Journal of Clinical & Experimental Pharmacology

John L. Gainer

Biography

Gainer earned a BS in chemical engineering from West Virginia University in 1960, and a PhD in chemical engineering in 1964 from the University of Delaware. He later accepted a professorship in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia.[1] In the early 1970s, he studied the prediction of diffusion rates of gases in liquids and began to investigate oxygen diffusion in biological systems, focusing particularly on the cardiovascular disease atherosclerosis.[4] While at the University of Virginia, Gainer invented TSC by modifying certain natural products, including saffron, resulting in the creation of a novel single trans isomer carotenoid salt.[3] Using animal models, he then investigated the activity of TSC, exploring his theory that the drug would increase the transfer of oxygen through blood plasma into hypoxic tissues.[3][5] The drug's clinical promise became evident when Gainer and colleagues demonstrated that TSC could improve survival in animal models of severe hemorrhage while reversing the drop in blood pressure that accompanies the loss of large amounts of blood.[5] From his work with animal models, Gainer also predicted that TSC held promise for the treatment of cancer, stroke, myocardial infarction (heart attack), and other diseases associated with hypoxia and ischemia (a lack of oxygen delivery to tissues).

Research Interest

Biomolecular Research,Neurosurgery, Clinical radiation oncology and Neuroimaging studies.