Faculty

James L. Kirkland, M.D., Ph.D.

Clinical Studies

AFFIRM-LITE: A Phase 2 Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study of Alleviation by Fisetin of Frailty, Inflammation, and Related Measures in Older Adults (AFFIRM-LITE) Rochester, Minn.
The purpose of this study is test the effectiveness of the senolytic drug (Fisetin) in reducing senescent cell abundance in blood in elderly adults.
Cellular Senescence and Its Contribution to COVID-19 Long-Hauler Syndrome Rochester, Minn.
The purpose of this study is to test if senescent cells and their secretome contribute to Long-Hauler Syndrome and if a clinical trial of senolytic drugs, which selectively eliminate senescent cells, should be initiated.
Developmental Studies for Assessing Markers of Aging Processes Rochester, Minn.
The purose of this study is to develop assays to identify markers related to aging processes in a variety of biospecimens, including but limited to blood, urine, saliva, buccal swabs, cerebrospinal fluid, tissue, etc.

***Not enrolling for cohort 2 at this time.

AFFIRM: A Phase 2 Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study of Alleviation by Fisetin of Frailty, Inflammation, and Related Measures in Older Women (AFFIRM) Rochester, Minn.
This is a pilot study to evaluate whether targeting inflammation will help reduce markers of insulin resistance inflammation, bone resorption and physical dysfunction in elderly women with gait disturbance. Positive results of this study would lead to the development of a larger clinical trial examining the effects of this intervention on age-related dysfunction.

COVID-FIS: A PHASE 2 PLACEBO-CONTROLLED PILOT STUDY IN COVID-19 OF FISETIN TO ALLEVIATE DYSFUNCTION AND EXCESSIVE INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE IN OLDER ADULTS IN NURSING HOMES (COVID-FIS) Rochester, Minn.
The purposes of this study are to prevent COVID-19 (CoV) disease complications by a 7 point score adapted from the World Health Organization (WHO) Ordinal Scale for Clinical Improvement of CoV, to evaluate safety and tolerability of Fisetin in this patient population, to reduce progression of severity of CoV infections with no, mild, or moderate to severe or critical symptoms (WHO/National Institutes of Health (NIH) Baseline Categorization), and to decrease senescent cells, inflammation, and physical dysfunction (frailty).
Minnesota Obesity Center/ Molecular and Cellular Basis of Obesity / Adipocyte Cell Biology Rochester, Minn.
The primary purpose of this research study is to collect a large enough sample of fat cells (preadipocytes) and blood from patients undergoing surgery to establish a bank of samples for use by researchers to begin to understand what factors regulate the ability of fat tissue to grow better in some people than others.