhD, leads the USF Health Informatics Institute

Virtually every major university conducting type 1 diabetes research is linked to Dr. Krischer’s institute at USF Health. The HII team coordinates, analyzes and maintains data from several international NIH-sponsored clinical networks investigating the causes and outcomes of type 1 diabetes, including The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY), TrialNet, the Rare and Atypical Diabetes Network (RADIANT), and the Trial to Reduce IDDM in the Genetically at Risk (TRIGR). Members of the Institute also have funding from industry, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and the NIH for studies in oncology, type 2 diabetes, molecular biology and “big data” (‘omics).

“The Health Informatics Institute has been able to design and implement an infrastructure to support high performance computing and big data and create a platform for scientific advances yet to come,” Dr. Krischer said.

Samuel Wickline, MD, is founding director of the USF Health Heart Institute.

The USF Health Heart Institute will be housed within the new Morsani College of Medicine building now in the final stages of construction in downtown Tampa. By bridging basic science and clinical translational research to create new therapies for heart disease, generating biomedical inventions leading to patents and licenses, and attracting biotech and pharmaceutical companies with its innovative work, the Heart Institute is expected to be a major driver of economic activity in the Tampa Bay region.

“USF has put forward a significant investment to pursue solutions to cardiovascular disease, the number one cause of death and health care expenditures worldwide,” said Dr. Wickline, a pioneer in harnessing nanotechnology to combat all types of inflammatory diseases. “It’s vital to the public good for universities to undertake applied translational research that achieves useful bench-to-bedside successes.”

March 25, 2019 — USF Health Heart Institute Director Samuel Wickline, MD, a pioneer in nanotechnology targeting heart disease and other disorders, has been inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows Class of 2019.  Election as an AIMBE Fellow is one of the highest professional distinctions; the College of Fellows is comprised of only the top 2 percent of medical and biological engineers.

Samuel A. Wickline, MD, founding director of the USF Health Heart Institute

Dr. Wickline is also the Tampa General Hospital Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine, associate dean for cardiovascular research, and a professor of cardiovascular sciences, molecular pharmacology and physiology, and medical engineering at the University of South Florida.  He was among the 156 new Fellows inducted at a ceremony held March 25 during the AIMBE Annual Meeting at the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC. The inductees also included Norma Alcantar, PhD, professor of chemical and biomedical engineering at USF.

Dr. Wickline was nominated, reviewed, and elected by peers and members of the College of Fellows for “pioneering advancements in molecular imaging with ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging/magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and biocompatible nanotechnologies targeting myriad diseases.”

Much of Dr. Wickline’s pioneering research has investigated the molecular basis of disease-causing processes using novel imaging methods to detect the genetic signature of cells and deploying nanoparticles to treat a variety of cardiovascular conditions, including targeting atherosclerotic plaques that cause heart attacks. His academic entrepreneurial work led to the development of advanced cardiac imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the heart to assess coronary artery disease.

During his tenure with Washington University in St. Louis, Dr. Wickline led a consortium that works with academic and industry partners to develop broad-based clinical applications for nanotechnology and imaging.  He also worked with corporate partner Philips Medical Systems to establish one of the first clinical and research programs for cardiac MRI and was a founding member of the International Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.

In 2016 Dr. Wickline joined USF to be founding director of the USF Health Heart Institute, now under construction as part of the university’s new Morsani College of Medicine in downtown Tampa. He has been instrumental in helping recruit scientists, forge industry partnerships and design new basic research laboratories and clinical research space that will accelerate the Institute’s graduate student training and pursuit of translational medicine and entrepreneurial activities when the facility opens in late 2019.

Dr. Wickline’s current research centers on designing and evaluating new nanotechnology  approaches to understand underlying molecular mechanisms of disease and to deliver more precise, safer treatments for arthritis, cancers, kidney injury and other conditions as well as cardiovascular diseases. Continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for more than 30 years, he has started four biotechnology companies, holds over 50 issued or filed patents, and has authored more than 315 peer-reviewed research papers.

