Dardinger Neuro-Oncology Center

E. Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD, Co-Director, Herbert Newton, MD, Co-Director

The Dardinger Neuro-Oncology Center is co-directed by E. Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery, and Herbert Newton, MD, director of the Division of Neuro- Oncology in the Department of Neurology. Dardinger Center researchers and physicians come from the Department of Neurological Surgery and the Division of Neuro-Oncology. Research faculty include Yoshinaga Saeki, MD, PhD, administrative chief of the Dardinger Laboratory for Neuro-Oncology and Neurosciences, along with Balveen Kaur, PhD, Sean Lawler, PhD, and Mariano Viapiano, PhD. Three neurosurgeons – Mario Ammirati, MD, MBA, Ehud Mendel, MD, FACS, and Atom Sarkar, MD, PhD – joined the clinical and research staff in 2006. Ammirati directs the Dardinger Skull Base Microneurosurgery Laboratory, Mendel co-directs the Spinal Biodynamics and Ergonomics Laboratory, and Sarkar directs the Dardinger Nanotechnology in Neuroscience Laboratory. Newton, Robert Cavaliere, MD, Carol Volpi, RN, Myrna Bowler, RN, and Jill Brown, MS, make up the Dardinger Center’s neuro-oncology team. In 2006, the Center participated in nine clinical trials. Research funding, including grants from the National Institutes of Health, topped $1.75 million.

Ongoing Research Programs

E. Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD, oversees research conducted within the Dardinger Laboratory for Neuro-Oncology and Neurosciences by the various laboratory teams:
Yoshinaga Saeki, MD, PhD, develops therapeutic strategies for neurological, neoplastic and genetic disorders.
The laboratory group of Balveen Kaur, PhD, is studying changes that occur in the microenvironment of gliomas in response to treatment so as to learn how treatment strategies can be exploited to maximum potential.
Sean Lawler, PhD, and his laboratory team are studying cell-signaling mechanisms in disorders of the central nervous system (cancer and neurodegeneration) to develop novel therapies.
Mariano Viapiano, PhD, and his lab team study the composition of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of gliomas.
The microneurosurgical skull base laboratory of Mario Ammirati, MD, MBA, develops surgical approaches to tumors at the base of the brain, educates residents in these techniques, and partners with private and non-private organizations to develop technology for clinical use.
The spine and spine cancer laboratory of Ehud Mendel, MD, FACS, evaluates physiologic forces that impact spinal health and methods to optimize surgical therapy of spinal disorders.
Atom Sarkar, MD, PhD, and his nanotechnology laboratory team study the relationship between single-molecule mechanics and disease states, particularly the micromechanical mechanisms that underlie the formation of pathologic fiber in Parkinson’s disease and that regulate the migration and spread of glioblastoma multiforme tumors.
Herbert Newton, MD, Robert Cavaliere, MD, Sean Lawler, PhD, E. Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD, and Yoshinaga Saeki, MD, PhD, are working with Abhik Ray-Chaudhury, MD, Neuropathology, and the laboratory team of Carlo Croce, MD, chair of the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics, to investigate microRNA and its role in brain tumor transformation and pathogenesis.
Dardinger Center researchers are also teaming with Rolf Barth, MD, Pathology, in a study of carboranyl nucleosides as delivery agents for neutron capture therapy of gliomas.
Phillip Popovich, PhD, of the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics, has been working on a spine model of cancer and will be collaborating with Ehud Mendel, MD, FACS, who directs the Department of Neurological Surgery’s Spine and Spine Cancer Program.
Herbert Newton, MD, co-director of the Dardinger Center, edited the Handbook of Brain Tumor Chemotherapy, a guide for physicians, clinicians and basic researchers seeking better ways to treat primary and metastatic brain tumors. Newton also wrote or co-wrote eight of the book’s 35 chapters. Other contributing authors from Ohio State include Dardinger Center Co-Director E. Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD; Kaveh Asadi- Moghaddam, MD, PhD, Neurological Surgery; and Abhik Ray-Chaudhury, MD, Pathology.

Research Accomplishments of 2005

E. Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD, was elected to the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) at its 67th annual meeting. AANS has only 100 members nationwide, all elected by membership for demonstrating leadership and commitment to research, education and patient care.
Jennifer Cutter, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Dardinger Laboratory, was the first recipient of the Jeffrey Thomas Hayden Foundation Endowed Fellowship, awarded as part of a $250,000 endowment to Ohio State over three years for pediatric brain tumor research.
Balveen Kaur, PhD, received the Late-Breaking Abstract Award from the European Association for Neuro-Oncology at its meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Kazuhiko Kurozumi, MD, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the Dardinger Laboratory, received the Journal of Gene Medicine Japanese Society of Gene Therapy Young Investigator Award 2005.
Herbert Newton, MD, chaired the Neuro-Oncology Section of the American Academy of Neurology and was elected president of the Central Society for Neurological Research.
Yoshinaga Saeki, MD, PhD, became an invited member of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke’s Neurological Science and Disorders B study section for four years.
Robert Cavaliere, MD, is collaborating with Ohio State computer programmers to develop a database about neuro-oncology patients seen at the Dardinger Center – an important tool for performing correlative clinico-pathological and therapy-based studies.The first two issues of the Dardinger Neuro-Oncology Center Newsletter were published and distributed to patients and physicians at Ohio State, as well as selected physicians in central Ohio and around the state.
Herbert Newton, MD, edited Handbook of Brain Tumor Chemotherapy, a new and highly detailed reference book. The book helps fill a niche for physicians, clinicians and basic researchers looking for better ways to treat primary and metastatic brain tumors. Newton also wrote or co-wrote eight of the book’s 35 chapters. Other OSU researchers who contributed include: E. Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD; Kaveh Asadi-Moghaddam, MD, PhD; and Abhik Ray-Chaudhury, MD.