Urology
Our Team
Our Researchers
Jay Reeder, Ph.D.
Research Overview
Dr. Reeder's laboratory is focused on the causes, treatment, and prevention of bladder cancer. Most of the work involves very complex research into cells and the genes that make them work.
(Genes are part of a person's DNA [Deoxyribonucleic Acid]. DNA supplies the "instructions" to the cells of the body that tells them what to do. For example, some cells become skin, others become hair or muscle. That's because the genes in the cells tell them to manufacture different proteins; these proteins define what the cells are and do.)
Dr. Reeder's laboratory has developed cytometric techniques—techniques for looking at cells and examining their genetic make-up. The laboratory has shown that looking at the DNA of single, individual cells can be an effective way to diagnose bladder cancer—and predict the development of cancer in the future.
In bladder cancer, the DNA in the cells that line the interior bladder wall has mutated. This leads to abnormalities in the amounts of protein produced, and how those proteins work. One of these proteins is important in the development of bladder cancer. Dr. Reeder's laboratory has shown an association between this protein and another one. The cells of bladder tumors have more of this second protein than normal bladder cells. So finding it in bladder cells may become a way to detect bladder cancer.
Currently, Dr. Reeder's laboratory is developing an "animal model" of bladder cancer. That means they're working with "transgenic" (genetically engineered) mice to study the growth of bladder cancer and to test various treatment and prevention strategies.
One project involves putting a gene into the mice that lets the researchers precisely control other genes. When they add a specific chemical (the antibiotic doxycycline) to the mice's drinking water, the cells in the mice begin producing abnormal proteins—proteins that may cause bladder tumors. The researchers can, in effect, "switch on" or "switch off" the production of this protein. This precise control lets them study the earliest stages of developing bladder cancer and devise new, sensitive ways to detect it and treat it.
This expertise in studying bladder cancer is now being applied to studying interstitial cystitis (IC). IC is an inflammation of the bladder that affects mostly women and leads to urinary frequency, urgency, and abdominal pain. Its cause is still unknown. Dr. Reeder and his researchers are using their cytometric and other techniques to examine exfoliated bladder cells (bladder cells that have "flaked off" the bladder lining into the urine) in urine samples from IC patients enrolled in a current clinical trial. They are also investigating a substance found in the patients' urine that may relate to IC.
Faculty Title
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Education
University of Rochester, M.S., 1992; Ph.D., 1997
Special Interests
Causes, treatment, and prevention of bladder cancer
Contact Information
University of Rochester
School of Medicine and Dentistry
601 Elmwood Ave, Box 626
Rochester, New York 14642
Medical Center extension: 2-6338
Phone: (585) 275-1006
Email: Jay_Reeder@urmc.rochester.edu