Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center

University of Missouri

Mark A. Milanick, PhD

Research Interests

Erythrosensors, Approaches for resource poor areas, Educational Innovations, Membrane Transport kinetics

Research Description

Erythrosensors

Our long term goal is to encapsulate glucose sensitive near infrared fluorescent dye inside red blood cells (erythrocytes). Return red cells to patient. Patient can monitor glucose levels non-invasively using a pulse oximeter type of detector for half of the lifetime of the red cells. Since the red cells live about 100 days, this means the erythrosensors only need to be made and injected about every 2 months.

This project is being done in collaboration with Tim Glass, Xiaole Shao, and Nick Cooley (Chemistry, MU) and Ken Meissner and Sarah Ritter (Bioengineering, Texas A&M).

Engineering erythrocytes to be erythrosensors: first steps. Milanick MA, Ritter S, Meissner K.

Blood Cells Mol Dis. 2011 Aug 15;47(2):100-6.

Encapsulation of FITC to monitor extracellular pH: a step towards the development of red blood cells as circulating blood analyte biosensors. Ritter SC, Milanick MA, Meissner KE. Biomed Opt Express. 2011 Jul 1;2(7):2012-21.

Professional Background

• Obtained BA degree in physics, Swarthmore College.
• Received PhD in biophysics and theoretical biology, University of Chicago.
• Completed National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored postdoctoral fellowship, Yale University.
• Past member of editorial board of The American Journal of Physiology.
• Past member of the editorial board of The Journal of Membrane Biology.
• Former secretary/treasurer of the Membrane Biophysics Subgroup of the Biophysical Society.
• Former member of the Physiology Study Section of NIH.
• Received NIH Research Career Development Award.
• Funded by the American Heart Association (AHA), and Marion-Merrill Dow, Inc., and 18 years of NIH funding.
• Principal investigator on NIH translational training grant initiative, "From Clinic to Bench & Back: Training Clinical Biodetectives" (link to: www.clinicalbiodetectives.org).

Selected Publications

• Fact or Fiction? General Chemistry Helps Students Determine the Legitimacy of Television Program Situations. Mark A. Milanick* and Ruth L. Prewitt J. Chem. Educ., April 19, 2013

• Units, Jargon, G-forces and Squirting Blood. Milanick, MA. The Physics Teacher 50, 410, 2012.

• Galva C, Gatto C, Milanick M. Soymilk: An effective and inexpensive blocking agent for immunoblotting. Anal Biochem. 2012 Jul 1;426(1):22-3. Epub 2012 Apr 4.  PubMed PMID: 22484036.
• Milanick MA, Ritter S, Meissner K, Engineering erythrocytes to be erythrosensors: first steps., Blood Cells Mol Dis. 2011 Aug 15;47(2):100-6. doi: 1016/j.bcmd.2011.05.001.PMID: 21641241
• Ritter SC, Milanick MA, Meissner KE., Encapsulation of FITC to monitor extracellular pH: a step towards the development of red blood cells as circulating blood analyte biosensors.,Biomed Opt Express. 2011 Jul 1;2(7):2012-21. Epub 2011 Jun 22.PMID: 21750776
• Milanick M. Changes of membrane potential demonstrated by changes in solution color. Adv Physiol Educ. 2009 Sep;33(3):230. PubMed PMID: 19745050.
• Gatto C, Milanick M. Red blood cell Na pump: Insights from species differences. Blood Cells Mol Dis. 2009 May-Jun;42(3):192-200. Epub 2009 Mar 5. Review. PubMed PMID: 19268612; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2696618.
• Reifenberger MS, Arnett KL, Gatto C, Milanick MA., The reactive nitrogen species peroxynitrite is a potent inhibitor of renal Na-K-ATPase activity., Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2008 Oct;295(4):F1191-8. Epub 2008 Aug 13.PMID: 18701626
• Helms JB, Arnett KL, Gatto C, Milanick MA. Bretylium, an organic quaternary amine, inhibits the Na,K-ATPase by binding to the extracellular K-site. Blood Cells Mol Dis. 2004 May-Jun;32(3):394-400.
• Millspaugh, J. J., B. E. Washburn, M. A. Milanick, R. Slotow and G. van Dyk. Effects of heat and chemical treatments on fecal glucocorticoid measurements: implications for sample transport. Wildlife Society Bulletin. 2003. 31:399-406.
• MacDiarmid CW, Milanick MA, Eide DJ. Induction of the ZRC1 Metal Tolerance Gene in Zinc-limited Yeast Confers Resistance to Zinc Shock. J Biol Chem. 2003 Apr 25;278(17):15065-72.
• Millspaugh, J. J., B. E. Washburn, M. A. Milanick, J. Beringer, L. Hansen, and T. Meyer. Noninvasive techniques for stress assessment in white-tailed deer. Wildlife Society Bulletin 30 899–907, 2002.
• Hoffman JF, Wickrema A, Potapova O, Milanick M, Yingst DR. Na pump isoforms in human erythroid progenitor cells and mature erythrocytes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Oct 29;99(22):14572-7.
• Milanick MA, Arnett KL. Extracellular protons regulate the extracellular cation selectivity of the sodium pump.J Gen Physiol. 2002 Oct;120(4):497-508.
• MacDiarmid CW, Milanick MA, Eide DJ. Biochemical properties of vacuolar zinc transport systems of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J Biol Chem. 2002 Oct 18;277(42):39187-94.
• Xu, W.-Y., B.J. Wilson, L. Huang, E.L. Parkinson, B.J.F. Hill, and M.A. Milanick. Probing the extracellular release site of the plasma membrane calcium pump. AJP - Cell 278:C965-C972, 2000
• Xu, W.-Y., H.Denison, C.C. Hale, C. Gatto, and M.A. Milanick. Identification of critical positive charges in XIP, the Na/Ca exchange inhibitory peptide. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 341:273-279, 1997.
• Jennings, M.L. and M.A. Milanick. Membrane transport in single cells. In: Handbook of Physiology: Cell Physiology, J.F. Hoffman, ed. pp. 261-308, 1997.