Mauro Ferrari Ph.D.

Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D.

Ernest Cockrell Jr. Distinguished Endowed Chair
President and CEO
The Methodist Hospital Research Institute

Director, Institute for Academic Medicine
Executive Vice President
The Methodist Hospital System

President, The Alliance for NanoHealth
Professor of Biomedical Engineering in Medicine
Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University

E-mail: mferrari@tmhs.org 
 

Education

Dottore  Mathematics, Universita' di Padova, Italy
Ph.D.     Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley

Biography

Dr. Ferrari serves as President and CEO of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, where he holds the Ernest Cockrell Jr. Distinguished Endowed Chair. He is also the director of the Institute of Academic Medicine and executive vice president of The Methodist Hospital System, and is president of The Alliance for NanoHealth in Houston.

Dr. Ferrari's degrees are in Mathematics (Padova, Italy), and Mechanical Engineering (M.S., & Ph.D., U.C. Berkeley). Dr. Ferrari is an academic- entrepreneur, with several companies that originated from his laboratory. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for two companies: Nanomedical Systems of Austin TX and NASDAQ-traded Arrowhead Research Corporation (NASDAQ:ARWR). He is also a director, co-founder and scientific advisor for Leonardo Biosystems of Houston TX. Dr. Ferrari served as special expert on nanotechnology at the National Cancer Institute in 2003-2005, providing leadership into the formulation, refinement, and approval of the NCI's Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, currently the world's largest program in medical nanotechnology.

Dr. Mauro Ferrari is a founder of biomedical nano/micro-technology, especially in their applications to drug delivery, cell transplantation, implantable bioreactors, and other innovative therapeutic modalities. In these fields, he has published more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles and six books. He is the inventor of more than 30 issued patents, with about thirty more pending in the US and internationally. His contributions have been recognized by a variety of accolades, including: the Presidential Young Investigator Award of the National Science Foundation; the Shannon Director's Award of the National Institutes of Health; the Wallace H. Coulter Award for Biomedical Innovation and Entrepreneurship; and the Italiani nel Mondo Award from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

His career research and development portfolio totals over $50 million, including support from the NCI, NIH, DoD, NASA, NSF, DARPA, DoE, the state of Texas, and the state of Ohio, The Ohio State University, and several private enterprises. He began his academic career at the University of California, Berkeley, where he tenured in Material Science, Civil Engineering, and Bioengineering. Upon recruitment to the Ohio State University, he served as the Edgar Hendrickson Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Professor of Internal Medicine, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science and Associate Vice President, Health Sciences Technology and Commercialization, Associate Director of the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute and Director of the Biomedical Engineering Center. Upon recruitment to Houston, he served as professor and chair of the nanomedicine department at the University of Texas Health Science Center.

Research Interests

• Nanomedicine for oncology, traumatic injury, cardiovascular disease, infectious pathologies, and diabetes
• Nanofluidics
• Biomedical Microtechnology (BioMEMS)
• Drug delivery
• Proteomics and peptidomics for early detection and therapeutic monitoring
• Cell transplantation, regenerative medicine, and tissue engineering
• Biosensors and bioseparation technology
• Multiscale discrete/continuum mechanics and biomechanics
• Bioethics

Major Areas of Research

Nanotechnology, Biomechanics, Microtechnology, Bioengineering, Biomaterials

Links

The Alliance for NanoHealth

Discovery Health: Nanotechnology-Enabled Medicine

National Cancer Institute Physical Sciences in Oncology 

Recent Publications

de Ven AL, Mack A, Dunner K Jr, Ferrari M, Serda RE. Preparation, characterization, and cellular associations of silicon logic-embedded vectors.Methods Enzymol. 2012;508:1-16. PMID: 22449918

van de Ven AL, Kim P, Haley O, Fakhoury JR, Adriani G, Schmulen J, Moloney P, Hussain F, Ferrari M, Liu X, Yun SH, Decuzzi P.Rapid tumoritropic accumulation of systemically injected plateloid particles and their biodistribution. J Control Release. 2012 Feb 28;158(1):148-55. PMID: 22062689

Blanco E, Hsiao A, Ruiz-Esparza GU, Landry MG, Meric-Bernstam F, Ferrari M. Molecular-targeted nanotherapies in cancer: enabling treatment specificity. Mol Oncol. 2011 Dec;5(6):492-503. PMID: 22071376

Grattoni A, Fine D, Zabre E, Ziemys A, Gill J, Mackeyev Y, Cheney MA, Danila DC, Hosali S, Wilson LJ, Hussain F, Ferrari M. Gated and near-surface diffusion of charged fullerenes in nanochannels. ACS Nano. 2011 Dec 27;5(12):9382-91. PMID: 22032773

