M. Ian Phillips, PhD, DSc, FAHA
Norris Professor of Applied Life Sciences, Director of the Center for Rare Disease Therapies, Faculty Director for the PreMed ProgramCardiac Stem Cells, Heart Failure, Hemorrhagic Stroke, AAV Vectors, Gene Modification, Orphan Drugs, Stem Cell Therapy, Gene Therapy
Dr. Phillips received his PhD and DSc in pharmacology at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan and an instructor and fellow in the Division of Biology at California Institute of Technology. From 1970-1980, he was Professor of Physiology at the University of Iowa. In 1977, as a Humboldt Foundation Scholar, Dr. Phillips spent a year at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. In 1990, he served as Program Director of Neurobiology at the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC where he worked with the White House Office of Technology on "The Decade of the Brain." From 1980-2002, Dr. Phillips was Chairman of Physiology at the University of Florida. At UF he built a modern gene-oriented Department of Physiology and founded the Division of Functional Genomics. In 2002, Dr. Phillips was appointed Vice President for Research at the University of South Florida, Tampa. As Vice President he worked to increase the economic impact of the university and the total research awards to USF and also organized the construction of the research building and business incubator in the USF Research Park.
In 2006, Dr. Phillips joined Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences (KGI) with his research lab and grants. He was appointed Norris Professor of Applied Life Sciences and founding director of the Center for Rare Disease Therapies. He also established and currently directs the Post Baccalaureate Premedical Certificate Program. Among his honors, Dr. Phillips was awarded the 2002 Christopher Columbus Award for Science and Technology, the 1989 Lucian Award (McGill University) for research in circulatory disease, and a MERIT award from NIH;10 years of funding. He is an elected Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA) and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). During his career, Dr. Phillips has published 11 books and more than 320 papers and reviews. His h-index is 58 (a measure of his consistently high impact publications). He has taught over 3,000 medical students and trained over 40 PhD students and postdoctoral fellows.
This course examines the role of genes, proteins and RNA in causing or combating diseases, and emphasizes the current conceptual and analytical tools that are brought to bear, and their limitations, on our understanding.
The Team Masters Project (TMP) is the capstone activity for second-year Master of Bioscience (MBS) students and for Postdoctoral Professional Masters (PPM) students. It is assigned 2-course credits each semester for a total of 4 course credits and a passing grade in both semesters is required for graduation with an MBS or PPM degree.
This course will equip students with an understanding on how to write an orphan drug designation application. The course will begin with a FDA Workshop on September 13, 2010 on how to write an orphan drug designation application. This workshop will be held at KGI and conducted by Dr. Matthew Thomas from the FDA. Students will receive further information from Dr Phillips on how to write their own orphan drug applications.
The course will consist of tutoring, lectures, small group writing, editing, and reviewing by the faculty advisor, and between the student team participants. The course requires dedicated focus to the chosen topic and a series of deadlines that must be met.
Fernandes T, Hashimoto NY, Magalhaes FC, Ferandes FB, Casarini DE, Carmona AK, Krieger JE, Phillips MI, Oliveira EM. "Aerobic Exercise Training - Induced Left Ventricular Hypertrophy Involves Regulatory MicroRNAs, Decreased Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme-Angiotensin II, and Converting Enzyme2-Angiotensin 1-7". Hyptension 2011;58(2):182-189
Soci UP, Fernandes T, Hashimoto NY, Mota GF, Amadeu MA, Rosa KT, Irigoyen MC, Phillips MI, Oliveira EM. "MicroRNAs 29 are involved in the improvement of ventricular compliance promoted by aerobic exercise training in rats". Physiol Genomics. 2011;43(11):665-673
Talele SS, Xu K, Pariser AR, Braun MM, Farag-El-Massah S, Phillips MI, Thompson BH, Cote TR. "Therapies for Inborn Errors of Metabolism: What Has the Orphan Drug Act Delivered?" Pediatrics 2010;126(1):101-6
