MIAMI, FL, October 11, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Duncan H. Haynes, Ph.D. has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in the field are all taken into account during the selection process.
An acclaimed pharmaceutical researcher and inventor with many years of original, peer-reviewed published research to his credit, Dr. Haynes is a Professor Emeritus (Pharmacology) at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, where he began as an assistant professor in 1973 and advanced to full professor in 1982. His federally funded basic research program developed and applied fluorescent probe molecules to report changes in intracellular calcium, sodium, potassium and acidity levels in muscle and blood platelets. His research, described in 87 peer-reviewed articles, elucidated mechanisms for these and other intracellular messengers during activation, stress and disease. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Haynes+DH%5Bau%5D) and (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/duncan-h-haynes-ph-d/5a/b6b/5a)
The above research made use of expertise acquired as a postdoctoral fellow (1970-1973) at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany. Under Dr. Manfred Eigen (Nobel Laureate) he became an expert in spectroscopic (light-based) measurement of fast chemical and biochemical reactions in the one-second to microsecond time domains.
Duncan Haynes' interest in using light to study biochemical reactions in living cells was sparked in a laboratory session in high-school biology, when he "discovered" a race-track-like movement of chloroplasts in a cut leaf. The stronger the light from the microscope's illuminator, the faster went the chloroplasts' single-file race around the "track."
Undergraduate work in chemistry and biology at Butler University provided a foundation for his biomedical career. Dr. Arnold E. S. Gussin had arrived from Brown University with a National Science grant and zeal for teaching cutting-edge biology. Duncan Haynes attended his inaugural course in cellular biology. As an undergraduate, he worked in Dr. Gussin's well-instrumented lab for two summers on trehalase, the enzyme that hydrolyzes the "insect sugar" trehalose, He graduated with a B.S. in 1966.
The Ph.D. program in Molecular Biology at the University of Pennsylvania provided excellent courses and access to 40-some faculty. His dissertative research was in the laboratory of Dr. Berton C. Pressman, who had just made a ground-breaking discovery: that certain antibiotics kill bacteria (and mammalian cells) by carrying ions across the cell membrane and short-circuiting cellular energetics. In 1966 it was understood that muscle and nerve cells expend energy to "pump" sodium and calcium out and potassium in, but the details of the processes were unclear. Dr. Pressman's new class of antibiotics (which he dubbed "ionophores") quickly became a tool for answering these questions. Duncan Haynes performed lab experiments that determined the ion specificity and transporting efficacy for a half-dozen ionophore-antibiotics. His test systems included organic solvents, simple model membranes, mitochondria (sub-cellular organelles) and red blood cells. His results spanned a thousand-fold range of activity and ion specificity, which he was able to explain simply in terms of fundamental concepts.
At the University of Miami, Dr. Haynes focused the above methods to study the calcium-handling pumping and releasing systems of skeletal muscle cells. Particularly useful was "ANS," a fluorescent probe that he had shown in Germany to be sensitive to electrical charge (and sodium, potassium and calcium) at the membrane surface. Other workers in the field discovered or invented calcium indicators (e.g. quin-2; chlorotetracycline (CTC)). Combining these techniques enabled Dr. Haynes laboratory to work out, in rigorous quantitative detail, the behavior of the enzymatic pumps (i.e. Ca-ATPase) and channels that handle calcium in skeletal muscle. The culmination was a computer model that faithfully describes and accurately predicts the cell's behavior. Further research showed how cardiac muscle calcium handling differed from skeletal muscle. The next step took this into the clinic, studying the human blood platelet, an essential player in blood coagulation. This work showed that thrombotic disease produces abnormal calcium levels in human blood platelets, and vice versa. Collaboration with University hematologists resulted in a clinical test for abnormal calcium handling (fluorimetric "CTC Test"). A U.S. Patent to Dr. Haynes and collaborators covers this and use of the calcium channel blocker nifedipine to treat the platelet calcium disorder.
Dr. Haynes is an effective communicator of science with the legal profession. In the 1980s and 1990s, he fielded dozens of telephoned queries from attorneys. He answered questions on drug kinetics, side-effects and interactions, offering preliminary opinions that were not biased by the attorney's intentions. He was engaged as a consultant or expert witness in a dozen cases and testified in court in half of them.
