Douglas Strand
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate. Its characteristic lumps, called nodules, form in a region of the prostate known as the transition zone.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Biology
Physiology
- Topics
benign prostatic hyperplasia
prostate
interstitial fibroblasts
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Feb 2028
What they work on
- Map the growth and tissue-shaping signals made by interstitial fibroblasts, supportive cells around the prostate's urethra, using spatial transcriptomics on human prostate tissue from development and from BPH.
- Test how fibroblast-derived signals drive the growth and branching of adult prostate epithelial (lining) cells in tissue kept alive outside the body, alongside imaging of developing rat prostate explants.
- Determine in new mouse models whether prostate epithelial cells regulate their own growth through the receptors for interstitial fibroblast signals, a process called autocrine regulation.
More about the research
A long-held idea is that BPH happens when the chemical signals that build the prostate in the embryo switch back on in adulthood. However, the signals that cells exchange to drive normal prostate development and this disease are still unknown.
Why it matters
Many men develop BPH as they age. Identifying the signals from fibroblasts that drive prostate growth could reveal new targets for medicines that reverse or prevent the enlargement. The project also expects to deliver new mouse models of BPH for testing therapies, and describes the growth mechanism it aims to establish as actionable in clinical trials.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Alexandra Polasko
Stanford University, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Determine whether inhibiting BMP5, a secreted growth-signaling protein, slows growth and survival of patient-derived xenografts of benign prostatic hyperplasia, and whether adding BMP5 accelerates them.
Quinton Smith
University of California-Irvine, CA·Biomedical Engineering
Test how paracrine signals and mechanical cues guide early cell fate decisions, using micropatterned induced gastrulation models of human induced pluripotent stem cells confined to defined geometries.
Alex Hughes
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Biomedical Engineering
Map how tissue mechanics and cell-cell signaling jointly shape epithelial tissue in kidney and lung organoids, using independent optogenetic (light-controlled) handles to control organoid cell composition.
The school
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center: 40 labs on PI Pages, $869M a year on research, 86 research doctorates a year.
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