William Pardridge,
M.D.
Professor of Medicine
Director of the Blood Brain Barrier
Research Laboratory
13-164 Warren Hall
310-825-8858
Dr. Pardridge received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from
UCLA in 1969, obtained an M.D. degree from Pennsylvania State University in
1974, completed internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Boston
University Medical Center in 1976, was appointed Asst. Prof. of Medicine at
UCLA in 1978, and was promoted to Professor of Medicine in 1985. He is certified in both Internal Medicine
and the Endocrinology & Metabolism Sub-Specialty by the American Board of
Internal Medicine. He is the author or editor of 5 books, and 400 articles
published in the blood-brain barrier and drug targeting fields. His laboratory
is presently working on new forms of gene therapy of the brain, blood-brain
barrier genomics and proteomics, genetic engineering of recombinant fusion proteins,
imaging gene expression in vivo with targeted antisense radiopharmaceuticals,
and cloning of novel blood-brain barrier transporters.
Dr.
Pardridge's laboratory research focuses on the biological basis of targeted
delivery through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) of protein and gene
therapeutics. Progress in this difficult area requires the merger of animal
neurophysiology, pharmacokinetics, and molecular biology. The
blood-brain barrier research program is devoted to developing new and
non-invasive approaches to solving the brain drug delivery problem that can
ultimately be used in humans. The laboratory is developing new approaches for the treatment of
stroke with neurotrophins, new approaches to imaging gene expression in vivo
with antisense radiopharmaceuticals, new approaches to the non-invasive,
non-viral targeting of gene medicines to the brain, genetic engineering and
"humanization" of monoclonal antibodies, and "BBB
genomics", or the discovery of novel genes selectively expressed at the
BBB.