The AIMBE College of Fellows has inducted Fellows representing 30 countries and employed in academia, industry, clinical practice and government. These Fellows include two Nobel Prize laureates, 17 Fellows who received the Presidential Medal of Science and/or Technology and Innovation, and 158 also inducted to the National Academy of Engineering, 72 inducted to the National Academy of Medicine and 31 inducted to the National Academy of Sciences.

With its two new honorees, USF is now home to a total of 15 AIMBE Fellows, including four from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

USF’s Master’s in Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology program celebrating its first graduating class

A scanning electron microscope image of nanoparticles that have been optimized for drug delivery.

As the technology of medicine and drug development and delivery continues to shrink down to the nanoscale, students at the University of South Florida College of Pharmacy are prepared to be leaders in this cutting-edge field.

USF’s Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology master’s program is graduating its first class of students at the Fall 2017 Commencement ceremony on Dec. 9. It’s a major milestone for the College of Pharmacy and the program’s director and associate dean, Shyam Mohapatra, PhD, a leader in this rapidly expanding field that combines the science of nanotechnology with direct medical applications.

“The developments we are making in this area are going to help millions of patients,” said Dr. Mohapatra, a distinguished health professor in the College’s Department of Pharmaceutical Science and director of the Center for Research and Education in Nanobioengineering at the Morsani College of Medicine. “It’s exciting to be able to do this research but also to prepare the future scientists who will make world-changing breakthroughs.”

The program enrolled its first student, Kathleen Halasz, in January 2015. Three others, Shannon Kelly, Robert Stearns and Tori Bedell, soon joined to form the inaugural class in the fall of 2015. Now, just two years later, over two-dozen graduate students are working toward this degree with 10 more set to begin classes in spring 2018.

For this first graduating class, commencement marks the culmination of years of hard work but also just the start of careers they hope will lead to lifesaving innovations.

“This is a very unique and specific area,” said Halasz. “But, the future of medicine is really headed in this direction. The impact that nanomedicine will have on society is very important, so it’s exciting to be part of this field.”

From left, Kathleen Halasz and Shannon Kelly are the first Nanotech graduate students from the USF Health College of Pharmacy to receive MS degree. Not pictured are Robert Stearns and Tori Bedell.

According to the National Nanotechnology Initiative, the field is defined as science, engineering and technology conducted at the nanoscale – about one to 100 nanometers. For reference, a human hair is well outside this range, measuring approximately 80,000 – 100,000 nanometers wide. The work of nanotechnology takes place at the atomic and subatomic levels, with researchers exploring ways to see and control individual atoms and molecules.

While the theory of nanotechnology began in a physics laboratory in the late 1950s, the applied use of the science in the medical field is still in its teenage years. USF’s Master of Science degree in Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology trains students to understand these nanoscopic concepts and looks at conventional treatments for a variety of diseases through the lens of nanotechnology as a mechanism to improve them.

“Nanotechnology allows for a targeted delivery of medications with decreased toxicity and decreased side effects,” explained Halasz. “Basically, it makes medicine more localized.”

One area seeing exciting developments using nanotechnology is in the treatment of cancers. Researchers at USF and around the world are working to design nanoparticles capable of delivering medication directly to diseased cells, giving doctors the ability to treat this deadly disease while sparing patients many of the debilitating side effects traditionally associated with cancer treatments. Mohapatra says it’s these types of applications that make the technology and this degree program so crucial.

“Nanotechnology is giving us the tools to build better medications,” he said. “So, by giving students an interdisciplinary education in the field, we can really make a lasting impact on the world.”

Dr. Mohapatra, along with the rest of the staff, designed the program to be accessible to as many students as possible. Courses can be taken entirely online or face-to-face in classrooms, and three academic tracks give students the ability to focus their work in the area that best fits their interests.

The program’s first four graduates are all currently applying and interviewing for positions in industry, with several also considering furthering their academic careers through PhD programs.

To learn more about the USF College of Pharmacy’s Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology program, click here.

-Story by Aaron Hilf, University Communications and Marketing, and photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

The founding director of the USF Health Heart Institute has a passion for innovation, translational medicine and entrepreneurship.

Samuel A. Wickline, MD, has parlayed his expertise in harnessing nanotechnology for molecular imaging and targeted treatments into an impressive $1-million portfolio of National Institutes of Health awards, multiple patents and four start-up biotechnology companies.

