UNMC College of Medicine faculty received 15 grant awards representing more than $1.8 million in new funding during the month of March. Highlights included:
Developing a novel HIV-1 animal model
Siddappa Byrareddy, Ph.D., pharmacology & experimental neuroscience, has received a National Institutes of Health award for more than $100,000 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop a more optimal animal model for studying clade 'C' HIV-1. Through the derivation of simian-human immunodeficiency viruses (SHIVs) that insert the human HIV genetic sequences into the animal viral sequence, the new animal models should more closely reproduce the human disease.
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.
Catherine Gebhart, Ph.D., pathology and microbiology, has received support for the development of a research kit for Human Herpes Simplex Virus.
Diana Do, M.D., ophthalmology and visual sciences, is the UNMC lead on a phase III study assessing the safety and efficacy of the intravitreal administration of a study drug for the treatment of non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
Aaron Barksdale, M.D., emergency medicine, is the UNMC lead on a clinical study of two novel in vitro diagnostic assays for the diagnosis of myocardial infarction.
Quan Nguyen, M.D., ophthalmology and visual sciences, is the UNMC lead on two separate clinical trials. A phase II study will assess the safety and efficacy of multiple intravitreal injections of a novel drug in patients presenting with geographic atrophy associated with age-related macular degeneration. A phase III study will test a novel ocular iontophoresis drug delivery system for the treatment of non-infectious anterior segment uveitis.
James Schwarz, M.D., internal medicine – oncology/hematology, is the UNMC lead on a phase III study of a novel combination therapy for patients with urothelial cancer who failed prior platinum-based therapy.
Krishna Gundabolu, M.B.B.S., internal medicine – oncology/hematology, is the UNMC lead on a phase III study assessing the safety and comparing the effectiveness of two different drugs in reducing blood clots in patients with cancer-related venous thromboembolism, where a blood clot forms in a vein and then breaks off and moves through the bloodstream.
Fedja Rochling, M.B.B.C.H., internal medicine – GI, is the UNMC lead on a phase II study to evaluate the effects of two doses of a study drug in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis having an inadequate response to ursodeoxycholic acid.
Weining Zhen, M.D., radiation oncology, is the UNMC lead on a study to test the efficacy and safety of an oral spray to prevent oral mucositis in patients receiving radiation and chemotherapy for the treatment of head and neck cancers.
Jingwei Xie, Ph.D., surgery – transplant, has received support from the University of Nebraska Foundation for his study of local sustained delivery of vitamin D3 and other immune-boosting compounds in their ability to minimize surgical site infections.
Cyrus Desouza, M.B.B.S., internal medicine – diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism, has received a Nebraska Educational Biomedical Research Association award to support a physician assistant for his VA Medical Center-sponsored research studies.
Stephen Rennard, M.D., internal medicine – pulmonary, has received support from the Weill Medical College of Cornell University to design and test practical tools to identify individuals at a high risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Susan Swindells, M.B.B.S., internal medicine – infectious diseases, has received support from Brigham & Women's Hospital as part of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group Network.
Deepak Madhavan, M.D., neurological sciences, is the UNMC lead on an observational study of the clinical outcomes of patients receiving vagal nerve stimulation therapy for treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy.