Omar Z. Fisher
University of Texas at Austin
Department of Biomedical Engineering - C0800
Austin, TX 78712
PHONE: 512.472.5681
omar.fisher@mail.utexas.edu

Omar Fisher was born in Southern New Jersey just outside of Philadelphia. He received his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Drexel University in 2003. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.

A major obstacle in the field of drug delivery is getting relatively large therapeutic agents such as proteins and DNA across the epithelium. In the past the simple solution has been the use of injections, such as in the case of insulin treatment for diabetics. Our laboratory is well known for the development of acrylic acid based hydrogels as an oral drug delivery vehicle for macromolecules. To reach efficacy these carriers must be able to protect large molecules from gastric degradation as well as facilitate their transport across the intestinal wall. My current research focus is on evaluating and enhancing the ability of pH-sensitive hydrogel systems to modulate transepithelial drug transport. We use in vitro models of the intestinal epithelial to evaluate this mechanism at the cellular and molecular level.  A combination of qualitative and quantitative imaging and transmembrane resistance are used to characterize the effect of our polymer carriers on the static and dynamic integrity of the intestinal epithelium. The long term goal is to pinpoint the optimal pathway for biomacromolecular transport across the intestinal mucosa via transient, innocuous and specific alterations in transcellular processes.

Woo Y.J., Grand T.J., Berry M.F., Atluri A., Moise M.A., Hsu V., Cohen J., Fisher O., Pirolli T., Burdick J., Taylor M., Zentko S., Jayasankar V.  “Stromal Cell-Derived Factor Forms a Neovasculogenic Therapy for Ischemic Cardiomyopathy” J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg (in press)

Berry M.F., Pirolli T.J., Jayasankar V., Morine K.J., Moise M.A., Fisher O., Gardner T.J., Patterson P.H., Woo Y.J. “Targeted Overexpression of Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Preserves Myocardium in Postinfarction Heart Failure”  J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2004 Dec;128(6):866-75 

Bakshi A., Fisher O., Dagci T., Himes B.T., Fischer I. and Lowman A.M. “Mechanically engineered hydrogel scaffolds can promote axonal growth and angiogenesis after transplantation in spinal cord injury” J Neurosurg Spine. 2004 Oct;1(3):322-9.