BME Seminar Series: Dr. Robert Gourdie, Virginia Tech

Robert G. Gourdie, PhD
Professor and Commonwealth Research Fund Eminent Scholar,
Director of the Center for Heart and Reparative Medicine Research,
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, Virginia Tech, and
Professor; Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, VT

Abstract:

"Connexin43:  Novel roles in cardiac conduction, injury and glioblastoma drug resistance"

Rob Gourdie works on the gap junction protein connexin 43 (Cx43), with interests in two main areas. The first of these is on the organization and function of a specialized domain at the edge of Cx43 GJ channel aggregates that they have dubbed the perinexus. The perinexus provides a niche for undocked Cx43 hemichannels, as well as voltage-gated sodium channels and other proteins involved in cardiac electrical activation and conduction. The second area of work is on Cx43 mimetic peptide-based drugs - one of which, a mimic of the Cx43 carboxyl terminus (CT) mimetic called alphaCT1- is presently in multiple Phase III clinical trials as a therapy for improving scarring outcomes from surgery and cutaneous radiation injury. Recent lab publications include studies of the molecular mechanism of Cx43-based CT peptides in mitigation of cardiac ischemic injury, cutaneous scarring and in recovery of lost sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents in cancers including glioblastoma, as well as in the development of milk exosomes as drug delivery vehicles for oral administration of peptides, microRNAs and other small therapeutic molecules.

Bio:

Rob Gourdie PhD is the Director of the Center for Vascular and Heart Research (CVHR) at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute (FBRI) and Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics at Virginia Tech. Together with its eight research team leaders, the CVHR numbers over 30 post-docs, graduate students and staff. The research of his lab is on the connexins - proteins key to intercellular communication. His work includes basic mechanisms of cardiac bio-electricity, and translational research on drugs targeting connexin function in heart disease, wound healing and cancer. He has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1997, currently holds two NIH R01 grants. He has authored 160+ peer-reviewed publications (H index= 58) on heart development and function, wound healing and cancer. He holds more than a dozen issued US patents and over 30 worldwide, with another 50 patent applications pending – most of which are licensed to biotech companies. Gourdie is co-founder of FirstString Research Inc. – now a $150m clinical-stage biotech company, in Phase III clinical trials on its lead drug. His lab has also spun-off two other companies: Acomhal Inc., which he co-founded with Dr. Samy Lamouille. Acomhal is undertaking preclinical development of a novel drug that targets cancer stem cells and recently closed on its first venture deal; and 2) The Tiny Cargo Company – his newest venture is focused on an exosomal drug delivery technology currently under development in his lab.  His teaching service at Virginia Tech mainly focuses on entrepreneurialism and commercialization. He is particularly interested in teaching approaches that bring together students from business, engineering and biomedical backgrounds in interdisciplinary courses, with the goals of training new start-up professionals, as well as broadening the perspective for young scientists on patents, clinical trials, FDA regulatory considerations and biotech entrepreneurship. Gourdie received his PhD (1990) from the University of Canterbury (New Zealand), and did post-doc training at University College London (United Kingdom), as a British Heart Foundation Fellow.