His career moved in a commercial direction when he realized that compositions of matter he had developed in Germany for use as models of biological membranes could be used to suspend water-insoluble drugs, rendering them injectable. One-third of the drugs in the Pharmacopeia are water-insoluble and must be taken orally. Dr. Haynes' work resulted in U.S. Patents for phospholipid-coated microdroplets and microcrystals for injectable delivery of water-insoluble drugs. He founded Pharma-Logic, Inc. to provide a laboratory and to manage the growing pre-clinical commercial development of the patent portfolio. This was financed by performing feasibility studies for pharmaceutical companies. In-house efforts further broadened the technology base. Stable, injectable formulations were created for over 80 water-insoluble drugs. A follow-on invention was drug-releasing surgical materials.
Three additional companies were created to commercialize applications of the technology. Several FDA-approved veterinary (antibiotics) and at least one human-use product (for laparoscopic surgery) are based on Dr. Haynes' technology and patent portfolio. In 1998, when Dr. Haynes sold the technology, $45 million had been spent on its commercial applications and 80 people were actively employed in it. Dr. Haynes' company continues as Pharma-Logic Discovery, Inc., engaged in drug discovery, consulting to the pharmaceutical industry on formulation and patent matters, and in publishing.
(Patent reference = http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=% ... +Haynes%29 )
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(www.dirk-wyle.com/index.htm#about)
Duncan Haynes' choice for a career in biomedical science was inspired by a book read in his early teens: Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis. It is a story of a medical doctor who gravitated to research in microbiology and infectious disease. The novel's depiction of a medical researcher as a hero helped Haynes through many long years of study. As the sale of his technology evolved from possibility to certainty, he experimented with adapting the Sinclair Lewis novel to the 21st Century. The goal was realistic depiction of a working biomedical scientist that might inspire a young teenager to consider a biomedical career. The story should be rich in authentic detail and serviceable as a professional roadmap for high-school and college students, and for junior scientists already in the system. But not to be satisfied with just a scientific bildungsroman, Haynes forged the story as a mystery/thriller. Protagonist Ben Candidi's call to action comes from a medical examiner who suspects that the death of the chairman of pharmacology in a nearby medical school was poisoned by one of his faculty. The poison must have been so unusual, potent and hard to detect that only a pharmacology professor could have selected it. Published in 1998 under the pen name, Dirk Wyle, Pharmacology is Murder was embraced by biomedical scientists and mystery fans alike. "An excellent whodunit . . . a first-class mystery that combines elements of Michael Crichton, Patricia Cornwell and even Edna Buchanan," wrote Booklist. The novel left Ben Candidi engaged to a sophomore medical student named Rebecca Levis, well on his way to a Ph.D., and author Haynes/Wyle well on the way to mystery-thriller series.
Haynes/Wyle's series is six books and growing. In Biotechnology is Murder (1999), Rebecca is finishing her M.D. and Ben receives a lucrative four-day consulting job one week before his Ph.D. dissertation defense. "A potent mix of science, business and crime," said Publishers Weekly. In Medical School is Murder (2001), Ben inherits a dead professor's lab with two years of grant money and a legacy of problems. "Wyle creates Ben as the playful idealized man . . ." said Midwest Review. Amazon Gold (2003) starts off with Rebecca on a humanitarian medical expedition and Ben on a mysterious consulting project. "Wyle has given the hard-boiled thriller a scientific twist, making his novels pleasing for both their intrigue and their intellect," wrote Booklist. Bahamas West End is Murder (2005) puts Ben and Rebecca at the end of their tether on a sailing vacation, giving their scientific and medical skills a full workout. Yucatán is Murder (2015) starts off with Ben tagging along on Rebecca's family planning project among the Mayas.
Dr. Duncan H. Haynes, aka Dirk Wyle, now divides his professional time between current awareness reading of the scientific literature, consulting projects, public appearances for popularizing science and promoting his books, and writing more books for the Ben Candidi series (www.dirk-wyle.com).
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