CAS Physics Labs Lead Breakthrough Research Efforts
Two researchers, two laboratories; both within yards of one another at OU.
The neighboring research domains of Gopalan Srinivasan, Ph.D., and Yang Xia, Ph.D., are significantly different, but equally important. Both endeavors are attracting the attention -- and all-important grant money -- of several external funding agencies.
For Dr. Srinivasan, honored this year as a Distinguished Professor of Physics at Oakland University, his primary research is in developing smart composites, which he refers to as "materials by design."
Essentially, he engineers materials with properties that answer to specific needs. He does this by combining two existing materials to create something entirely new, one custom-made to accomplish a specific task. His research has led to applications in consumer electronics, national defense and homeland security.
Little surprise, then, that his work has earned him grants this year from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ($700,000), the National Science Foundation ($340,000), and Office of Naval Research ($270,000).
Dr. Srinivasan has also gained a reputation for encouraging other researchers and future scientists to participate in his experiments. His lab in OU's Science and Engineering Building is staffed with a diverse support group that includes high school interns, undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral students, visiting professors and theorists. He says the variety of backgrounds can be a strength.
"By bringing together people from biology, medicine, physics and engineering, we create collaborative research," he says. "This meeting of the minds can result in something dramatically new."
While Dr. Srinivasan and his group study the creation of new materials, Dr. Xia is focused on repairing old materials -- human tissue, actually.
His research is aimed at detecting degradation of articular cartilage that leads to osteoarthritis, a disease that affects nearly a third of the U.S. population.
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and is caused by the degeneration and eventual loss of articular cartilage in a joint. This cartilage is a thin layer of very stiff protective tissue that provides a cushion of support. When it breaks down, bone rubs painfully against bone.
Dr. Xia's work involves the use of microscopic imaging, which may provide a way to provide an early diagnosis of the disease. His breakthrough research is studying how to prevent the disease by examining the cartilage through three types of technologically advanced imaging: microscopic magnetic resonance imaging, infrared imaging and polarized light microscopy.
The National Institutes of Health this year awarded Dr. Xia a $446,742 grant, part of a multi-year award, to help further his research, and an instrumentation grant, also from the NIH, of $108,687 to fund the purchase of fluorescence microscope.
The goal, he says, is not to find a “cure,” but to detect subtle changes in the cartilage that could lead to early intervention and preservation of tissue.
“By the time you feel the pain in your joints, it is often too late,” says Dr. Xia. “We are looking for a set of ‘markers’ that could become useful in terms of diagnosing disease early, before symptoms appear.”
Dr. Xia’s research is unique -- and on the cutting-edge of both science and medicine.
“What we do in terms of imaging at the moment no one at a hospital can do,” he emphasizes. “We are studying the problem at the highest resolution that anyone can provide on the planet. There just isn’t anything more advanced out there.”
The neighboring research domains of Gopalan Srinivasan, Ph.D., and Yang Xia, Ph.D., are significantly different, but equally important.
Created by Karen Coronado (kacorona@oakland.edu) on Wednesday, November 17, 2010 Modified by Karen Coronado (kacorona@oakland.edu) on Wednesday, December 8, 2010 Article Start Date: Wednesday, November 17, 2010
