Neurosurgery, White 502
Massachusetts General Hospital
Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114

owen@helix.mgh.harvard.edu
Office Phone: 617-724-6351
Office Fax: 617-726-4814
Beeper / Voice Mail:
617-724-5700 id# 2-6648

Curriculum Vitae -
http://neurosurgery.mgh.harvard.edu/owen/

Clinical Server:

MEDx Medical Image
Workstation (Linux)

• 1 Planning Station and 2 Workstations

• 4 Cbyon Suite OTS Systems (Win XP)

• OTS v2.0 Systems (HP Unix)
• SPLAN + Fusion v1.0 Systems (HP UNIX)
• SPLAN + Fusion v2.0 System (HP UNIX) [research use only]

• SNN Surgical Navigation System (Win NT4)

In the Neurosurgery Surgical Research Laboratories, there are multiple ongoing basic and preclinical research projects involving studies of functional neurosurgery, neuroregeneration & degeneration, cerebral vasospasm, stroke, neuroimaging, neurotransplantation and gene therapy. These studies range from basic bench-top assays of components involved in metabolic and/or pathophysiological pathways, to surgical models of disease pathways and treatments, to innovative use of new technologies, to imaging studies (PET, fCT, fMRI, 3d Doppler Ultrasound, Optical Scanning) of physiological changes involved in these disease processes.

Research Activities - Research Interests see Research @ Neurosurgery

Research and laboratory skills to support these projects include:

Protocol Preparation Pre-Op Care & Handling Anesthesia & Analgesia Imaging Procedures (X-ray, CT, MRI, PET)

Catherization and Interventional Procedures Laser Procedures Surgical Procedures & Technique

Post-Op Care & Recovery Manuscript Preparation Grant Application Preparation Surgical Laboratory Management

• Dr E.A. Chiocca - Evaluation of Intra-arterial Oncolytic Virus (OV) and Transient Immunosuppression in NHPs.
• Drs C. Ogilyy and B. Hoh - Biopolymers in Aneurysm Repairs

Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Center of Excellence

Dr Ole Isacson - PI, Director of Center and Neuroregeneration Laboratory - Mclean Hospital and MGH Neurology - Neuroregeneration Laboratory

Dr Anna-Liisa Brownell - PI, Director MGH PET Imaging Laboratory - MGH Radiology - [ALB Intranet]

Dr Bruce Jenkins, Director, Neurochemical Imaging - MGH Radiology - MR Center at MGH - fMRI, MR Spectroscopy and high resolution anatomical studies.

A functional collaborative scientific group centered at McLean Hospital and Harvard NERPRC funded by the NIH/NINDS that investigates neuroprotective, neuromodulatory and neural transplantation approaches for PD. This work is synergistically linked in four projects:

Project 1. A prevention of dopaminergic degeneration induced by MPTP. Two paradigms are tested; a) neuroprotection to reduce the loss of dopamine terminals and b) a regeneration paradigm with post MPTP treatment to regenerate remaining DA terminals.

Project 2. We will test neuronal replacement by fetal dopamine cells into the striatum, the subthalamic nucleus and the substantia nigra in an animal model of PD. We hypothesize that a full reinnervation with novel dopaminergic fibers in these regions will fully restore the dysfunctional circuitry responsible for PD.

Project 3. By generating dopaminergic neurons from blastula stage stem cells, we can obtain renewable cells to be transplanted for functional tests into animal models of parkinsonism. These stem cell derived dopaminergic neurons will be compared in function to those derived from phenotypically normal embryonic fetal cells.

Imaging Studies: These projects also include a fourth core project of Imaging Studies involving functional MRI and PET scans and analysis.

DR Zervas's Lab - PET Imaging of CBF, CBV, O2M,
OEF and GluMetab

• Research @ Neurosurgery
• DR N.T. Zervas, Research Info
• Neurosurgery Surgical Research Lab
• Neurosurgery Research Labs

Images courtesy of Anna-Liisa Brownell, PhD in collaboration on a study of CNS tissue metabolism (rGMR, rCMRO2, rOEF, rCBF, rCBV) during cerebral vasospasm. (For more info.)

• Research PET Imaging

Functional CT Studies

Images courtesy of CIPR (Center for Imaging and Pharmaceutical Research) as part of a collaboration with the CNS project group. The images are the work of George Hunter, MD and Leena Hamberg, PhD as part of a study on peripheral tissue perfusion (CBV, TTT, CBFi) during cerebral vasospasm. (For more info.)

