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News

06/27/08

Sleep Disorders Center

Category: General

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Research Facilities

1. Pulmonary Function and Exercise Laboratory
   Facilities available for clinical research include a fully-equipped pulmonary function and exercise laboratory for evaluating cardiopulmonary function during exercise. This laboratory has accreditation from the NIH to evaluate all patients participating in the National Emphysema Treatment Trial (NETT).

   Dr. Ravi Nayak is the Medical Director. Gregg Ruppel, MEd, RPFT, RRT is the Technical Director.

    

2. The Miller Pulmonary Research Laboratory is adjacent to Saint Louis University Hospital and across the street from the animal facility and other laboratories located in the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. This research laboratory comprises approximately 2,000 square feet of space and is equipped with a walk-in cold room, dark room, cell culture facility, a fume hood, and a radioactive hood. Equipment includes incubators, centrifuges, gamma and liquid scintillation counters, electrophoresis equipment, fraction collector and UV detector, fast protein liquid chromatography system, freezers, refrigerators, phase and fluorescent microscopes, four computers, and spectrophotometer. Equipment for molecular biology research (PCR machine, etc.) is also located here. An electron microscopy facility equipped with JEOL 100 CX STEM, JEOL 35 SEM, and JEOL 100 STEM is available for studying lung ultrastructure.

    

3. Dr. George Matuschak has laboratories on the 10th floor of Saint Louis University Hospital, within the 65,000 square feet space of the recently completed Department of Internal Medicine Research Laboratories. This area contains several core facilities including walk-in cold rooms, cell culture facilities and autoclaves in addition to common-use equipment such as gamma and liquid scintillation counters, spectro- photometer, electrophoresis equip-ment, fast protein liquid chromatography system, and microscopy capability. Investigators from the division also possess individual equipment to facilitate physiologic, biochemical, cell culture and molecular biological research. The close proximity of other researchers in the Department of Internal Medicine promotes interchange of ideas and skills, while still affording easy access to patient care areas.
   

    

Residents from the division and students are strongly encouraged and welcomed to perform molecular research related to pulmonary biology in the lab.

The main areas of research in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Saint Louis University includes acute lung injury, COPD, and environmental lung disease, especially asbestosis. The division had major grant support through a ten-year NIH Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) grant that funded a variety of research interests related to acute lung injury. This grant, first awarded in 1983, has strengthened the division's ties with the basic sciences. In addition to the SCOR grant, Drs. Matuschak, Heuertz, and Sprague have major national grant awards that provide salary and research support for their work. Investigators from the division are also working with investigators in the Departments of Microbiology/Immunology, Pathology, and Pharmacological and Physiological Science in the study of the causes and treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. The research training program offers ample opportunities for residents to develop their research interests in a wide variety of fields related to pulmonary diseases and critical care medicine.

The Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Division in cooperation with the Thoracic Surgery Department is a participant in the NIH-sponsored multi-center study "National Emphysema Treatment Trial". This grant awarded from 1997-2005 is dedicated to investigate the effects of lung volume reduction surgery compared to optimal medical therapy and pulmonary rehabilitation in the management of patients with terminal emphysema. This study offers the opportunity to residents to participate in clinical research in the area of pulmonary and exercise physiology of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.