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Peter Molnar, Ph.D.
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Education
- Post-doctoral Fellowship, 2000 Ñ Clemson University, Dept. Bioengineering, Clemson, SC
- Post-doctoral Fellowship, 1996 — Duke University, Dept. Pharmacology, Durham, NC
- Ph.D. Biophysics, 1992 — Eötvös Lorand University Budapest, Hungary
- B.S. Physics/Biophysics, 1989 — Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest
Positions
- Assistant Professor, 2004 -
NanoScience Technology Center, Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL - Research Assistant Professor, 2003 - 2004
Clemson University, Dept. Bioengineering, Clemson, SC - Research Associate, 2000 - 2003
Clemson University, Dept. Bioengineering, Clemson, SC - Research Associate, 1996 - 2000
Duke University Medical Ctr., Dept. Pharmacology, Durham, NC - Research Scientist, Project manager, 1993 - 1996
Chinoin Co. Ltd., CNS Pharmacology, Budapest, Hungary - Research Scientist,1989-1992
Richter Gedeon Co. Ltd., Dept. Biochemistry, Budapest, Hungary
Research
Current Research Project: Development of functional in vitro systems for drug screening applications
My primary interest is the study of the behavior, physiology and pathophysiology of neuronal systems. In contrast to the reductionist approach I am interested in creating simple functional biological systems from dissociated cells and studying the process of their integration and their interactions. I am using these engineered biological systems to develop high-throughput functional pharmacological screening methods and also novel in vitro functional disease models.
Current projects include the engineering of neuronal networks for functional drug screening. In this project functionalized self-assembled monolayers are combined with advanced surface patterning methods in order to drive the inherent differentiation and self-organizing program in neurons and guided them to form directed networks. Using the appropriate extracellular clues and cell types, different functional pathways of the brain could be recreated in vitro and used for a better understanding of physiology and pathophysiology of the nervous system. Moreover, surface patterns can be registered with surface-embedded extracellular electrodes allowing chronic or high-throughput recordings of synaptic transmission and network dynamics. Also, this technology enables the systematic study of surface-bound signals in spinal cord injury.
Another area of research is on the effect of the chemical composition of the culture substrate on the physiology of cardiac myocytes. Biocompatibility/bioactivity could be determined independently of the bulk properties of the biomaterials using advanced surface modification methods and high-throughput in vitro physiological tests. The goal of this project is the systematic study of the surface properties of the degradation products of the most commonly used cardiac scaffold materials (polylactic acid /PLA/ and polyglycolic acid /PGA/).
The third direction of my research is to re-create the stretch reflex arc from components in vitro and study the effect of neuromodulation on this system in vitro and in silico.
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Engineered Neuronal Networks as Drug Screening Platforms
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Current Funding
- NIH: Non-Linear Characterization of the Stretch Reflex Arc and its Neuromodulation
Co-PI: Molnar, 7/1009 - 6/31/2011 - NIH: Engineered neuronal networks for drug screening
PI: Molnar, 4/2004 - 3/2009 - NIH: An In Vitro Model of Stem Cell Innervation of Myotubes physiology
Co-PI: Molnar, 6/2005 - 6/2010 - NIH: High Throughput Electrophysiology for Pathway Identification
Co-PI: Molnar, 9/2006 - 8/2009 - US Army Medical Research & Materiel Command: In Vitro Lung Model for Infectious Diseases
Co-PI: Molnar, 11/2006 - 2/2008
Past Funding
- NIH: Effect of defined surfaces on cardiac myocyte physiology
PI: Molnar, 9/2004 - 8/2006
Courses
- CB 5937/4932 Tissue Engineering
- MCB 3932 Molecular Neuroscience
Selected Publications
Molnar P. and J. V. Nadler: Mossy fiber - granule cell synapses studied with whole cell patch clamp recording and laser photostimulation. J. Neurophysiol. 82, 1883 - 1894 (1999)
Das M., Molnar P., Devaraj H., Poeta M. and Hickman J. J.: Electrophysiological and morphological characterization of rat embryonic motoneurons in a defined system. Biotechnology Progress 19. 1756-1761 (2003)
Das, M., Molnar, P., Gregory, C., Riedel, L., Hickman, J.J.: Long-term culture of embryonic rat cardiomyocytes on organosilane surface in serum-free media. Biomaterials 25. 5643-5647 (2004)
Natarajan A., Molnar, P., Sieverdes, K., Jamshidi, A. and Hickman, J.J.: Multielectrode Recordings of Cardiac Action Potentials as a High Throughput Method to Evaluate Pesticide Toxicity. In Vitro Toxicology, 20(3) 375-381 (2006)
Mohan D. K., Molnar P. and Hickman J. J.: Toxin detection based on action potential shape analysis using a realistic mathematical model of differentiated NG108-15 cells. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 21 (9): 1804-1811 (2005)
Molnar P., J. F. Kang, N. Bhargava, M. Das and J. J. Hickman: Synaptic Connectivity in Engineered Neuronal Networks. In: 'Patch Clamp Methods and Protocols', Humana Press 'Methods in Molecular Biology' (2007)
Molnar P., W. Wang, A. Natarajan, J. W. Rumsey and J. J. Hickman: "Photolithographic Patterning of C2C12 Myotubes using Vitronectin as Growth Substrate in Serum-Free Medium," Biotechnology Progress, 23:265-268 (2007).
Wilson K.A., P. Molnar and J. J. Hickman: "Integration of functional myotubes with a Bio-MEMS device for non-invasive interrogation," Lab on a Chip, 7:920-922 (2007).
