Science in the Triangle | UNC Virtual Lung
Dr. Richard Superfine and Researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill target Cystic Fibrosis with Virtual Lung Project
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a scary disease that in the 1950’s prevented
many children from living long enough to attend elementary school.
Things are very different today — but still far from ideal — some people
with cystic fibrosis are able to live into their 30s, 40s or beyond. If
scientists and mathematicians at the University of North
Carolina-Chapel Hill are successful with the Virtual Lung Project, the
prognosis is very likely to get better.
CF is caused by a defective gene and its protein product that causes
the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs
and leads to life-threatening lung infections.
So, when a team of scientists at UNC-Chapel Hill wanted to understand
more about that sticky mucus, they turned to Dr. Richard Superfine — a
physics and astronomy professor who is an expert in measuring forces on
the nanoscale and imaging nanoscale structures using an Atomic Force
Microscope (AFM). Together, that team has been building a fully
interactive, predictive computer simulation of the human lung.
Their simulation could have enormous implications for the length of time and cost involved in developing drugs to treat CF. If the computer simulation works the way it’s intended, drugs and their interactions could be tested virtually before they are tried on humans, which would speed the process and lower the cost of drug development dramatically.
In the two videos you’ll see on this page, you can hear Rich talk about how using his expertise in nanoscale science allows him — a physicist — to engage in research on a biomedical problem and receive new and unanticipated rewards as a scientist.
---------------
This story adapted with permission from the Fall 2004, Jan McColm, Endeavors Magazine story, “Researchers from medicine, physics, chemistry, and computer science take on the ever-branching mysteries of the human lung."
 Richard Superfine is a professor in the Department of Physics and
Astronomy, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Computer
Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received
a B.S. from Lehigh University in 1982, and a Ph.D. from the University
of California at Berkeley in 1991.
Dr. Superfine's research interests are primarily in the areas of condensed matter physics, biophysics, and microscopy. He studies the nanoscale properties of molecules, nanotubes, molecular motors, DNA, viruses and cells. He develops and applies new techniques for these studies using optical, scanning probe, electron and magnetic force microscopes. Current experiments probe the ultimate scales for machinery and devices in nanotechnology, including atomic scale gears and devices powered with biological molecular motors.
Dr. Superfine collaborates with the School of Education in an outreach project that brings remote manipulation microscopy to K12 students. With the Department of Computer Science, he has developed a Virtual Reality enhanced interface for scanning probe microscopy, the "nanoManipulator," now sold by 3rdTech, Inc. and the winner of an R&D 100 award in 2001. |
My Life. My Science.
by Richard Superfine, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
I give talks all the time on nanotechnology, and no one has ever thanked me personally for a talk. But I gave a talk on cystic fibrosis, and this guy comes down to me and thanks me for the work on cystic fibrosis, pulls out his wallet, and shows me a picture of his daughter. She has cystic fibrosis. Two months later I get a Christmas card from her.
Do you have a story or photo you'd like to share? Let us hear from you!