Frederic Zenhausern
University of Arizona, AZ·Biomedical Engineering
A radiological accident or attack would create two urgent problems at once. First, responders would need to sort tens or hundreds of thousands of people quickly into those who were meaningfully exposed and those who were not, since treatment resources are limited.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Medicine & Clinical Research
Pharmacology
- Topics
biodosimetry
radiation exposure
point-of-care diagnostics
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jun 2030
What they work on
- Develop paper-compatible biodosimetry assays that distinguish radiation doses below 2 gray from 2 gray and above, using sandwich immunoassays for radiation-responsive leukocyte proteins and an amplification-free chemistry that detects DNA:RNA hybrids for transcripts.
- Design and test a sample preparation module that loads fingerstick whole blood, lyses red blood cells, captures white blood cells with anti-CD45 antibodies, and isolates their RNA and proteins.
- Fabricate a capillary-driven vertical flow immunoassay module that processes sample directly from the preparation module and produces a multiplex colorimetric signal readable by smartphone and the VeriFAST analysis app in under 30 minutes.
- Test by computational modeling and in vitro human skin tissue models whether xenon gas binds specific molecular targets and can act as a drug that mitigates ionizing radiation-induced biological responses, including novel gas-protein targets.
- Demonstrate in a small animal model that gas marble technology — gas held in liquid and stabilized by partially wetted micro/nanoparticles — can deliver molecular hydrogen through the skin to reduce cutaneous radiation injury.
More about the research
Second, people whose skin absorbed a large dose would need something to limit the damage: ionizing radiation disrupts the cell repair machinery and leaves wounds that heal slowly. Work here addresses both, building a portable field test for radiation dose and a new way to deliver therapeutic gases to injured skin.
Why it matters
After a mass-casualty radiological or nuclear event, triage depends on quickly telling exposed from unexposed people. A compact, unpowered, self-administered blood test readable on a smartphone could let untrained staff and civilians screen large numbers of people in the field, improving medical management and survival; because it reads both protein and RNA markers, the same platform could serve other point-of-care uses. Separately, a stable gas-marble formulation for delivering radiomitigating gases through the skin could provide a practical countermeasure for radiation burns where gas cylinders and inhalation are not an option.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Gayle E. Woloschak
Northwestern University, IL·Biophysics
Develop stochastic, physiologically based biokinetic models of inhaled radionuclides using realistic release source terms and the ICRP 133 human respiratory tract model, producing dose coefficients specific to age, sex and body size.
J. Mark Cline
Wake Forest University, NC·Medicine & Clinical Research
Identify and share patterns of late disease, such as diabetes, heart fibrosis, and kidney disease, in rhesus monkeys followed for years after whole-body radiation exposure.
Weihua Guan
Indiana University, IN·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Develop a single-tube multiplex recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay that copies several respiratory pathogen targets at once with balanced amplification and minimal cross-reactivity.
The school
University of Arizona: 36 labs on PI Pages, $1.0B a year on research, 487 research doctorates a year.
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