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Larry Vernetti

Larry Vernetti, Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor

Ph.D. in Toxicology, University of Arizona
Vernetti
Contact

E-mail: vernetti@pitt.edu
Website: https://upddi.pitt.edu/~Vernetti

Research Summary

The focus of my research is developing early in vitro safety assessment and in vitro ADME models to identify risky compound candidates and allowing the drug developer to focus on fewer but more likely to succeed candidates. An important part of this research is the identification of the molecular mechanism of toxicity (MOA) within the cell, and then understanding how this can be used to predict target organ toxicity. The need for such an application is clear just by considering liver toxicity as an example. Despite decades of extensive animal testing, only half of the pharmaceutics which eventually produced clinical liver toxicity showed evidence of liver damage during animal trials. Bridging this gap is a necessary step forward to developing safer and effective drugs.

Recent Publications
Vernetti L, Gough A, Baetz N, Blutt S, Broughman JR, Brown JA, Foulke-Abel J, Hasan N, In J, Kelly E, Kovbasnjuk O, Repper J, Senutovitch N, Stabb J, Yeung C, Zachos NC, Donowitz M, Estes M, Himmelfarb J, Truskey G, Wikswo JP, Taylor DL (2017) Functional Coupling of Human Microphysiology Systems: Intestine, Liver, Kidney Proximal Tubule, Blood-Brain Barrier and Skeletal Muscle. Sci Rep. 7: 42296

Vernetti L, Gough A, Baetz N, Blutt S, Broughman JR, Brown JA, Foulke-Abel J, Hasan N, In J, Kelly E, Kovbasnjuk O, Repper J, Senutovitch N, Stabb J, Yeung C, Zachos NC, Donowitz M, Estes M, Himmelfarb J, Truskey G, Wikswo JP, Taylor DL (2017) Corrigendum: Functional Coupling of Human Microphysiology Systems: Intestine, Liver, Kidney Proximal Tubule, Blood-Brain Barrier and Skeletal Muscle. Sci Rep. 7: 44517

Lee-Montiel FT, George SM, Gough A, Sharma AD, Wu J, DeBiasio R, Vernetti L, Taylor DL (2017) Control of oxygen tension recapitulates zone-specific functions in human liver microphysiology systems. Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 242(16): 1617-1632
Grants
Project title Proj Start Date Proj End Date Funding Source
A 3D biomimetic liver sinusoid construct for predicting physiology and toxicity 07/01/2014 06/30/2017 NIH UH3
Vanderbilt-Pittsburgh Resource for Organotypic Models for Predictive Toxicology 12 /01/2014 11/30/2018 EPA
A Microfluidic Human Liver to Study Fatty Liver Disease Progression 09/01/2015 07/31/2016 Alternatives Research and Development Foundation