Resume

• 2013

  USF Electrical Engineering

  Tampa

  Florida

  Graduate Program Coordinator

  USF Electrical Engineering

• 1992

  ATT

  ATT

  Associate Professor

  University of South Florida

  Professor

  University of South Florida

• 1982

  Ph.D.

  Electrical Engineering

• Spectroscopy

  AFM

  Matlab

  Nanotechnology

  Design of Experiments

  Data Analysis

  Microfabrication

  Thin Films

  Electronics

  Scanning Electron Microscopy

  Program Management

  Semiconductors

  Characterization

  Materials Science

  Labview

  R&D

  MEMS

  Physics

  Simulations

  Research

  Non-contact helium-based plasma for delivery of DNA vaccines: Enhancement of humoral and cellular immune responses

  Kenneth Ugen

  Mark Jaroszeski

  Michelle Kutzler

  Taryn Harvey-Chapman

  Non-viral in vivo administration of plasmid DNA for vaccines and immunotherapeutics has been hampered by inefficient delivery. Methods to enhance delivery such as in vivo electroporation (EP) have demonstrated effectiveness in circumventing this difficulty. However

  the contact-dependent nature of EP has resulting side effects in animals and humans. Noncontact delivery methods should

  in principle

  overcome some of these obstacles. This report describes a helium plasma–based delivery system that enhanced humoral and cellular antigen-specific immune responses in mice against an intradermally administered HIV gp120-expressing plasmid vaccine (pJRFLgp120). The most efficient plasma delivery parameters investigated resulted in the generation of geometric mean antibody-binding titers that were 19-fold higher than plasmid delivery alone. Plasma mediated delivery of pJRFLgp120 also resulted in a 17-fold increase in the number of interferon-gamma spot-forming cells

  a measure of CD8+ cytotoxic T cells

  compared with non-facilitated plasmid delivery. This is the first report demonstrating the ability of this contact-independent delivery method to enhance antigen-specific immune responses against a protein generated by a DNA vaccine.\n

  Non-contact helium-based plasma for delivery of DNA vaccines: Enhancement of humoral and cellular immune responses

  Richard Gilbert

  J. A. Llewellyn

  Mark J. Jaroszeski

  Electrostrictive forces on the plasma membrane of a lipid bilayer vesicle that result as a consequence of an applied electric field and differential dielectric material properties can be calculated via the Maxwell stress tensor. In this situation

  the plasma membrane is proposed as a barrier that separates compartments of a system with different conductivity and relative permittivity values. A numerical model of this case is presented. Model force calculations compare with analytical equation results and were used to validate published experimental work. The model also was used to study electrostatic forces in a simple vesicle system contrasting such forces to frequency dependent deformations. Model results for vesicles in variable conductivity and relative permittivity environments are analyzed to build a framework with the potential to become a tool to study more complex problems with multiple compartments such as cells and tissues. Impedance spectroscopy is also explored as a potential experimental method to predict cell and tissue system behavior in the presence of electric fields.

  Electrostrictive forces on vesicles with compartmentalized permittivity and conductivity conditions

  J. Anthony Llewellyn

  Minimal surfaces are found in nature from crystalline structures to biological nano and micro structures such as biomembranes

  and osseous formations in sea urchin. An application to electrically mediated drug and gene delivery is presented. Periodic level surfaces which approximate minimal surfaces are used to generate a geometric representation of tissue. A method to create such structures in COMSOL Multiphysics using MATLAB functions is described.

  Multiphysics Modeling of Cellular Arrays Using Periodic Minimal Surfaces – A Drug and Gene Delivery Application

  Richard Gilbert

  J. A. Llewellyn

  Mark J. Jaroszeski

  Electrostrictive forces on the plasma membrane of a lipid bilayer vesicle that result as a consequence of an applied electric field and differential dielectric material properties can be calculated via the Maxwell stress tensor. In this situation

  the plasma membrane is proposed as a barrier that separates compartments of a system with different conductivity and relative permittivity values. A numerical model of this case is presented. Model force calculations compare with analytical equation results and were used to validate published experimental work. The model also was used to study electrostatic forces in a simple vesicle system contrasting such forces to frequency dependent deformations. Model results for vesicles in variable conductivity and relative permittivity environments are analyzed to build a framework with the potential to become a tool to study more complex problems with multiple compartments such as cells and tissues. Impedance spectroscopy is also explored as a potential experimental method to predict cell and tissue system behavior in the presence of electric fields.

  Electrostrictive forces on vesicles with compartmentalized permittivity and conductivity conditions

  Hoff

  University of South Florida