• Center for Imaging and Pharmaceutical Research (CIPR)

DR Zervas's & DR Peterson's Labs - Studies in
laser-induced pulsed-fluid wave treatment of
vasospastic cerebral arteries.

• MGH Laser Center
  

DR Peterson's Labs - Studies in Protein Kinase C (PKC).

• DR J.W. Peterson
• Laboratory For Cerebrovascular Biophysics

Neurophysiology Research Lab -  "Focal Cerebral Ischemia and Neuroprotective Agents."

DR C.S. Ogilvy and DR K. Maynard -  Images courtesy of CIPR (Center for Imaging and  Pharmaceutical Research) as part of a collaboration with the CNS project group.

Fig 1-3: fCT CBFi maps pre/post focal occlusion.
Fig 4-5: fCT delay maps post occlusion.

• Dr Lee Kaplan - MGH Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease & Weight Center
• Pediatric Surgery - Transgenic Models - sensitivity to pulmonary infections
• Radiology - Dr T. Davis - Optical registration in the Neuro ORs
• Cardiac Surgery - Drs J. Schultz and M. Yu - Burns and Cardiac Studies
• Plastic Surgery - Models in Limb Transplant
• Graybiel Laboratory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT - DR Ann Graybiel - PI
• Center for Innovative Minimally Invasive Therapy (CIMIT) - "Clinical Focus Areas - Stroke - Coordinator Walter Koroshetz, MD"
  
  • Albert Lee, M.D. - Brain cooling. Hypothermia is the most consistent, robust and broadly applicable experimental neuroprotective strategy for ischemic brain injury. A decrease in stroke injury in animal models occurs with only a 2-3 degree reduction in brain temperature. Initial clinical reports from Germany indicate that cerebral hypothermia can be attained by total body cooling, and is feasible and safe in stroke patients. We wish to test the ability of hypothermia to block the progression of ischemic injury as measured by diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI).
    
  • Gilberto Gonzalez, MD, Ph.D. - Selective laser thrombolysis.  The use of thrombolytic drugs such as urokinase, tissue plasminogen activator introduces an inherent risk of brain hemorrhage. There is a known (0.5%) risk in cardiac thrombolysis, it reached 6% in the American t-PA trial. In addition, bleeding risk excludes a number of devastated stroke patients from thrombolytic therapy, especially post-surgical cases. Laser assisted thrombolysis offers to improve the access of thrombolytic drug to the clot by causing microcavitation in the clot. This should allow recanalization of blocked vessels with lower doses of thrombolytic drug and lower risk of hemorrhage. Selective laser assisted thrombolysis has been developed for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction by applying pulses of low enough energy and pulse rate to selectively deposit energy in the clot. Laser energy pulses of short duration, nanoseconds-microseconds, deposit energy into the thrombus and begin the ablation process before sufficient heat diffuses to adjacent tissues, thereby limiting thermal damage.
    
• Steven Zeitels, MD., Rox Anderson and Walter Koroshetz, MD - Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI), the MGH Laser Center and the Neurology Acute Stroke Service - Endoscopic Reversible Laryngeal Closure to Prevent Chronic Aspiration . The use of lasers to "weld" or create a laryngeal closure that would prevent possible aspiration of gastric contents that commonly leads to pneumonia in patients following cerebral strokes.
• Robert H. Brown, MD, Ph.D. and Merit E. Cudkowicz, MD - Day Neuromuscular Research Laboratory - Preclinical Studies of Intrathecal Recombination Human Superoxide Dismutase in Sheep. Surgical model for placement of intraventricular and spinal catheters for chronic infusion of superoxide dismutase (SOD). Studies in preparation for human clinical trials involving ALS patients.

Neurosurgical Service (Systems Administrator / Editor / Webmaster) - I am responsible for the development of web systems, html and graphics, that are used in support of the MGH Neurosurgical Service (some of which are listed below). This includes responsibility for both software and hardware issues, maintenance of a series of servers (web & database systems), as well as informational content development.

This includes a variety of Neurosurgery Internet and Intranet systems, and Patient-to-Patient hosted web systems.

In addition to the variety of research support requirements, I also provide some departmental wide low level support on PC and MAC computer issues. This also includes some technical support on high end UNIX workstations used for medical image analysis in support of OR surgical case planning.

