The Center for Biomedical Sciences focuses on the basic biology of diseases and conditions triggered by a rogue inflammatory response. Understanding how the immune system is primed to attack organisms that are foreign to the human body – and how that system can dysfunction and turn against itself – is one of the most vexing problems in medicine today. One of the main research interests in the Center is the study of sepsis, a condition that results from an inflammatory response to an infection or trauma that does not shut off and can lead to tissue and organ damage.
 
The Center is committed to unraveling the biology of sepsis and designing compounds that can slow or stop the abnormal inflammatory process in its tracks. Under the direction of Kevin J. Tracey, MD, the scientists focus their attention on the vagus nerve, a long nerve that snakes from the base of the brain into the gut.
 
The scientists have figured out that the brain talks directly to the immune system through the vagus nerve (via the splenic nerve) and this finding may ultimately help in the development of novel techniques to prevent or treat sepsis.
 
Feinstein scientists are testing the power of vagus nerve stimulation in blocking the inflammatory response that leads to sepsis. They conduct basic science studies as well as clinical research on patients with a range of inflammatory conditions, including sepsis and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Other scientists in the Center are also studying the role of inflammation in stroke. Haichao Wang’s laboratory at the Center has identified natural components, including some of the potent ingredients in green tea, that reduce the body's chronic inflammatory response and could one day be used as novel and safe treatments.

Center Labs:

Laboratory of Biomedical Science - Kevin J. Tracey, MD

Laboratory of Emergency Medicine - Haichao Wang, MD

Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry - Yousef Al-Abed, PhD

Administative Staff:

Name:  Sangeeta Chavan, PhD
Position: Laboratory Manager
Phone: (516) 562-1022
E-mail: schavan@nshs.edu

Name:  Dee Pietro
Position: Coordinator
Phone: (516) 562-2416
E-mail: dpietro@nshs.edu