UNMC College of Medicine faculty received 26 grant awards representing more than $3.3 million in new funding during the month of January. Here is one of the highlights:
Effects of HIV on neuroinflammation
Shilpa Buch, Ph.D., pharmacology & experimental neuroscience, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $500,000 from the National Institute of Mental Health to study the role of extracellular vesicle miRNAs in the context of HIV-mediated microglial activation and synaptodendritic injury.
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.
Daniel Murman, M.D., neurological sciences, is the UNMC lead on a clinical study that will evaluate the efficacy of two different drugs for patients at risk for the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
Susan Swindells, M.B.B.S., internal medicine – infectious diseases, is the UNMC lead on a phase III clinical study of a novel long-lasting injectable drug for treatment of HIV-1 infection. Dr. Swindells is also the lead on another phase III study that will evaluate the safety, efficacy, and tolerability of switching HIV-infected patients from current regimens to long-acting antiretroviral drugs.
Clifford Miles, M.D., internal medicine – nephrology, has received support to evaluate the risks and benefits of a novel immunosuppression drug in maintenance of renal transplant recipients.
Irving Zucker, Ph.D., cellular & integrative physiology, has received support from the University of California – Los Angeles to assist in a study that aims to map cardiac spinal neurons as they connect to dorsal root ganglia.
Fedja Rochling, M.B.B.C.H., internal mdicine – GI, is the UNMC lead on a longitudinal observation study of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Dr. Rochling also is serving as the UNMC lead for another study that will assess the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of a novel drug for patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
Julie Vose, M.D., internal medicine – oncology/hematology, is the UNMC lead on a phase III clinical study that will compare two different drugs for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma.
Kaleb Michaud, Ph.D., internal medicine – rheumatology, has received support to study the risks of mortality, cardiovascular events, and diabetes associated with statin use by patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Geoffrey Thiele, Ph.D., internal medicine – rheumatology, has received industry-sponsored support to study MAA adducts and anti-MAA antibodies in the context of drug treatment responses in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Matthew Lunning, D.O., internal medicine – oncology/hematology, is the UNMC lead for a phase II clinical trial, sponsored by the National Marrow Donor Program, which will evaluate the use of single autologous hematopoietic cell transplant followed by maintenance for patients with multiple myeloma.
Mathilde Bonnemaison, a postdoc in the department of cellular & integrative physiology, has received a postdoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association for a project titled "Endoplasmic reticulum stress in the development of lupus nephritis."
Edward Truemper, M.D., pediatrics – critical care, has received support through the Children’s Hospital & Medical Center Foundation.
Austin Thompson, M.D., internal medicine – pulmonary, has received support to assist with the drug registry of a novel drug indicated for pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Uriel Sandkovsky, M.D., internal medicine – infectious diseases, has received support to study the risk factors for developing CMV resistance in cases of solid organ transplantation.
Carol Toris, Ph.D., ophthalmology & visual sciences, has received support for a study of a novel drug for lowering intraocular pressure in an animal model of glaucoma.
Tara Nordgren, Ph.D., internal medicine – pulmonary, has received a Food for Health seed grant for a project titled "Prevention of human disease by foodborne microRNAs." Dr. Nordgren also has received support from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to study the role of dietary microRNAs on human macrophage function.
Songita Choudhury, an M.D./Ph.D. student in cellular & integrative physiology, has received a predoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association for a project titled "Determining myocardial infarction size using extravascular ultrasound contrast."
Minglei Guo, Ph.D., pharmacology & experimental neuroscience, has received support from Johns Hopkins University to study the role of microRNAs and gender in HIV protein-mediated aging in HIV-associated neurological diseases.
Dmitry Oleynikov, M.D., surgery – general surgery, has received fellowship support from the Foundation for Surgical Fellowships in the area of general minimally invasive surgery.
Alissa Marr, M.D., internal medicine – oncology/hematology, has received support from the American Society of Clinical Oncology to assist in the Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) study.
Peter James Murphy, M.D., internal medicine – pulmonary, has received support from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to assist in piloting a learning health system.
Robert Cusick, M.D., surgery – pediatric general, has received support from Columbia University to assist in the identification of novel genes for congenital diaphragmatic hernia.
Paul Sammut, M.D., pediatrics – pulmonology, has received support from the Association for Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension to participate in the Top-2 Disease Registry, which aims to track outcomes and practice in pediatric pulmonary hypertension.