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Fla. (WCJB) – In this week’s Tech Tuesday, our partners at UF Innovate and SCAD Media feature the Center for Inflammation Science and Systems Medicine (CISSM), with Dr. Joe G.N. “Skip” Garcia, who discusses how the center is focused on developing new drugs to target and combat inflammatory diseases
“A major goal of biotech companies around the world is finding new and improved drugs. Dr. Garcia, tell us a little bit more about CISSM,” said Julia Estroff, host of UF Innovate
“Well, CISSM is [the] Center for Inflammation [Science] and Systems Medicine that’s located here at the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology. And this center is focused on developing new drugs that can combat some of the most vexing diseases in our society today, which surround inflammation. So, in the center, [we’ve] recruited some world-class scientists [who] do groundbreaking research, to try to develop new targets for therapies, and actually develop the therapies for those diseases,“ said Dr. Joe G.N. “Skip” Garcia, Director, Center for Inflammation Science and Systems Medicine (CISSM).
“What kind of diseases are you targeting?” asked Estroff
“Well, I’m a pulmonary and critical care physician, so a number of the disorders that we focus [on] here at CISSM are, in fact, inflammatory lung injuries, but also chronic diseases and autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus, such as liver fibrosis, such as cardiac fibrosis, and, in fact, cancer. We study prostate cancer here; we study lung cancer here.Importantly, part of our work is also focused on premature babies that have a high risk of respiratory illness. So, it’s quite a broad spectrum, but again, we’re pretty excited about the progress we’re making here,” said Dr. Garcia.
“What are some treatments you’re developing?” asked Estroff
“Well, we’re developing a number of small molecule inhibitors of different targets that are involved in aging, involved in inflammation, and involved in fibrosis. Probably the furthest along we are is with a monoclonal antibody that’s called ALT-100. And what we’ve shown is that this antibody has the capacity for reducing inflammation and fibrosis in a number of models. So we’re going to be treating not only adults with inflammatory illness in the ICU, but also premature babies in the neonatal ICU that can develop respiratory distress syndrome. We think the antibody can really reduce the severity of those diseases,” said Dr. Garcia.
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