Technology Activities - Computer Systems / Neurosurgery Servers (Systems Administrator / Editor / Webmaster)

Neurosurgery at MGH - http://neurosurgery.mgh.harvard.edu
Brain Tumor Center at MGH - http://brain.mgh.harvard.edu
Research Neurosurgery at MGH - http://research.neurosurgery.mgh.harvard.edu
Guest Information Systems - http://gis.mgh.harvard.edu
e-Webs Systems - http://neurosurgery.massgeneral.org

Systems & IPAddresses

Computing Resources: need help with computer issues? HELP! - Software: Antiviral, AntiSpam, AntiTrojan, AntiSpyWare - PC/MAC Office and PC Computer OS updates/patches/fixes - Dial-Up (phone modem), and VPN (cable / dsl) access - [e-mail me with your issue] IntraNet Resources: North.Neurosurgery NeuroOnc MyMobile Resources: [e-mail me with your connection request] A listing of applications and links to resources that are available to 'Moble' computing users on Palm OS, PocketPC, Symbian OS and SmartPhone OS based mobile and wireless systems. Voice Conference (VoIP) Internet Conference Calls - We have a test server setup for Voice Conference over the Internet. The requirements are very small; see the info at Ventrilo to install a client on your PC or Mac. The server is at: brain.mgh.harvard.edu (port 3784) Info to email as an invitation to join a conference.

I have current experience with a variety of operating systems: PC (DOS, Windows 3.x, Win95/98/ME, NT3.51 NT4, NT5, Win2k Professional and Server), some working knowledge of MAC Os's, and some UNIX (HPUX). and some Linux.

I have experience with a variety of software packages including: MS Office (95-2000), Adobe Photoshop, Paradox & FileMaker Databases, a mix of spreadsheet & word processors, scanning & slide making packages, specialty networking packages, and CDR & PC hardware systems.

I have demonstrated experience providing services for the Neurosurgery systems and for Hosted systems that includes:

• Development of Web Sites (Sites & Servers)
• Site Design, Graphics and Utilization Analysis
• Web Page Development (Standard, Frames, FrontPage)
• Domain Name Registration & Hosting
• Neurosurgical Service Web Systems (Ours - see above)
• Patient-to-Patient Support Services (Hosting Others - see above)

• Web Servers (EMWAC, Purveyor Encryption, IIS4/IIS5, FrontPage Servers)
• Index Servers (MS Search, Excite Search Engines)
• FTP Systems (MS IIS Servers, WarFTPd)
• DataBase Systems (Access, Paradox, FileMaker, Web, MS SQL)

• E-mail Servers (EMWAC & MS IIS, MS Exchange)
• ListServers (EMWAC & Lsoft)
• Web Calendaring Systems (iCal, CalSet, Now-Up-to-Date)
• Web Forums (Servers)
• Web ChatRooms (Servers)
• NewsGroup (Servers)
• Remote Access Systems
  • PPP Dial-Up Server Systems
  • PPTP & VPN Server Systems
  • Pc-AnyWhere^TM Systems
• Web GuestBooks (Perl Script)
• Bulletin Board Services (Perl Script)
• BBS Discussion Groups (Perl Script)
• Java Scripts (some minor ones)
• Medical Imaging Systems (DICOM - ConQuest, eFilm, Osirus, MEDx)

• Systems Administrator
• Server Manager
• Network Manager
• BackOffice Manager
• WebMaster
• Systems Developer

• Applications Developer
• HelpDesk Services (Dept systems & workstations)
• HelpDesk Services (Cyber HelpDesk for hosted services)
• Hardware & Software Support Services
• ?? Others

If you see a Snake, kill the Snake. Don't form Snake review committees. Don't form Snake discussion groups. Kill the Snake.

Don't kill dead Snakes. Leave them alone, they are dead. Learn from them but move on. Don't get stuck killing dead Snakes.

Observe & Beware. Many good opportunities start as Snakes. Coordinate the discussion to identify which items are Snakes and which are real opportunities.

Journals

Brownell AL, Canales K, Chen YI, Jenkins BG, Owen C, Livni E, Yu M, Cicchetti F, Sanchez-Pernaute R, Isacson O. [Related Articles]

Mapping of brain function after MPTP-induced neurotoxicity in a primate Parkinson's disease model.
Neuroimage. 2003 Oct;20(2):1064-75.
PMID: 14568476 [PubMed - in process]

Hamberg LM, Hunter GJ, Maynard KI, Owen C, Morris PP, Putman CM, Ogilvy C, Gonzalez RG. [Related Articles]