Godin B, Tasciotti E, Liu X, Serda RE, Ferrari M. Multistage nanovectors: from concept to novel imaging contrast agents and therapeutics. Acc Chem Res. 2011 Oct 18;44(10):979-89. PMID: 21902173

Mann AP, Tanaka T, Somasunderam A, Liu X, Gorenstein DG, Ferrari M. E-selectin-targeted porous silicon particle for nanoparticle delivery to the bone marrow. Adv Mater. 2011 Sep 22;23(36):H278-82. doi: 10.1002/adma.201101541. PMID: 21833996

Fine D, Grattoni A, Zabre E, Hussein F, Ferrari M, Liu X. A low-voltage electrokinetic nanochannel drug delivery system. Lab Chip. 2011 Aug 7;11(15):2526-34. PMID: 21677944

Fan D, De Rosa E, Murphy M, Peng Y, Smid C, Chiappini C, Liu X, Simmons P, Weiner D, Tasciotti E, Ferrari M. Mesoporous silicon-PLGA composite microspheres for the double controlled release of biomolecules for orthopedic tissue engineering. Adv Functional Mat. Accepted 2011 Jul 20.

Ranganathan SI, Ostoja-Starzewski M, Ferrari M. Quantifying the anisotropy in biological materials. ASME J Appl Mech. 2011 Nov;78:064501-064504.  doi: 10.1115/1.4004553

Gentile F, Sakamoto J, Righetti R, Decuzzi P, Ferrari M. A doublet mechanics model for the ultrasound characterization of malignant tissues. J Biomed Sci Eng. 2011;4:362-374. doi:10.4236/jbise.2011.45046.

Murphy MB, Blashki D, Buchanan R, Dongmei F, De Rosa E, Shah R, Stupp S, Weiner B, Simmons P, Ferrari M, Tasciotti E.  Multi-composite bioactive osteogenic sponges featuring mesenchymal stem cells, platelet-rich plasma, nanoporous silicon enclosures, and peptide amphiphiles for rapid bone regeneration. J Funct Biomater. 2011;2:39-66. doi: 10.3390/jfb2202003.

De Rosa E, Chiappini C, Fan D, Liu X, Ferrari M, Tasciotti E. Agarose Surface Coating Influences Intracellular Accumulation and Enhances Payload Stability of a Nano-delivery System. Pharm Res. 2011 May 24. PMID: 21607779

Grattoni A, Gill J, Zabre E, Fine D, Hussain F, Ferrari M.
Device for rapid and agile measurement of diffusivity in micro- and nanochannels. Anal Chem. 2011 Apr 15;83(8):3096-103. Epub 2011 Mar 24. PMID: 21434670

Refuerzo JS, Godin B, Bishop K, Srinivasan S, Shah SK, Amra S, Ramin SM, Ferrari M. Size of the nanovectors determines the transplacental passage in pregnancy: study in rats. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2011 Apr 7. PMID: 21481834

Hu Y, Gopal A, Lin K, Peng Y, Tasciotti E, Zhang XJ, Ferrari M. Microfluidic enrichment of small proteins from complex biological mixture on nanoporous silica chip. Biomicrofluidics. 2011 Mar 30;5(1):13410. PMID: 21522500

Blanco E, Hsiao A, Mann AP, Landry MG, Meric-Bernstam F, Ferrari M. Nanomedicine in cancer therapy: Innovative trends and prospects. Cancer Sci. 2011 Mar 29. PMID: 21447010

Tasciotti E, Godin B, Martinez JO, Chiappini C, Bhavane R, Liu X, Ferrari M. Near-infrared imaging method for the in vivo assessment of the biodistribution of nanoporous silicon particles. Mol Imaging. 2011 Feb;10(1):56-68. PMID: 21303615

Lee SY, Zaske AM, Novellino T, Danila D, Ferrari M, Conyers J, Decuzzi P. Probing the mechanical properties of TNF-α stimulated endothelial cell with atomic force microscopy. Int J Nanomedicine. 2011;6:179-95. Epub 2011 Jan 24. PMID: 21499414

Tanaka T, Godin B, Bhavane R, Nieves-Alicea R, Gu J, Liu X, Chiappini C, Fakhoury JR, Amra S, Ewing A, Li Q, Fidler IJ, Ferrari M. In vivo evaluation of safety of nanoporous silicon carriers following single and multiple dose intravenous administrations in mice. Int J Pharm. 2010 Dec 15;402(1-2):190-197. PMID: 20883755

Serda RE, Mack A, van de Ven AL, Ferrati S, Dunner K Jr, Godin B, Chiappini C, Landry M, Brousseau L, Liu X, Bean AJ, Ferrari M. Logic-embedded vectors for intracellular partitioning, endosomal escape, and exocytosis of nanoparticles. Small. 2010 Dec 6; 6(23):2691-2700. PMID: 20957619

