An Interview with Brian Fisak

The M.A. program in Clinical Psychology was first offered at the UCF Sanford/Lake Mary Regional Campus in Fall, 2013. Recently I had an opportunity to speak with one of the program faculty members, Dr. Brian Fisak, co-author along with Kellie Kissell, Hayley Rodriguez and Lloyd Lucas of the recently published article “Examination of the Contribution of Ruminative Thinking and Maladaptive Self-Beliefs to Social Anxiety”

Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy Monitors the Fate of Degradable Nanocarriers in the Blood Stream

[Image: see text] The use of nanoparticles as carriers to deliver pharmacologically active compounds to specific parts of the body via the bloodstream is a promising therapeutic approach for the effective treatment of various diseases. To reach their target sites, nanocarriers (NCs) need to circulate in the bloodstream for prolonged periods without aggregation, degradation, or cargo loss. However, it is very difficult to identify and monitor small-sized NCs and their cargo in the dense and highly complex blood environment. Here, we present a new fluorescence correlation spectroscopy-based method that allows the precise characterization of fluorescently labeled NCs in samples of less than 50 μL of whole blood. The NC size, concentration, and loading efficiency can be measured to evaluate circulation times, stability, or premature drug release. We apply the new method to follow the fate of pH-degradable fluorescent cargo-loaded nanogels in the blood of live mice for periods of up to 72 h

Shining light on polymeric drug nanocarriers with fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

The use of nanoparticles as carriers is an extremely promising way for administration of therapeutic agents, such as drug molecules, proteins, and nucleic acids. Such nanocarriers (NCs) can increase the solubility of hydrophobic compounds, protect their cargo from the environment, and if properly functionalized, deliver it to specific target cells and tissues. Polymer-based NCs are especially promising, because they offer high degree of versatility and tunability. However, in order to get a full advantage of this therapeutic approach and develop efficient delivery systems, a careful characterization of the NCs is needed. This review highlights the fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) technique as a powerful and versatile tool for NCs characterization at all stages of the drug delivery process. In particular, FCS can monitor and quantify the size of the NCs and the drug loading efficiency after preparation, the NCs stability and possible interactions with, e.g., plasma proteins in the blood stream and the kinetic of drug release in the cytoplasm of the target cells.Drug Delivery Technolog

An Instrument Design for the Accurate Determination of the Electron Beam Location in the Linac Coherent Light Source Undulator

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), currently under design, requires accurate alignment between the electron beam and each undulator's magnetic centerline. A beam finder wire (BFW) instrument has been developed to provide beam location information that is used to move the undulators to their appropriate positions. A BFW instrument is mounted at each of the 33 magnets in the undulator section. Beam detection is achieved by electrons impacting two carbon fiber wires and then sensing the downstream radiation. The wires are mounted vertically and horizontally on a wire card similar to that of a traditional wire scanner instrument. The development of the BFW presents several design challenges due to the need for high accuracy of the wires locations and the need for removal of the wires during actual operation of the LCLS (30 microns repeatability is required for the wire locations). In this paper, we present the technical specification, design criteria, mechanical design, and results from prototype tests for the BFW