“We’ve developed nanostructures that can carry drugs or exist as therapeutic agents themselves against various types of inflammatory diseases, including, cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis and even infectious diseases like HIV,” said Dr. Wickline, who arrived at USF Health last month from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Dr. Wickline: “Innovation is not just about having a new idea, it’s about having a useful idea.”

 Dr. Wickline comments on how being a physician adds perspective to the science he conducts.

At Washington University, Dr. Wickline, a cardiologist, most recently was J. Russell Hornsby Professor in Biomedical Sciences and a professor of medicine with additional appointments in biomedical engineering, physics, and cell biology and physiology.

“I like the challenge of building things,” he said.

In St. Louis, he built a 29-year career as an accomplished physician-scientist keenly interested in translating basic science discoveries into practical applications to benefit patients. He served as chief of cardiology at Jewish Hospital, developed one of the first cardiac MRI training and research programs in the country, helped establish Washington University’s first graduate program in biomedical engineering, and led a university consortium that works with academic and industry partners to develop medical applications for nanotechnology.

At USF, there will be no shortage of challenging opportunities to build.

Building the USF Health Heart Institute

A major part of Dr. Wickline’s new job is helping to design, build and equip the Heart Institute. Most importantly, he will staff the state-of-the-art facility with a critical interdisciplinary mix of top biomedical scientists (including immunologists, molecular biologists, cell physiologists and genomics experts), who investigate the root causes of heart and vascular disease with the aim of finding new ways to detect, treat and prevent them. The Heart Institute will be co-located with new Morsani College of Medicine in downtown Tampa; construction on the combined facility is expected to begin later this year.

“I have been impressed by the energy and commitment here at the University of South Florida to invest substantial resources in a heart institute,” Dr. Wickline said. “I believe we have a lot to offer in terms of bench-to-bedside research that could solve some of the major cardiovascular problems” like atherosclerosis or heart failure.

“We want to put together a program that supplies the appropriate core facilities to attract the best and brightest researchers to this cardiovascular institute.”

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and worldwide, so exploring potential new treatment options is critical. One of the Heart Institute’s driving themes will be advancing concepts and findings that prove promising in the laboratory into projects commercialized for clinical use, Dr. Wickline said.

“Our goal is to make a difference in the lives of patients,” he said. “Innovation is not just about having a new idea, it’s about having a useful idea.”

Dr. Wickline also serves as associate dean for cardiovascular research and a professor of cardiovascular sciences at the Morsani College of Medicine. He holds the Tampa General Endowed Chair for Cardiovascular Research created last year with a gift from USF’s primary teaching hospital.

With Washington University colleague Hua Pan, PhD, a biomedical engineer and expert in molecular biology, Dr. Wickline is re-building his group at USF. Dr. Pan was recently recruited to USF as an assistant professor of medicine to continue her collaborations with Dr. Wickline.

 An example of Dr. Wickline’s group using nanotechnology to help combat atherosclerosis.

Dr. Wickline’s lab focuses on building nanoparticles to deliver drugs or other therapeutic agents to specific cell types, or targets.

Designing nanoparticles to “kill the messenger”

Dr. Wickline’s lab focuses on building nanoparticles – shaped like spheres or plates, but 10 to 50 times smaller than a red blood cell – to deliver drugs or other therapeutic agents through the bloodstream to specific cell types, or targets. These tiny carrier systems can effectively deliver a sizeable dosage directly to a targeted tissue, yet only require small amounts of the treatment in the circulation to reduce the risk of harmful side effects.

Some types of nanoparticles can carry image-enhancing agents that allow researchers to quantify where the illuminated particles travel, serving as beacons to specific molecules of interest, and enabling one to determine whether a therapeutic agent has penetrated its targeted site, Dr. Wickline said.

Dr. Wickline also is known for designing nanoparticles derived from a component of bee venom called melittin. While bee venom itself is toxic, Dr. Wickline’s laboratory has detoxified the molecule and modified its structure to produce a formula that allows the nanoparticles to carry small interfering (siRNA), also known as “silencing RNA,” or other types of synthetic DNA or RNA strand.

