UNMC College of Medicine faculty received seven awards during the month of January, representing nearly $1.3 million in new funding to UNMC.
Tammy Kielian, Ph.D., pathology & microbiology, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $750,000 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Juvenile Batten disease is an autosomal recessive inherited disorder marked by progressive neurological damage ultimately leading to cognitive decline and premature death. Dr. Kielian will build on her earlier laboratory studies which suggest that aberrant glial activation in the early stages of Juvenile Batten disease may contribute to neuronal loss. She hopes to delay disease progression by targeting this activation with compounds that affect multiple pathways of aberrant glial activation in this pre-clinical trial.