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Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D. Adjoint Professor

Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D.

Adjoint Professor and Deputy Chairman
Department of Biomedical Engineering

• Director
  Center for NanoMedicine in The Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases
  University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
• Professor
  Department of Experimental Therapeutics
  University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
• Professor
  Department of Bioengineering
  Rice University
• President
  Alliance for NanoHealth
  
  University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
  1825 Pressler Street
  Houston, Texas 77030
  
  Phone: (713) 500-2444
  Fax: (713) 500-2462
  Office: SRB 537D
  
• UTHSC-H Profile Page
• Center for NanoMedicine Profile Page

Education

• Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1989.
• Dottore, Mathematics, Universita’ di Padova, Italy, 1985.
• Medical Student, Ohio State University, 2002-2004.
• Biographical Sketch

Research Interests

Dr. Ferrari’s group employs methods of semiconductor nanotechnology and mathematical modeling to develop solutions to problems in molecular medicine, with particular interest in applications in oncology and cardiology. He is regarded a pioneer of the fields of BioMEMS, biomedical nanotechnology, and multi-scale mathematics. Among his many ‘firsts’ are: silicon-based nanochannel technology, with its applications to controlled release drug delivery and immunoprotected cell transplantation; multistage particulates for drug delivery; the rational design of nanovectors; and  nanotextured chips for the selective enrichment of the plasma peptidome for early detection of pathological states. His group is actively developing these research directions, and adding more applications and fundamental explorations with regularity. Dr. Ferrari is extremely grateful to the many outstanding scientists he had the privilege of collaborating with, and to his many exceptional students and trainees for their invaluable role in all of the research accomplishments cited in these pages.

Recent Publications

The following are selected from a list of over 160 papers and chapters, 6 books and 29 issued US and International patents in Dr. Ferrari career.

