IU South Bend biotech partnership produces student mentoring bonus

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IU South Bend biotech partnership produces student mentoring bonus

By Susan Williams

Carville

David Carville (top photo), adjunct assistant professor at IUSB, is lead researcher in the biotechnical project that produced Plateletworks, a blood test done in the operating room to measure the number and function of platelets, cells that engineer blood clotting. Kirk Guyer (left in lower photo), adjunct lecturer, is Carville’s research partner, and George Nazaroff (right) is chairman of the IUSB Department of Chemistry, where the two researchers have conducted their studies and continue working on other blood coa gulation projects.

For patients facing a heart bypass procedure or angioplasty, the increased possibility of heart attack and stroke during and immediately following surgery is a major threat. But thanks to a partnership between biotechnical consultants/researchers and the Department of Chemistry at Indiana University South Bend, the risk should be greatly reduced.

David Carville, adjunct assistant professor, and Kirk Guyer, adjunct lecturer, have created “Plateletworks,” a new blood test performed in the operating room during surgery. The test is done with a hematology analyzer, a small machine positioned beside th e patient to measure the number and function of platelets, cells that control blood clotting.

Plateletworks performs the test within four minutes instead of the three hours traditional lab work would take to complete. In turn, the surgeon has nearly immediate access to crucial data that allows constant monitoring and administration of appropriate doses of platelet inhibitor drugs—too much and the patient is at risk of bleeding to death; too little and platelets working overtime threaten the patient with stroke- or heart attack-inducing blood clots.

Carville, who was doing post-doctoral research at Notre Dame, and Guyer began leasing office space at IUSB in 1998 after being introduced to George Nazaroff, professor of chemistry and chairman of the department. Plateletworks was developed for Array, a b iotech firm in New Jersey, using IUSB laboratories and equipment.

But what started as a business arrangement contracted through the university quickly became an academic advantage for IUSB’s chemistry and biology departments. Carville and Guyer have mentored students into the fast-growing and highly competitive world of biotechnical research. Not only have the researchers developed and taught classes in biochemistry, but they also have developed a summer internship program, hiring students for hands-on experience in the laboratory.

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Publication date: September 29, 2000
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