Cote T, Kelkar A, Xu K, Braun MM, Phillips MI. "Orphan products: an emerging trend in drug approvals". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 2010;9(1):84
Tang YL, Zhu WQ, Cheng M, Chen LJ, Zhang J, Sun T, Kishore R, Phillips MI, Losordo DW, Qin GJ. "Hypoxic Preconditioning Enhances the Benefit of Cardiac Progenitor Cell Therapy for Treatment of Myocardial Infarction by Inducing CXCR4 Expression". Circulation Research 2009;104(10):1209-16
Phillips MI, Tang YL, Pinkernell K. "Stem Cell therapy for heart failure: The science and progress". Future Cardiology 2008;(4):285-298
Phillips MI. "Developmental Biology: Passage to Global Stem Cells". Science 2007;317(5836):322
Tang YL, Qian K, Shen L, Phillips MI. "A novel two step procedure to isolate Sca-1+ cells". Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 2007;359(4):877-883
Phillips MI, Tang YL. "Genetic modification of stem cells for transplantation". Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews 2008;60(2):160-172
Tang YL, Qian KP, Zhang YC, Shen L, Phillips MI. "Mobilizing Hematopoietic stem cells to ischemic myocardium by plasmid mediated stromal-cell derived factor alpha (SDF-1 alpha) treatment". Regulatory Peptides 2005;125(1-3):1-8
Tang YL, Tang Y, Zhang YC, Agrawal A, Kasahara H, Qian K, Shen L, Phillips MI. "A hypoxia-inducible vigilant vector system for activating therapeutic genes in ischemia". Gene Therapy 2005 Aug 12;12(15):1163-1170
Tang YL, Zhao Q, Qin XY, Shen LP, Cheng LL, Ge JB, Phillips MI. "Paracrine action enhances the effects of autologous mesenchymal stem cell transplantation on vascular regeneration in rat model of myocardial infarction". Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2005;80(1):229-237
Tang YL, Tang Y, Zhang YC, Qian K, Shen L, Phillips MI. "Improved graft mesenchymal stem cell survival in ischemic heart with a hypoxia-regulated heme oxygenase-1 vector". Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2005;46(7):1339-1350
Research Synopsis
Dr. Phillips discovered an independent hormonal system, the tissue renin angiotensin system, in the brain, heart, blood vessels and fat cells. His discoveries have broad significance for the development of new antihypertensive drugs. He was previously a consultant for Merck, Squibb and Hoechst. At the University of Florida, he initiated a gene therapy and stem cell therapy approach to hypertension and heart diseases. At KGI, he is pursuing his stem cell therapy studies full time.
Key Research Capabilities
Capabilities of the Phillips lab include cell culture, stem cell culture, stem cell isolation and differentiation, micro-RNA identification and expression regulation, antisense inhibition, gene engineering, gene modification, quantitative real time PCR, immunohistochemistry, fluorescence and confocal microscopy, and standard molecular biology techniques and can accommodate collaborations on exercise and heart size, stroke and hemorrhage.
Gene Vector Control of Bleeding: In many situations such as combat injury, surgery, rare bleeding diseases and cerebral stoke, hemorrhage needs to be stopped to prevent death. The Phillips lab has developed an automatic gene vector hemostat based on genetic engineering and testing in human endothelial cells. The vector responds to the oxgyen change in injured tissues, and releases clotting factors locally in small enough amounts to stop bleeding but not cause thrombosis. The Phillips lab collaborates with the US Army Surgical Institute in San Antonio, Texas and the University of South Florida, Tampa for study of battlefield combat injuries and with the neurology department of University of California, San Diego for stroke studies.
Orphan Drug Products: Dr. Phillips directs the Center for Rare Disease Therapies, which has many research activities including the search for drugs that can be developed to treat rare diseases. The Center runs workshops with the FDA, projects sponsored by drug companies, and patient advocate groups specializing in rare diseases.
Future Research Interests
Future research interests of the Phillips lab include microRNA gene expression regulation of ventricular hypertrophy and the Renin-Angiotensin system, automatic cessation of hemorrhage in complex surgery, rare diseases and rare disease health policy.
Contact Information
| M. Ian Phillips, PhD, DSc, FAHA | ||
| Location: | Building 535, Room 156B | |
| Phone: | (909) 607-7487 | |
| Fax: | (909) 607-8086 | |
| ian_phillips[at symbol]kgi.edu | ||