Postdoctoral Position in Angiogenesis Research and Drug Targeting Technology

Postdoctoral positions are available in the laboratory of Dr. Masanobu Komatsu at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (formerly Burnham Institute). One research project is to investigate the regulatory mechanism of blood vessel maturation and stabilization. Our laboratory has shown that the small GTPase R-Ras promotes quiescence of vascular cells and normalizes newly forming vessels in the pathologically regenerating vasculature (Nature Medicine 2005, Cancer Cell 2012. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22897853). The goal of this study is to exploit the R-Ras pathways in order to modulate blood vessels for therapeutic advantage, for instance 1) to block metastasis and improve drug delivery in cancer, or 2) to improve blood perfusion in ischemic heart disease.

The other area of research focus is to develop novel drug delivery technologies using peptide-directed vascular targeting. We have worked primarily on targeting tumors, organ fibrosis, and pulmonary arterial hypertension for delivery of therapeutics and imaging probes (American Journal of Pathology 2010 and 2014, Biomaterials 2012). In particular, we pioneered the method to target pulmonary arterial hypertension for lung-specific delivery of therapeutics (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21549345).

Visit our website for more information on research focuses of the laboratory. http://www.sanfordburnham.org/Talent/Pages/MasanobuKomatsu.aspx
Interested applicants should submit a single PDF file containing CV, a brief description of research interests and accomplishments to Dr. Komatsu.
Masanobu Komatsu, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute at Lake Nona
mkomatsu@sanfordburnham.org
Tel 407-745-2067