Among other functions, siRNA can be used to inhibit the genes that lead to the production of toxic proteins. Many in the nanotechnology research and development community are working to make siRNA treatment feasible as what Dr. Wickline calls “a message killer,” but the challenges have been daunting.

“The big challenge in the field of siRNA, and many companies have failed at this, is how to get the nanostructure to the cells so that the siRNA can do what it’s supposed – hit its target and kill the messenger — without being destroyed along the way, or having harmful side effects,” Dr. Wickline said. “We figured out how to engineer into a simple peptide all of the complex functionality that allows that to happen.”

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 Dr. Wickline comments on the underlying similarities between cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Different targets, same delivery vehicle

In a recent series of experiments in mice, Dr. Wickline and colleagues have shown that silencing RNA messages delivered by nanoparticle to a specific type of immune cell known as a macrophage – a “big eater” of fat – actually shrinks plaques that accumulate inside the walls of the arteries during atherosclerosis, one of the main causes of cardiovascular disease. The build-up of atherosclerotic plaques with fat-laden macrophages narrows, weakens and hardens arteries, eventually reducing the amount of oxygen-rich blood delivered to vital organs.

This type of plaque-inhibiting nanotherapy could be useful in aggressive forms of atherosclerosis where patients have intractable chest pain or after an acute heart attack or stroke to prevent a secondary cardiac event, Dr. Wickline said.

In another study, Washington University School of Medicine researchers investigated the potential of the siRNA nanoparticle designed by co-investigators Dr. Pan and Dr. Wickline in treating the inflammation that may lead to osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease that is a major cause of disability in the aging population. The nanoparticles — injected directly into injured joints in mice to suppress the activity of the molecule NF-κB — reduced local inflammation immediately following injury and reduced the destruction of cartilage. The findings were reported September 2016 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Previously, Dr. Wickline said, the Washington University group had shown that nanoparticles delivered through the bloodstream inhibited inflammation in a mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis. And, another laboratory at the University of Kentucky is studying whether locally injected siRNA nanoparticles can quell the bacterial inflammation that can lead to a serious gum disease known as periodontitis. Other collaborating labs are using these nanoparticles in pancreatic, colon, and ovarian cancers with good effects.

“The specific targets in these cases may be different, but the nice thing about this kind of delivery system for RNA interference is that the delivery agent itself, the nanostructures, are the same,” Dr. Wickline said. “All we have to do is change out a little bit of the genetic material that targets the messages and we’re set up to go after another disease. So it’s completely modular and nontoxic.”

The St. Louis-based biotechnology company Trasir Therapeutics is developing these peptide-based nanocarriers for silencing RNA to treat diseases with multiple mechanisms of inflammation. Dr. Wickline co-founded the company in 2014 and continues to serve as its chief scientific officer.

Dr. Wickline with colleague Hua Pan, PhD, a biomedical engineer with expertise in molecular biology.

 Inhibiting chronic inflammation without getting rid of beneficial immune responses.

Calming the destructive cycle of inflammation

Dr. Wickline’s work is supported by several NIH RO1 grants, including one from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to develop and test nanotherapies seeking to interrupt inflammatory signaling molecules and reduce the likelihood of thrombosis in acute cardiovascular syndromes.

In essence, Dr. Wickline said, he is interested in suppressing chronic inflammation, without disrupting the beneficial functions of surveillance by which the immune system recognizes and destroys invading pathogens or potential cancer cells.

“If you can inhibit the ongoing inflammation associated with (inappropriate) immune system response, you inhibit the positive feedback cycle of more inflammation, more plaques, more damage and more danger,” he said. “If you can cool off inflammation by using a message killer that says (to macrophages) ‘don’t come here, don’t eat fat, don’t make a blood clot’ – that’s what we think could be a game changer.”

Another NIH grant has funded collaborative work to develop an image-based nanoparticle that detects where in a compromised blood vessel too much blood clotting (hypercoagulation) occurs, and delivers potent anti-clotting agent only to that site. Formation of abnormal blood clots can trigger a heart attack when a clot blocks an artery that leads to heart muscle, or a stroke when a clot obstructs an artery supplying blood to the brain.

