Robert W. Keane, Ph.D.
Professor, Departments of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Neurological Surgery and Microbiology and Immunology
The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis
1095 NW 14th Terrace (R-48)
Miami, FL 33136
(305) 243-5726
Dr. Keane is Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, Neurological Surgery and Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. His research focuses on inflammasome signaling in central nervous system (CNS) injury and neurodegenerative disease. His group discovered that inflammasomes are expressed in neurons and play a role in the inflammatory response after CNS injury. His laboratory has demonstrated that the adaptor component of the inflammasome know as ASC plays a critical role in inflammasome activation in a CNS injury, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. In addition, his lab discovered that inflammasome proteins may be reliable biomarkers. He received a fast-track STTR grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a biologic to block ASC called IC100 that may be used to treat CNS injury and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. He has published extensively in the fields of neuroinflammation and neuroimmunology. He is a founding member of InflamaCORE, LLC, a company dedicated to treating and diagnosing inflammatory injury and disease.
Regulation of Innate Immunity after CNS Trauma and Neurodegenerative Disease
Innate immunity is the first line of defense against pathogens and host-derived signals of cellular stress and in sterile inflammation. The innate immune response engages an array of receptors to detect stress signals and pathogens and activates cells of the adaptive immune response.
My research focuses on investigating mechanisms that regulate inflammasomes in the normal innate immune response and the dysregulation in central nervous system injury and inflammatory diseases.
Drug discovery for agonists and activation mechanisms of inflammasomes are being developed. Regulatory mechanisms that potentiate or limit inflammasome activation after injury have been identified and patented, as well as emerging links between innate immunity and Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Cancer.
Our laboratory is also engaged in a robust biomarker program to identify new reliable biomarkers for a variety of inflammatory diseases.
Visit Dr. Keane’s Publication Listing
News Stories
Industry and Academia: Inflamacore, LLC (October 2016)
Research Journal Feature (September 2016)
Dr. Dalton Dietrich and Colleagues Receive $1.6 Million NIH Award (June 2016)
Scientists Receive NIH Funding to Move Novel Therapy Targets Forward (April 2014)
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS/MEMBERSHIPS
Society for Neuroscience
South Florida Veterans Affairs Foundation
National Neurotrauma Society
Visit the website for Dr. Keane’s Startup Company, Inflamacore, LLC.
Dr. Keane also serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for ZyVersa Therapeutics, Inc.
PATENTS
Modulating Inflammasome Activity and Inflammation in Central Nervous System Injury. Robert W. Keane, Ph.D., W. Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D., Juan Pablo de Rivero Vaccari, Ph.D., Helen M. Bramlett, Ph.D. US Patent Application No. 12/182,886