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North Hills grad developing new spray for medicine
Wednesday, July 11, 2001 By Edward G. Robinson III, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Eric Krauland, who graduated from North Hills High School in 1997, went off to college to do big things. He just didn't know how big.
Krauland, 21, is a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. By spring of next year, he plans to have earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in biomedical engineering in a five-year program.
By that time he also may have received a patent for the development of tiny biodegradable plastic particles called cationic polymer microspheres -- particles so small they can be used to carry DNA vaccines into the body.
That's science-speak for creating a better way to get genes or highly specialized drugs into a person. Krauland's way is to use aerosols to spray the particles into the lungs.
"[Drugs] need to get to certain parts of the body," Krauland said recently while munching on pizza at the Baltimore Harbor. "You think it's magical. Just take a pill. It's not like that."
Pills and injections are the most common ways of delivering drugs to the body. But some medicines won't survive the digestive system, plus a lot of people fear needles or don't like swallowing pills.
Krauland pinpointed the lungs as an alternative entry point because oxygen enters the bloodstream there, meaning medications could have a stronger, longer effect if successfully placed.
The problem is making biodegradable particles -- smaller than hair follicles -- that will accept DNA and also "fly" or float in the aerosol spray -- not to mention making particles the acidic lungs will accept, he said.
The solution is a "work in progress" that took Krauland nearly a year experimenting in a lab to develop. He's worked under Justin Hanes, an associate professor in chemical engineering and bioengineering, who had led research on the subject.
Hanes said this development is important because it could potentially help fight ailments ranging from cystic fibrosis to cancer. The particles could deliver medicines to fight diseases or genes to correct defective ones.
"Hopefully, if this works out, it could potentially help a lot of people," Krauland said.
However, before a patent is granted or the particles are used to cure illness, some kinks need to be fixed. Krauland said the particles are sticking together and not separating easily in order to flow in a mist out of the aerosol spray. Also, Hanes said, there's a problem getting them small enough for the lungs to accept.
Krauland is writing a report on the project this summer as well as continuing his lab work. He is also training another student to handle the research when he leaves the university.
When he graduates, he wants to shop his talents to biomedical companies around the country -- perhaps back home in Pittsburgh. He wants to be a drug development manager.
Krauland said he liked math and science while at North Hills and wanted to apply those interests into something beneficial to people's health.
That commitment was further ingrained after his father suffered a heart attack in 1996. "That's where it was personal, where medicine has helped out," he said.
Krauland, who played drums in the marching band at North Hills, now plays drums in the university's jazz band and in a band he formed with friends, which plays small clubs in Baltimore. He's also an avid soccer player.
The biodegradable particle project came to Krauland in part through his persistence and some luck.
Hanes remembered Krauland, who was taking his first class from the professor, approaching him about volunteering in the lab. He was interested in some of the professor's research and wanted to explore further. Hanes denied him the opportunity because he had too many students at the time.
But after Krauland "aced" the first test in the class, the professor changed his mind.
"He's the best student I've ever had," Hanes said. Krauland took two courses from Hanes, earning rare A+ grades. "He was well beyond the second-place student [in the class]," Hanes said. "He just blew the class away. He's a rare individual."
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