Christopher
Cullander, Ph.D.
Associate Dean, School of Pharmacy; Associate Adjunct Professor of Biopharmaceutical Sciences

Contact Information:
cullanderc@pharmacy.ucsf.edu
Tel: (415) 476-8026
Fax: (415) 476-0688
Box 0446, S-962

Links:

Publications

My laboratory is interested in studying the biological and physicochemical factors that influence the passive penetration of toxic substances and the delivery of therapeutic agents through such 'external' epithelia as the skin, the buccal (cheek) mucosa, and the cornea of the eye. Permeation depends not only on the physical structures through which permeation actually takes place, but also on the physicochemical environment (e.g., the pH of aqueous regions) of the permeation pathways within the tissue, which in turn can change over time.

The specific aims of our current research are to identify and characterize the pathways of penetration within these epithelia and to develop a rudimentary description of the relationship between penetration and penetrant physicochemical properties (e.g., charge, size, lipophilicity) for each.

Our principal experimental strategies are to image the sites and time course of permeant flow in intact, unfixed tissue; to physicochemically characterize the routes of permeation, and to examine the physiological state of the tissue. Techniques used include the use of laser-scanning confocal microscopy and fluorescent probes and proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE).