Stuart J. Corr

Stuart J. Corr, BEng, MEng, MA, PhD

Associate Research Professor of Bioengineering in Cardiovascular Surgery, Academic Institute
Associate Research Member, Research Institute
Houston Methodist
Weill Cornell Medical College


Biography

Dr. Stuart Corr completed his bachelors (hons) in Electronics with Music at University of Glasgow, Scotland, and in 2006 his academic career began with a research internship at Rice University, Department of Chemistry, Houston, Texas. A hot bed of nanotechnology at the time, Dr. Corr applied his background in electronics and electrical engineering to create new analytical equipment to analyze the electromagnetic absorption frequencies of carbon nanotubes.

Dr. Corr earned his Masters and PhD in engineering at Dublin City University, Rep. of Ireland, and in 2010 returned to Rice University as a postdoctoral fellow under the tutelage of Prof. Lon Wilson, who ran the bio-inorganic and bio-organic carbon nanomaterials program.

At the time, the lab was heavily engaged with the ‘Kanzius RF Therapy’ program being developed by Dr. Steven A. Curley at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center whereby Dr. Corr’s role was to develop (and prove) a theoretical framework for the heat generating properties of metallic and carbon nanomaterials exposed to radiofrequency electric fields. This project led to Dr. Corr accepting a postdoc, then instructor position with MDACC, which ultimately led to an Assistant Professor of Surgical Research at Baylor College of Medicine, Dept. of Surgery in 2014. It was here that the majority of his activities were spent in acquiring pre-clinical data for the Kanzius RF therapy, the technology of which was ultimately acquired by a biotech start-up company, NeoTherma Oncology, and further developed into their flagship product VectRxTM. This product has recently been granted approval as a Breakthrough Device for Pancreatic Cancer Treatment under the FDA’s Expedited Access Pathway.

Since 2016, Dr. Corr’s activities have pivoted into the innovation space. As Director of Surgical Innovation in the BCM Michael E. DeBakey Dept. Of Surgery, he founded and launched the Interdisciplinary Surgical Technology and Innovation Center (INSTINCTTM) to develop cutting edge technologies from concept to commercialization. Such technologies to come out of INSTINCT include Tinystitch, a laparoscopic micro-suturing device for in-utero fetoscopic surgery; EasyScope, an affordable 3D printed laparoscopic surgical instrument for low-resource settings; Corleyware – a mild hyperthermia device to reduce positive margins in pancreatic cancer surgery, and PerfCAM – a non-invasive imaging system for evaluating peripheral vascular disease in diabetic foot patients.

As of 2020, Dr. Corr is based at Houston Methodist as Director of Innovation Systems Engineering and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering Research in the DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center and the Houston Methodist Institute for Technology, Innovation and Education (MITIE?).

Dr. Corr is an NIH- and NSF-funded investigator with over 15 years of research experience documented throughout 35 peer-reviewed publications & book chapters, 16 grants and funding awards, and multiple national and international conference proceedings.

Description of Research

Dr. Corr's innovation and research focuses on creating and developing innovative medical technologies. Specific key goals relating to this role are measured by:

(i) internally and externally co-develop, patent, and commercialize several key medical device technologies, and

(ii) allow easy implementation and testing of such developed technologies into Houston Methodist and its associated hospital network.

Publications

Cadaveric aortic aneurysm creation: A life-like model for training endovascular repair
Osztrogonacz, P, Benfor, B, Haddad, P, Barnes, R, Chinnadurai, P, Dang, V, Hess, JP, Corr, SJ & Rahimi, M 2023, , Journal of Vascular Surgery Cases and Innovative Techniques, vol. 9, no. 3, 101115, pp. 101115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvscit.2023.101115

Houston Methodist Ruptured Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Guidelines
Dang, VC, Osztrogonacz, PJ, Haddad, P, Sharma, S, Corr, SJ & Rahimi, M 2023, , Methodist DeBakey cardiovascular journal, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 78-89. https://doi.org/10.14797/mdcvj.1177

The utility of machine learning for predicting donor discard in abdominal transplantation
Pettit, RW, Marlatt, BB, Miles, TJ, Uzgoren, S, Corr, SJ, Shetty, A, Havelka, J & Rana, A 2023, , Clinical Transplantation, vol. 37, no. 5, pp. e14951. https://doi.org/10.1111/ctr.14951

Brownian Diffusion of Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nanosheets and Graphene in Two Dimensions
Umezaki, U, Smith McWillams, AD, Tang, Z, He, ZMS, Siqueira, IR, Corr, SJ, Ryu, H, Kolomeisky, AB, Pasquali, M & Martí, AA 2023, , ACS Nano, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 2446-2454. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.3c11053

Evaluation of a Novel System for RFID Intraoperative Cardiovascular Analytics
Hendricks, W, Mecca, J, Rahimi, M, Rojo, MR, Von Ballmoos, MCW, McFall, RG, Haddad, P, Berczeli, MT, Sinha, K, Barnes, RG, Peden, EK, Lumsden, AB, MacGillivray, TE & Corr, SJ 2022, , IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, vol. 10, 1900309, pp. 1900309. https://doi.org/10.1109/JTEHM.2022.3196832

On the use of carbon cables from plastic solvent combinations of polystyrene and toluene in carbon nanotube synthesis
White, AO, Hedayati, A, Yick, T, Gangoli, VS, Niu, Y, Lethbridge, S, Tsampanakis, I, Swan, G, Pointeaux, L, Crane, A, Charles, R, Sallah-Conteh, J, Anderson, AO, Davies, ML, Corr, SJ & Palmer, RE 2021, , Nanomaterials, vol. 12, no. 1, 9. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12010009

Machine Learning to Predict Outcomes and Cost by Phase of Care After Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting
Zea-Vera, R, Ryan, CT, Havelka, J, Corr, SJ, Nguyen, TC, Chatterjee, S, Wall, MJ, Coselli, JS, Rosengart, TK & Ghanta, RK 2022, , Annals of Thoracic Surgery, vol. 114, no. 3, pp. 711-719. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.athoracsur.2021.08.040

Sensing Temperature in Vitro and in Cells Using a BODIPY Molecular Probe
Ogle, MM, Smith McWilliams, AD, Ware, MJ, Curley, SA, Corr, SJ & Martí, AA 2019, , Journal of Physical Chemistry B, vol. 123, no. 34, pp. 7282-7289. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.9b04384

Development of photoactive Sweet-C 60 for pancreatic cancer stellate cell therapy
Serda, M, Ware, MJ, Newton, JM, Sachdeva, S, Krzykawska-Serda, M, Nguyen, L, Law, J, Anderson, AO, Curley, SA, Wilson, LJ & Corr, SJ 2018, , Nanomedicine, vol. 13, no. 23, pp. 2981-2993. https://doi.org/10.2217/nnm-2018-0239

Non-Invasive Radiofrequency Field Treatment of 4T1 Breast Tumors Induces T-cell Dependent Inflammatory Response
Newton, JM, Flores-Arredondo, JH, Suki, S, Ware, MJ, Krzykawska-Serda, M, Agha, M, Law, JJ, Sikora, AG, Curley, SA & Corr, SJ 2018, , Scientific Reports, vol. 8, no. 1, 3474. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-21719-w

Improved, shorter-latency carcinogen-induced hepatocellular carcinoma model in pigs
Ho, J, Ware, M, Law, J, Nagaraj, A, Jain, S, Rios, J, Calderon, R, Toombs, B, Anderson, A, Bray, C, Curley, S & Corr, SJ 2018, , Oncology (Switzerland), vol. 95, no. 6, pp. 360-369. https://doi.org/10.1159/000491092

Ultrasound Doppler as an Imaging Modality for Selection of Murine 4T1 Breast Tumors for Combination Radiofrequency Hyperthermia and Chemotherapy
Krzykawska-Serda, M, Ho, JCS, Ware, MJ, Law, JJ, Newton, JM, Nguyen, L, Agha, M, Curley, SA & Corr, SJ 2018, , Translational Oncology, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 864-872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranon.2018.04.010

Chemotherapy and Radiofrequency-Induced Mild Hyperthermia Combined Treatment of Orthotopic Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Xenografts
Krzykawska-Serda, M, Agha, MS, Ho, JCS, Ware, MJ, Law, JJ, Newton, JM, Nguyen, L, Curley, SA & Corr, SJ 2018, , Translational Oncology, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 664-671. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranon.2018.02.023

A new mild hyperthermia device to treat vascular involvement in cancer surgery
Ware, MJ, Nguyen, LP, Law, JJ, Krzykawska-Serda, M, Taylor, KM, Cao, HST, Anderson, AO, Pulikkathara, M, Newton, JM, Ho, JC, Hwang, R, Rajapakshe, K, Coarfa, C, Huang, S, Edwards, D, Curley, SA & Corr, SJ 2017, , Scientific Reports, vol. 7, no. 1, 11299. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-10508-6

The effects of non-invasive radiofrequency electric field hyperthermia on biotransport and biodistribution of fluorescent [60]fullerene derivative in a murine orthotopic model of breast adenocarcinoma
Lapin, NA, Krzykawska-Serda, M, Dilliard, S, Mackeyev, Y, Serda, M, Wilson, LJ, Curley, SA & Corr, SJ 2017, , Journal of Controlled Release, vol. 260, pp. 92-99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2017.05.022

Optimizing non-invasive radiofrequency hyperthermia treatment for improving drug delivery in 4T1 mouse breast cancer model
Ware, MJ, Krzykawska-Serda, M, Chak-Shing Ho, J, Newton, J, Suki, S, Law, J, Nguyen, L, Keshishian, V, Serda, M, Taylor, K, Curley, SA & Corr, SJ 2017, , Scientific Reports, vol. 7, 43961. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep43961

Unique heating curves generated by radiofrequency electric-field interactions with semi-aqueous solutions
Lara, NC, Haider, AA, Wilson, LJ, Curley, SA & Corr, SJ 2017, , Applied Physics Letters, vol. 110, no. 1, 013701. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4973218

Non-Invasive Radiofrequency Field Treatment to Produce Hepatic Hyperthermia: Efficacy and Safety in Swine
Ho, JC, Nguyen, L, Law, JJ, Ware, MJ, Keshishian, V, Lara, NC, Nguyen, T, Curley, SA & Corr, SJ 2017, , IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, vol. 5, 7891601. https://doi.org/10.1109/JTEHM.2017.2672965

Gold nanoparticles for noninvasive radiofrequency cancer hyperthermia
Corr, SJ & Curley, SA 2017, . in Nanotechnology in Cancer. Elsevier, pp. 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-39080-4.00001-X

Conditional knockout of retinal determination genes in differentiating cells in Drosophila
Jin, M, Eblimit, A, Pulikkathara, M, Corr, S, Chen, R & Mardon, G 2016, , FEBS Journal, pp. 2754-2766. https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.13772