Director

Vladimir P. Zharov, Ph.D., Dr.Sc.
Director, Arkansas Nanomedicine Center
Director, Phillips Classic Laser and Nanomedicine Laboratories
Professor, Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
Objectives
- The Phillips Classic Laser and Nanomedicine Laboratories focuses on application of nanotechnology in biology and medicine for nanodiagnosis, nanotherapy, drug and gene delivery, and nanotoxicity.
- Deliver revolutionary nanotechnology advances from bench to bedside.
Background
- Breakthroughs in early diagnosis and effective treatment of cancer, infection and cardiovascular disorders (e.g., prevention of metastasis, septic shock or stroke)
- Application of nanotechnology in medicine, called nanomedicine, has demonstrated a tremendous potential for improving health care.
- World nanomedicine market to cross $160 billion by 2015.
- Strong collaboration was established with the Institute of Nanoscience and Engineering at the University of Arkansas, the Nanotechnology Center at UA Little Rock, and the National Center for Toxicological Research (18 joint papers).
- Nanomedicine can be performed at a medical research center with the appropriate infrastructure for pre-clinical and clinical study.
- Study laser-nanoparticle-cell interaction at high resolution.
Accomplishments
- Zharov and co-inventor new technology in his team Ekaterina Galanzha have recently devised a new label-free flow cytometry method for detection of circulating clots.
- In preclinical animal models, the researchers have used the laser to kill those tumor cells directly in blood vessels thus preventing metastasis. The same approach might be applied to inhibit metastasis development in humans.
- The device can also be used to monitor clot counts in patients recovering from a stroke to prevent additional strokes and assess their response to therapy.
Function
Conducting biological research with cell cultures and animal models, including small-animal operating tables, animal handling equipment, microsurgical instruments, perfusion system, heaters for microscope stage micro-objectives, syringe pump system, fume hood, microsurgical microscope, injectors, anesthesia accessories, etc.
Publications
Pioneer achievements of UAMS in nanomedicine were featured in high scientific profiles (National Institutes of Health website, three Nature journals, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Cancer Research, a total 36 papers).
Grants
- UAMS has a critical mass of researchers in nanomedicine: more than $8 million in funding already has been secured from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the United States Department of Defense (e.g., Zharov, Griffin, Smeltzer, Peterson, Borelli, and Berridge).
- Propel grant proposals (R01, U-54, U01, P-31, centers) into the funding range ($14 million pending grants in 2011).
- On December 23, 1971, President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act into law. After almost 4 decades, the “war on cancer,” is still going on in the USA.
- President Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiatives, “Laser Star Wars” program, 1983.
- President Bill Clinton suggested the “National Nanotechnology Initiatives,” 2000.
- UAMS 2003: Laser nano-star war on cancer.
Contact
UAMS College of Medicine
4301 West Markham, # 543
Little Rock, AR 72205
(501) 686-7000
Email: zharovvladimirp@uams.edu
Phone: (501) 603-1213