Because this site-specific nanotherapy targets only areas of active clotting, it may provide a safer, more effective approach against cardiac conditions like atrial fibrillation and acute heart attack than existing anticoagulant drugs such as warfarin and newer blood thinners like Xarelto® (rivaroxoban) or Eliquis® (apixiban), all which work systemically and come with raised risk for serious bleeding, Dr. Wickline said.

In a study published last year in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, Dr. Wickline and colleagues found that nanoparticles delivering a potent inhibitor of thrombin, a coagulant protein in blood that plays a role in inflammation, not only reduced clotting risk but also rapidly healed blood vessel endothelial barriers damaged during plaque growth.

The preclinical work showed the experimental treatment “is actually an anti-atherosclerotic drug as well as an anti-clotting drug, so there are many potential applications,” Dr. Wickline said.

Dr. Wickline received his MD degree from the University of Hawaii School of Medicine. He completed a residency in internal medicine, followed by clinical and research fellowships in cardiology at Barnes Hospital and Washington University, where he joined the medical school faculty in 1987.

He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and holds numerous U.S. patents. Dr. Wickline is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, and a 2014 recipient of the Washington University Chancellor’s Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

– Photos by Sandra C. Roa and Eric Younghans

Samuel A. Wickline, MD, has been named the first director of the USF Health Heart Institute – an important step in realizing USF Health’s goal of creating a world class cardiovascular medicine and research program at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine and Tampa General Hospital.

Dr. Wickline will join the University of South Florida on Dec. 1 from Washington University in St. Louis. There he is the J. Russell Hornsby Professor in Biomedical Sciences and a professor of medicine (cardiologist), with additional appointments in biomedical engineering, physics, and cell biology and physiology.

“Please join me in warmly welcoming Dr. Wickline to USF Health. I’d also like to thank Dr. Stephen Liggett and Dr. Arthur Labovitz for ably serving as co-directors of the Heart Institute during its early planning and design phase,” said Charles Lockwood, MD, senior vice president of USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, in announcing Dr. Wickline’s appointment.

“With a foundation firmly in place, we look forward to Dr. Wickline’s leadership in helping us build a state-of the-art cardiovascular institute positioned to accelerate USF’s path to preeminence.”

Samuel Wickline, MD

At USF Health, Dr. Wickline will be instrumental in helping design, build, equip and staff our state-of-the-art Heart Institute to be co-located with the new Morsani College of Medicine in downtown Tampa. That will include recruiting a critical mass of cardiovascular scientists at the forefront of interdisciplinary biomedical research to define the root causes of heart and vascular disease leading to new diagnostics and treatments.

He will also serve as Associate Dean for Cardiovascular Research, the Tampa General Hospital Endowed Chair for Cardiovascular Research and a professor of cardiovascular sciences in the Morsani College of Medicine.

As an accomplished physician-scientist with expertise in bench-to-bedside research, Dr. Wickline will complement USF Health’s growing cardiology service, and will bring to the university a longstanding National Institutes of Health grant portfolio of more than $1 million a year.  He studies the molecular basis of inflammation, cell death and atherosclerosis that cause heart, vascular and other organ diseases.

Much of Dr. Wickline’s pioneering research explores the molecular basis of pathological processes using novel imaging methods to detect early cell signatures in vivo and then using nanoparticles to treat a variety of cardiovascular conditions, including targeting atherosclerotic plaques that cause heart attacks. His translational work has led to the development of advanced cardiac imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging of the heart to assess coronary artery disease.

Dr. Wickline earned his MD degree from the University of Hawaii School of Medicine, and completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in cardiology at Washington University School of Medicine, in St Louis, where he joined the faculty in 1987.

During his career at Washington University, Dr. Wickline served as chief of cardiology at Jewish Hospital and helped initiate the first graduate program in biomedical engineering at Washington University. He led a consortium that works with academic and industry partners to develop broad-based clinical applications for nanotechnology and imaging.  He also established the Siteman Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence with NIH funding.

Dr. Wickline has started several biotechnology companies, holds 17 patents, and has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed research papers.