David Jang
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Poisoning by organophosphate pesticides and by carbon monoxide (CO) kills and disables many people every year. Survivors often have lasting brain and heart damage.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Pharmacology
Physiology
- Topics
organophosphate poisoning
organophosphates
pesticide poisoning
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through May 2030
What they work on
- Define how mitochondrial injury, especially at Complex I, an energy-producing enzyme, contributes to brain, heart and microcirculation damage in a rodent model of acute and chronic organophosphate poisoning.
- Develop cell-free DNA, fragments released into blood by injured cells, as a biomarker in organophosphate-poisoned rodents, using its amount to gauge severity and its DNA methylation patterns to identify damaged tissues.
- Test whether a mitochondria-targeted therapy that bypasses the Complex I block improves cell respiration and limits organ injury in poisoned rodents, compared with standard organophosphate treatment.
- Use circulating blood cells and noninvasive optical measurements of brain blood flow, oxygenation and Complex IV chemical state to track mitochondrial injury in a survival swine model of carbon monoxide poisoning.
- Compare an engineered succinate prodrug with hyperbaric oxygen therapy in a randomized, blinded preclinical trial in swine poisoned with carbon monoxide.
More about the research
Doctors lack good blood tests to judge how severe a case is, and they have few treatments that prevent long-term harm. The lab's projects share one idea. Both poisons damage mitochondria, the structures that produce cell energy. Measuring that damage could therefore guide diagnosis, and protecting mitochondria could help treatment. The work uses animal models of both poisonings.
Why it matters
Farmworkers, workers exposed on the job, and fire or exhaust victims could benefit from better ways to assess and treat organophosphate and carbon monoxide poisoning. Blood-based biomarkers could tell doctors how severe a poisoning is and which organs are hurt. Mitochondria-targeted drugs could offer an option where hyperbaric oxygen is delayed or unavailable, and they could reduce lasting brain and heart disability.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Cell-free DNA Methylation Patterns and Mitochondrial Therapeutics in a Rodent Model of Organophosphate Poisoning
NIH · Aug 2025 – May 2030
The Use of Blood Cells and Optical Cerebral Complex IV Redox States in a Porcine Model of CO Poisoning with Evaluation of Mitochondrial Therapy
NIH · Sep 2023 – Aug 2028
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The school
University of Pennsylvania: 90 labs on PI Pages, $2.2B a year on research, 750 research doctorates a year.
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