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robert campbell

Home > Faculty > Campbell
  Assistant Professor

Contact Information
   Office: 110 Mugar Hall
   Voice: 617.373.3091
   Fax: 617.373.8886
   Email: r.campbell@neu.edu

Education
B.S. in Biology, Chemistry
Niagara University, NY

Ph.D., Molecular and Cellular Biophysics/ Pharmaceutics
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
State University of New York, Buffalo

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Department of Radiation Oncology
Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Specializations
Pharmaceutical evaluation of drug delivery systems

Tumor vascular physiology & targeted drug delivery

Cellular delivery of drug products Biophysical analysis of phospholipid-based drug carrier molecule

Major Research Areas
Many chemotherapeutic agents are delivered to tumors in a non-specific fashion, this often results in uncontrollable tumor growth and distant metastases. A lack of available strategies has impeded experimental progress. We aim to selectively deliver drugs to malignant growths with support from drug carrier molecules in order to stop the spread of harmful metastatic disease. We focus on developing new formulations and optimizing their potential to target tumor vessels & angiogenesis while minimizing their uptake by healthy organ tissues. In this way we limit the flow of oxygen and nutrients to viable cancer cells that depend on uninterrupted blood flow for survival.

An understanding of accessible vascular targets is key to the successful development of innovative strategies against cancer. We consider specialized vascular features during the process of formulation development. For i.e., blood vessels are lined with glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans (and other negatively charged functional molecules) and for this reason, drugs are now being incorporated into positively charged liposomes to enhance targeted delivery to this site of drug action. Fortunately, for reasons still being investigated, tumor vessels are targeted by this strategy to a greater extent than are vessels in normal tissues (Campbell et al., 2002).

A variety of conventional biophysical and contemporary pharmaceutical techniques including HPLC, spectrofluorometric assays, DIC microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, zeta potentiometry & particle size analysis are used in process development and formulation screening process. We also rely on studies that investigate the intracellular fate of drug delivery systems and a variety of in vitro optimization and screening assays. Additionally, when needed, antitumor activity, histology, In vivo microscopy and molecular endpoint studies are used to predict potential clinical relevance against human solid malignancies.

Selected Publications
Campbell, R. B., D. Fukumura, et al. (2002). "Cationic charge determines the distribution of liposomes between the vascular and extravascular compartments of tumors." Cancer Research 62: 6831-6836.

Balasubramanian, S. V., R. B. Campbell, et al. (2002). "Propofol, a general anesthetic promotes the formation of fluid domains in membranes." Chemistry and Physics of Lipids 114: 35-44.

Campbell, R. B., S. V. Balasubramanian, et al. (2001). "Influence of cationic lipids on the stability and membrane properties of paclitaxel-containing liposomes." Journal of pharmaceutical sciences 90(8): 1091-1105.

Campbell, R. B., S. V. Balasubramanian, et al. (2001). "Physical properties of phospholipid-cationic lipid interactions: Influences on domain structure, liposome size and cellular uptake." Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1512: 27-39.

Brown, E. B., R. B. Campbell, et al. (2001). "In vivo measurement of gene expression, angiogenesis, and physiological function in tumors using multiphoton laser scanning microscopy." Nature Medicine 7(7): 864-8.

 

 
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Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115