Functional CT perfusion imaging in predicting the extent of cerebral infarction from a 3-hour middle cerebral arterial occlusion in a primate stroke model.
AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2002 Jun-Jul;23(6):1013-21.
PMID: 12063235 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Macfarlane R, Teramura A, Owen CJ, Chase S, de la Torre R, Gregory KW, Peterson JW, Birngruber R, Parrish JA, Zervas NT.    [Related Articles]

Treatment of vasospasm with a 480-nm pulsed-dye laser.
J Neurosurg. 1991 Oct;75(4):613-22.
PMID: 1885979 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Teramura A, Macfarlane R, Owen CJ, de la Torre R, Gregory KW, Birngruber R, Parrish JA, Peterson JW, Zervas NT. [Related Articles]

Application of the 1-microsecond pulsed-dye laser to the treatment of experimental cerebral vasospasm.
J Neurosurg. 1991 Aug;75(2):271-6.
PMID: 2072166 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Peterson JW, Roussos L, Kwun BD, Hackett JD, Owen CJ, Zervas NT.    [See Related Articles]

Evidence of the role of hemolysis in experimental cerebral vasospasm.
J Neurosurg. 1990 May;72(5):775-81.
PMID: 2324801 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Abstracts

F.Cicchetti, J.Bulte, M.Owen, I.Chen, N.Lapointe, M.Yu 4; X.Wang, C.Owen, K.Jokivarsi,
R.E.Gross, A.Brownell. Monitoring the migration of transplanted progenitor cells with PET and MRI. Society for Neuroscience 33st Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, November 2003. (abstract and poster presentation)

M. Yu, R. Powers, K. Canales, C. Owen, A.-L. Brownell. Amphetamine may accelerate metabolism of C-11 raclopride in primate. 49th Annual Meeting of SNM, Los Angeles, CA, June 2002.

B.G. Jenkins*, Y.I. Chen, R. Sanchez Pernaute, C. Owen, A.W. Flaherty; O. Isacson, AL Brownell. Mapping Dopaminergic Function in Normal and MPTP Treated Monkeys with Pharmacologic MRI and PET. Society for Neuroscience 31st Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, November 2001. (abstract and poster presentation)

Que A, Owen MH, Owen CJ, Holmes, LB.   Relationship between axial defects and abnormal limb in Dh animals.  [Abstract] Northeast Regional Meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts March 24-26, 2000

Hunter GJ, Hamberg LH, Morris PP, Maynard KI, Lo EH, Owen C, DeBros FM, Choi IS, Tatter SB, Gonzales RG, Wolf GL, Ogilvy CS.   Demonstrati on of the cerebrovascular physiology of acute stroke using high resolution first pass slip-ring CT.   [Abstract] American Society of Neuroradiology, 33rd Annual Meeting, 1995:38.

Steardo, L., Owen, C.J., Hunnicutt, E.J., and Nathanson, J.A. Atriopeptin Receptors in Blood-CSF Barriers. [Abstract]  Soc. for Neurosci. Abstr. vol 12, p1259, 1986.

Nathanson, JA, Hunnicutt, E. and Owen, C.   Atriopeptins in the Eye: Receptors, Second Messengers and Effects on Intraocular Pressure. [Abstract]    Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO Abstracts) No 49, p273, 1986

Poster Presentation:

A-L Brownell et. al., High Resolution and Ultra High Resolution PET/MRI/MRS Studies of Parkinson's Disease and Huntington's Disease Models. Udall Centers of Excellence; Boston Site Visit August, 2002

M. Yu, R. Powers, K. Canales, C. Owen, A.-L. Brownell. Amphetamine may accelerate metabolism of C-11 raclopride in primate. 49th Annual Meeting of SNM, Los Angeles, CA, June 2002.

B.G. Jenkins et. al., Mapping Dopaminergic Function in Normal and MPTP Treated Monkeys with Pharmacologic MRI and PET. Society for Neuroscience 31st Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, November 2001.

High Resolution PET, fMRI, and sMRI in Neuroimaging of the Primate CNS. MIT, Cambridge, MA, September, 2001.

Complementary PET Studies of Striatal Dopaminergic System and Cerebral Metabolism. Society for Neuroscience 30th Annual Meeting, November, 2000.

Relationship between axial defects and abnormal limb in DH animals. Northeast Regional Meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts March 24-26, 2000

Northeast Regional Developmental Biology Conference, Marine Biological Labs,
Woods Hole, MA 2003

Cellular and Molecular Treatments of Neurological Diseases. 3rd Conference on the prospects for neural transplantation, gene therapy and progenitor cell biology. March 15-16, 2002 at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, MA.