Fine D, Grattoni A, Hosali S, Ziemys A, De Rosa E, Gill J, Medema R, Hudson L, Kojic M, Milosevic M, Brousseau L, III, Goodall R, Ferrari M, Liu X. A robust nanofluidic membrane with tunable zero-order release for implantable dose specific drug delivery. Lab Chip. 2010 Nov 21;10(22):3074-3083. PMID: 20697650

Ananta JS, Godin B, Sethi R, Moriggi L, Liu X, Serda RE, Krishnamurthy R, Muthupillai R, Bolskar RD, Helm L, Ferrari M, Wilson LJ, Decuzzi P. Geometrical confinement of gadolinium-based contrast agents in nanoporous particles enhances T1 contrast. Nat Nanotechnol. 2010 Nov;5(11):815-21. PMID: 20972435

Ziemys A, Grattoni A, Fine D, Hussain F, Ferrari M. Confinement effects on monosaccharide transport in nanochannels. [cover] J Phys Chem B. 2010;114(34):11117-11126.

Hu Y, Peng Y, Brousseau L, Bouamrani A, Liu X, Ferrari M. Nanotexture optimization by oxygen plasma of mesoporous silica thin film for enrichment of low molecular weight peptides captured from human serum. Sci China B. 2010;53(11):1-8.

Godin B, Driessen WH, Proneth B, Lee S-Y, Srinivasan S, Rumbaut R, Arap W, Pasqualini R, Ferrari M, Decuzzi P. An integrated approach for the rational design of nanovectors for biomedical imaging and therapy. [Invited] Adv Genet. 2010;69:31-64. PMID: 20807601

Somasunderam A, Thiviyanathan V, Tanaka T, Li X, Neerathilingam M, Lokesh G, Mann A, Peng Y, Ferrari M, Kostergaard J, Gorenstein DG. Combinatorial selection of DNA thioaptamers targeted to the HA binding doman of human CD44. Biochemistry. 2010 Oct 26;49(42):9106-9112. PMID: 20843027

Blinka E, Loeffler K, Hu Y, Gopal A, Hoshino K, Lin K, Liu X, Ferrari M, Zhang JXJ. Enhanced microcontact printing of proteins on nanoporous silica surface. Nanotechnology. 2010 Oct 15;21(41):415302. PMID: 20834118

Mann AP, Somasunderam A, Nieves-Alicea R, Li X, Hu A, Sod AK, Ferrari M, Gorenstein DG, Tanaka T. Identification of thioaptamer ligand against E-selectin: Potential application for inflamed vasculature targeting. PLoS One. 2010 Sep 30;5(9). pii: e13050. PMID: 20927342

Godin B, Gu J, Serda RE, Bhavane R, Tasciotti E, Chiappini C, Liu X, Tanaka T, Decuzzi P, Ferrari M. Tailoring the degradation kinetics of mesoporous silicon structures through PEGylation. J Biomed Mater Res A. 2010 Sep 15;94(4):1236-1243. PMID: 20694990

Ferrari M. Vectoring siRNA therapeutics into the clinic. [news] Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2010;7(9):485-486. PMID: 20798696

Parmar BJ, Longsine W, Sabonghy EP, Han A, Tasciotti E, Weiner BK, Ferrari M, Righetti R. Characterization of controlled bone defects using 2D and 3D ultrasound imaging techniques. Phys Med Biol. 2010 Aug 21;55(16):4839-4859. PMID 20679698

Klopp AH, Lacerda L, Gupta A, Debeb BG, Solley T, Li L, Spaeth E, Xu W, Zhang X, Lewis MT, Reuben JM, Krishnamurthy S, Ferrari M, Gaspar R, Buchholz TA, Crisofanilli M, Marini F, Andreeff M, Woodward WA. Mesencymal stem cells promote mammosphere formation and decrease E-cadherin in normal and malignant breast cells. PLoS One. 2010 Aug 16.doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012180

Ferrati S, Mack A, Chiappini C, Liu X, Bean AJ, Ferrari M, Serda RE. Intracellular trafficking of silicon particles and logic-embedded vectors [cover]. Nanoscale. 2010 Aug;2(8):1512-1520. doi: 10:1039/c0nr00227e

Sakamoto JH, van de Ven AL, Godin B, Blanco E, Serda RE, Grattoni A, Ziemys A, Bouamrani A, Hu T, Ranganathan SI, DeRosa E, Martinez JO, Smid CA, Buchanan RM, Lee S-Y, Srinivasan S, Landry M, Meyn A, Tasciotti E, Liu X, Decuzzi P, Ferrari M. Enabling individualized therapy through nanotechnology [review]. Pharmacol Res. 2010 Aug;62(2):57-89. PMID: 20045055

Additional publications . . .