The following awards were received by College of Medicine faculty during the month of September. They represent $9.7 million in new funding to UNMC.
Stephen Rennard, M.D., internal medicine-pulmonary, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $4.4 million from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. New evidence suggests that lung repair processes are diminished in patients with COPD due, at least in part, to increased levels of prostaglandin E (PGE). PGE is over produced by lung fibroblasts in patients with emphysema and inhibition of PGE in these patients may lead to an effective treatment. This large cooperative study will build on the information learned from Dr. Rennard's earlier work in COPD assessing lung structure and function in patients enrolled in the COPD Gene study and compare the effectiveness of inhibiting PGE on the progression of inflammatory processes and the rate of emphysema progression.
Paras Mishra, Ph.D., cellular and integrative physiology, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $1.8 million from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Obesity mediated type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a leading problem in the western world, and the rate of diabetes patients is increasing rapidly across the globe. However, the cause is not completely understood. It has been found that diabetes increases the chances of heart failure and homocysteine levels are elevated in both diabetes and heart failure conditions, but how homocysteine affects heart failure in diabetes is not clear. Dr. Mishra's studies will explore the mechanism of homocysteine-mediated decrease in β2-adrenergic receptors in diabetes and the cardio-protective role of the β2-adrenergic agonist, exercise and H2, in diabetic complications.
Irving Zucker, Ph.D., cellular and integrative physiology, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $1.8 million from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Dr. Zucker's project will explore the mechanisms of chronic oxidative stress in chronic heart failure at a cellular level. The proposed research will address important functional and mechanistic issues that directly relate to the quality of life in patients with chronic heart failure and potentially uncover new targets for therapy in CHF.
Kate Hyde, Ph.D., biochemistry and molecular biology, has received a National Institutes of Health Pathway to Independence in Cancer Research award for $700,000 from the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Hyde will continue her project delineating the mutations that give rise to leukemia.
San Ming Wang, M.D., genetics, cell biology & anatomy, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $350,000 from the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Wang will continue his work in the genetic basis of breast cancer-resistance; focusing primarily on the genes that protect certain individuals who bear the BRCA1+ gene from developing lethal cancers.
Ming-Fong Lin, Ph.D., biochemistry and molecular biology, has received a Department of Defense, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program award for $200,000 from the U.S. Army. Dr. Lin's proposal will be used to train undergraduate science majors at Clark Atlanta University, an HBCU (historically black college and university), in prostate cancer research.
Industry-sponsored contracts
The following industry-sponsored contracts have been received. Here is more information on clinical trials enrolling patients at UNMC.
Robert Bennett, Ph.D., internal medicine-diabetes, endocrinology, metabolism, is the university partner for a SBIR/STTR grant for the development and preliminary testing of an alternative therapeutic compound for the treatment of fibrotic liver disease.
Christopher Kratochvil, M.D., psychiatry, is the UNMC lead for an interventional study on the safety and effectiveness in adolescent patients with major depressive disorder of a serotonergic antidepressant currently used to treat adults with major depressive disorder.
Stephen Obaro, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., pediatrics infectious disease, has received a contract for his work in community-acquired bacteraemia in Nigerian children.
William Burke, M.D., psychiatry, is the UNMC lead for an interventional study on the safety and effectiveness of a neuroprotective antibody to slow cognitive and functional decline in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease.