UNMC College of Medicine faculty received 12 grant awards representing more than $1.5 million in new funding during the month of September. Highlights included:
Improved therapy for claudation in PAD
Iraklis Pipinos, M.D., surgery – general surgery, has received more than $900,000 from the National Institute on Aging. His study will attempt to elucidate the ability of a new treatment, in the context of oxidative damage and muscle fibrosis, to reduce symptoms in claudicating peripheral artery disease patients, where reduced blood flow to their legs leads to muscle cramping and pain during exercise.
Registry of aortic endovascular device outcomes
Gernon Longo, M.D., surgery – general surgery, has received more than $100,000 to help create a global registry that is designed to evaluate real-world outcomes after treatment with aortic endovascular products, and to identify the trends of on-label and off-label use of these devices.
Industry-sponsored grants:
The following industry-sponsored contracts and foundation grants also were received. Information on clinical trials enrolling patients at UNMC can be found here.
Diana Do, M.D., ophthalmology & visual sciences, is the UNMC lead on a phase II study assessing the safety and efficacy of the intravitreal administration of a study drug for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.
Ming-Fong Lin, Ph.D., biochemistry & molecular biology, has received an award through the U.S. Army’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs to continue the support of the Nebraska Prostate Cancer Research Program.
Cyrus Desouza, M.B.B.S., internal medicine – diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism, has received two separate awards for technical salary support as part of his Veteran’s Affairs Nebraska Educational Biomedical Research Association-sponsored clinical trials.
Matthew Lunning, D.O., internal medicine – oncology/hematology, is the UNMC lead in a phase II clinical trial that is evaluating the safety and efficacy of two monoclonal antibody regimens in patients with multiple myeloma who have already attempted previous lines of therapy.
Bangchen Wang, an M.D./Ph.D. student in the department of cellular & integrative physiology, has received a fellowship through the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for a project titled, "Net K Secretion in Thick Ascending Limb of Mice on Low Na High K Diet."
Michael Price, an M.D./Ph.D. student in the department of cellular & integrative physiology, has received a fellowship through the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for a project titled, "Alcohol drives S-nitrosylation to impair airway mucociliary clearance."
John Colombo, M.D., pediatrics – pulmonology, is the UNMC lead on a phase III clinical study that is evaluating the use of a novel combinatory therapy for the treatment of pediatric cystic fibrosis patients with the DeltaF508 mutation.
Shelby Kutty, M.D., pediatrics – cardiology, is the UNMC lead in a clinical evaluation of a novel contrast agent for use in pediatric echocardiography.
Lori Maness-Harris, M.D., internal medicine – oncology/hematology, has received support from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center as part of an Internet study that hopes to enhance long-term survivorship in patients with hematologic malignancies.