UNMC College of Medicine faculty received 17 grant awards representing more than $2.8 million in new funding during the month of March.
Some of the highlights included:
Limiting effects of HIV reservoirs in gut
Siddappa Byrareddy, Ph.D., pharmacology & experimental neuroscience, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $800,000 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to study the therapeutic potential of a combined treatment to reduce gut damage and immune activation, as well as improve antiviral responses and limit the size of viral reservoirs, in an animal model of HIV.
Understanding pancreatic cancer development
Moorthy Ponnusamy, Ph.D, biochemistry and molecular biology, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $400,000 from the National Cancer Institute to study the molecular mechanisms and genetic changes behind the development of pancreatic cancer, which may provide critical information for the development of novel, targeted therapies.
Novel RNA drug delivery method to reduce HIV-associated disorders
Guoku Hu, Ph.D., pharmacology & experimental neuroscience, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $200,000 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to develop an extracellular vesicle-based method of RNA drug delivery to treat HIV-associated neurological disorders, including exacerbated microglial activation in HIV-infected opiate abusers.
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.
Marco Olivera-Martinez, M.D., internal medicine – GI, has received support to assist in a five-year, observational study of patients with hepatocellular cancer in order to assess the safety and effectiveness of current and future therapies across diverse populations.
Yulong Li, M.D., Ph.D., emergency medicine, has received support from the U.S. Army’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs to determine if nanoparticle-based drug delivery of a drug improves functional outcomes for post-traumatic skeletal muscle and neuromuscular junctions.
Howard Gendelman, M.D., pharmacology & experimental neuroscience, has received support through the Michael J. Fox Foundation for his research on novel agonists that provide neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects in Parkinson’s disease.
Rana Zabad, M.D., neurological sciences, is the UNMC lead on a clinical study that will compare the safety and efficacy of two treatments in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis.
Carol Toris, Ph.D., ophthalmology & visual sciences, is the UNMC lead on a clinical study of a new microchannel external shunt capable of regulating intraocular pressure to treat glaucoma.
Sheritta Strong, M.D., psychiatry, has received support from Blue Cross/Blue Shield in order to study the effectiveness of a new mobile app, called TruReach, to assess the utility and client satisfaction of adult patients using the app to help with the treatment of depression or anxiety.
Andrea Zimmer, M.D., internal medicine – infectious diseases, is the UNMC lead on two separate clinical studies, including a non-interventional registry study of systemic antifungal therapy in adult patients with murcormycosis or aspergillosis, as well as a study to develop an observational disease registry of patients receiving treatment for invasive fungal infections.
Pierre Fayad, M.D., neurological sciences, is the UNMC lead on a, Phase II clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of a novel treatment in reducing the recurrence of stroke in patients who recently had a stroke or a transient ischemic attack and are taking aspirin for treatment.
Jessica Summers, M.D., surgery – general surgery, has received support from Queen’s University and Kingston General Hospital to assist in their clinical trial that will assess the ability of enteral administration of glutamine to improve outcomes in patients with severe thermal burn injuries.
Ruben Quiros, M.D., pediatrics – gastroenterology, is the UNMC lead on a Phase II clinical study of a novel combination therapy for adolescents and children with chronic hepatitis C infection.
Shane Havens, M.D., ophthalmology & visual sciences, has received a Mentoring for Advancement of Physician-Scientists (MAPS) award from the American Glaucoma Society for a study titled "Choroidal Volume Changes with Body Position and the Effect on Intraocular Pressure."
William Rizzo, M.D., pediatrics – metabolism, has received support to assess the ability of a bank of computerized neuropsychological tests to be used as a measurement of outcomes in patients with phenylketonuria.
Joseph Fernandes, M.D., neurological sciences, has received support from Augusta University to assist in the study of novel antibodies that may play a role in the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis.