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Faculty of Science, Mahidol University's Awards

      

 
Assistant Professor Narattaphol Charoenphandhu, M.D., Ph.D.
Thailand Young Scientist Award (Physiology) Year 2008

Assistant Professor Dr. Narattaphol Charoenphandhu was born on the 26th of April 1978 to Dr. Rongphol Charoenphandhu, former Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Secretary General of the Cabinet, and Mrs. Nitra Charoenphandhu (Naigowit). He received his secondary education from the Assumption College, and in 1995 enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital. After joining the Mahidol University’s Medical Scholars Program, he graduated with a B.Sc. in Medical Science (Hons.) from the Faculty of Science in 1999 with a senior project on the bioelectrical characteristics of epithelium under the supervision of Professor Emeritus Liangchai Limlomwongse. In 2001, he was awarded a Ph.D. in Physiology with Dean’s List prize from the same institution under the supervision of Professor Nateetip Krishnamra, a TRF Senior Research Scholar. In 2002, he resumed clinical study at the Faculty of Medicine Siriaj Hsopital and graduated M.D. (Hons.) in 2004.

Dr. Narattaphol joined the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University as a lecturer in 2005, and has been an Assistant Professor in Physiology since 2007. His main mission is to produce advanced research works on calcium metabolism concurrently with teaching medical students of the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital. Dr. Narattaphol has contributed significantly to publications from the Consortium for Calcium and Bone Research (COCAB), of which Professor Nateetip Krishnamra is the founder and present director. He receives supports from the TRF-CHE Research Grant for New Scholar and the Research Career Development Grant (TRF Research Scholar), and is also supported by grants from COCAB and Professor Nateetip’s TRF Senior Research Scholar grant. He has published 17 articles in international journals, including 4 publications in the prestigious high-impact American Journal of Physiology. All publications represent research performed entirely in Thailand, and have Dr. Narattaphol as the first of corresponding author. In addition, he is a reviewer for several international journal, such as Bone and Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. At present, Dr. Narattaphol together with Professor Nateetip supervise 20 laboratory members, i.e., 14 graduate students, 1 post-doctoral fellow, 3 post-master fellows, and 2 technicians.

The ultimate goal of Dr. Narattaphol’s work is to answer the question of – how to help Thai people have strong and healthy bone? This question should bring awareness to the future risk that comes with aging population and should be included in the public health policy. Aging is accompanied by degenerative diseases, especially metabolic bone diseases which are expensive to treat and eventually lead to morbidity and mortality. To optimize efficiency of the prevention and treatment, one needs full understanding of the mechanism of the overall calcium-regulating system. To achieve his goal, Dr. Narattaphol has adopted both vertical and horizontal approaches to multidisciplinary research. For the vertical approach, he uses various available techniques, e.g., organ transplantation, electrophysiology, radionuclide tracer, bone histomorphometry, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, confocal fluorescent microscopy, molecular cloning and microarray, to elucidate in depth the calcium-regulating machinery. He has proposed a novel theory pertaining to the transepithelial calcium transport in the intestine, as well as the optimal calcium concentration for effective calcium absorption. His findings can be applied to improve forms of calcium-fortified tablets and calcium-enriched diet, and to mitigate osteopenia or osteoporosis in patients with chronic metabolic acidosis or in lactating women.

For the horizontal approach, Dr. Narattaphol has applied knowledge in physics, chemistry, material science and computer science to develop working models, e.g., bio-physical modeling, direct current (DC) circuit and impedance analyses and computational programming, to explain how calcium is transferred from diet to bone. In addition, he works with other young scientists to use atomic force microscopy and nanoindentation to evaluate bone strength at the nano scale. He also starts new fields of research in bone calcium metabolism in Thailand, such as the neural control of bone function, improvement of the trabecular bone strength at the micro and nano levels by non-impact exercise (e.g., swimming), and the theoretical concept of bone membrane. Dr. Narattaphol postulates that bone cells can form bone membrane which regulates calcium exchange between blood and bone, and may be a novel therapeutic target for reducing bone loss. Because of its scientific merit, this work has recently been published in the Histochemistry and Cell Biology, a journal with the highest impact factor in the microscopy area.