1. Y.F. Fin, J. Fang, and M. Ferrari, “Dispersion Analysis of Wave Propagation in Cubical-Tetrahedral Assembly by Doublet Mechanics”, Chinese Physics Letters, 21, No. 8, 2004, pp. 1562-1565.
2. P. Decuzzi, S. Lee, B. Bhushan, and M. Ferrari, “A Theoretical Model for the Margination of Particles within Blood Vessels”, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 33, No. 2, February 2005, pp. 179-190.
3. M. Ferrari, “Cancer Nanotechnology: Opportunities and Challenges”, Nature Reviews, Cancer, Vol. 5, No.3, March 2005, pp.161-171.
4. F. Martin, R. Walczak, A. Boiarski, M. Cohen, T. West, C. Cosentino, and M. Ferrari.  “Tailoring Width of   Microfabricated Nano-Channels to Solute Size Can be Used to Control Diffusion Kinetics”, Journal of Controlled Release, Vol. 102, No. 1, January 2005, pp. 123-133.
5. M. Ferrari, “Nanovector Therapeutics”, Current Opinions in Chemical Biology, Vol. 9, No. 4, August 2005, pp. 343-346.
6. M. Ferrari and G. Downing, “Medical Nanotechnology: Shortening Clinical Trials and Regulatory Pathways?” BioDrugs, 2005; 19(4):203-210.
7. C. Cosentino, F. Amato, R. Walczak, A. Boiarski, and M. Ferrari, “A Dynamic Model of Biomolecular Diffusion Through Two-Dimensional Nanochannels”, Journal of Physical Chemistry, Vol. 109, No. 15, April 21, 2005, pp. 7358-7364.
8. V. Cristini, H. Frieboes, R. Gatenby, S. Caserta, M. Ferrari, and J. Sinek, “Morphological Instability and Cancer Invasion”, Clinical Cancer Research, October 2005, Vol. 11(19), pp. 6772-6779.
9. M.C. Cheng, G. Cuda, Y. Bunimovich, M. Gaspari, J.R. Heath, H.D. Hill, C.A. Mirkin, A.J. Nijdam, R. Terracciano, T. Thundat, and M. Ferrari, “Nanotechnologies for Biomolecular Detection and Medical Diagnostic”, Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, Vol. 10, Issue 1, February 2006, pp. 11-19.
10.  P. Decuzzi, F. Causa, M. Ferrari, and P.A. Netti, “The Effective Dispersion of Nanovectors Within the Tumor Microvasculature”, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 34, No. 4, April 2006, pp. 633-641.
11. M. Gaspari, M.C. Cheng, R. Terraccianol, X. Liu, A.J. Nijdam, E. di Fabrizio, E.F. Petricoin, L.A. Liotta, G. Cuda, S. Venuta and M. Ferrari, "Nanoporous Surfaces as Harvesting Agents for Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Peptides In Human Plasma" Journal of Proteome Research, Vol. 5, No. 5, May 2006, pp. 1261-1266.
12. R. Terracciano, M. Gaspari, F. Testa, L. Pasqua, G. Cuda, P. Tagliaferri, M.C. Cheng, E.F. Petricoin, L.A. Liotta, M. Ferrari, S. Venuta, "Selective Binding and Enrichment for Low Molecular Weight Biomarker Molecules in Human Plasma after Exposure to Nanoporous Silica Particles", Proteomics, Vol. 6, Issue 11, June 2006, pp. 3243-3250.  
13.   D. Geho, M.C. Cheng, K. Killian, M. Lowenthal, S. Ross, K. Frogale, A.J. Nijdam, N. Lahar, P. Herrmann, D. Johann,  G. Whiteley, M. Ferrari, E. Petricoin, and L. Liotta, "Fractionation of Serum Components Using Nanoporous Substrates" Bioconjugate Chemistry, Vol. 17, No. 3, May-June 2006, pp. 654-661.
14. S. Sandeep, J.K. Sinek, H.B. Frieboes, M. Ferrari, J.P. Fruehauf, and V. Cristini, “Mathematical modeling of cancer progression and response to chemotherapy ”, Expert Review Anticancer Therapy. Vol. 6, No. 10, October 2006, pp. 1361-1376.
15. P. Decuzzi and M. Ferrari, “The Adhesive Strength of Non-Spherical Particles Mediated by   Specific Interactions”, Biomaterials, 2006 Oct; 27(30): pp. 5307-1534. Epub 2006 Jun 23.
16. S. Pricl, M. Ferrone, M. Fermeglia, F. Amato, C. Cosentino, M.M. Cheng, R. Walczak, and M. Ferrari, “Multiscale Modeling of Protein Transport in Silicon Membrane Nanochannels. Part 1. Derivation of Molecular Parameters from Computer Simulations”, Biomedical Microdevices, 2006 Dec; 8(4): pp. 277-290.
17. F. Amato, C. Cosentino, S. Pricl, M. Ferrone, M. Fermeglia, M.M. Cheng, R. Walczak, and M. Ferrari, “Multiscale Modeling of Protein Transport In Silicon Membrane Nanochannels. Part 2. From Molecular Parameters to a Predictive Continuum Diffusion Model”, Biomedical Microdevices, 2006 Dec; 8(4): pp. 291-298.
18.  F.M. Robertson, M.C. Cheng, J.R. Prosperi, M. Gaspari, R. Terracciano, K.B. Green-Church, D.D. Vandre, G. Cuda, and M. Ferrari, “Nanochips for Mining the Serum and Tumor Proteome: Novel Nanochips for Sensitive and Reproducible Identification of the Low Molecular Weight Proteome in Serum Isolated from Mice Bearing Highly Invasive Human Breast Tumor Xenografts”, Nanomedicine, 2006 Dec;2(4):295.
19. A.J. Nijdam, M.C. Cheng, R. Fedele, D.H. Geho, P. Herrmann, K. Killian, V. Espina, E.F. Petricoin, L.A. Liotta, and M. Ferrari, “Physicochemically Modified Silicon as a Candidate Substrate for Protein Microarrays” Biomaterials, Vol. 28, Issue 3, January 2007, pp. 550-558.
20.  F.M. Robertson, S.R. Mallery, V.K. Bergdahl-Costell, M.C. Cheng, P. Pei, J.R. Prosperi, and M. Ferrari, “Cyclooxygenase-2 Directly Induces MCF-7 Breast Tumor Cells to Develop into Exponentially Growing, Highly Angiogenic and Regionally Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Xenografts”, AntiCancer, 2007. (In press)
21. P. Decuzzi and M. Ferrari, “The Role of Specific and Non-Specific Interactions in Receptor-Mediated Endocytosis of Nanoparticles”, Biomaterials, 2007. (Accepted)
22. Y. Yang, M.C. Cheng, X. Hiu, D. Liu, R.J. Goyette, L.J. Lee, and M. Ferrari, “Low-Pressure Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Polymer Chain Mobility below the Bulk Glass Transition Temperature”, Marcomolecules 2007, 40, 1108-1111.