UNMC College of Medicine faculty received 11 grant awards representing more than $3 million in new funding during the month of November.
Here are some of the research highlights:
Biosecurity laboratories receive continued support
Peter Iwen, PhD, pathology & microbiology, has received more than $900,000 from the CDC through the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. These funds continue the support for bioterrorism preparedness research performed through the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) at UNMC.
Bacterial biofilm formation in CNS catheters
Vinai Chittezham Thomas, PhD, pathology & microbiology, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $370,000 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to characterize the role of arginine catabolic pathways in staphylococcal physiology and investigate the significance of these metabolic pathways in an animal model of central nervous system catheter biofilm infection.
Awards from Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services through L.B. 606
In 2008, the Nebraska State Legislature adopted the Stem Cell Research Act (LB 606), which established a Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee to facilitate awarding of grants to Nebraska institutions or researchers for conducting stem cell research that does not use human embryonic stem cells. The following researchers received LB 606 awards this month:
Bin Duan, PhD, internal medicine – cardiology, "MSC-derived myelinating schwann cell for PN regeneration."
Jingwei Xie, PhD, surgery – transplant, "3D Scaffolds Homing Stem Cells for Cartilage Repair."
Industry-sponsored grants:
The following industry-sponsored contracts and foundation grants were received. Information on clinical trials enrolling patients at UNMC can be found here.
James Schwarz, MD, internal medicine – oncology/hematology, is the UNMC lead on a phase 1B clinical study of a novel combination therapy for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial bladder cancer, or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
Julie Vose, MD, internal medicine – oncology/hematology, is the UNMC lead on a phase 1/2 clinical study of a combination of antibodies to treat patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell malignancies.
Ann Anderson Berry, MD, PhD, pediatrics – newborn medicine, has received support from the COPIC Medical Foundation to assist with the Midwest Neonatal Encephalopathy Registry.
Maneesh Jain, PhD, biochemistry & molecular biology, has received support to develop a novel assay for the early diagnosis and management of benign and malignant pancreatic diseases.
Trevor Vanschooneveld, MD, internal medicine – infectious disease, is the UNMC lead on a phase 3 clinical study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a microbiota suspension used as restoration therapy for the prevention of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection.
Paul Esposito, MD, orthopaedic surgery, has received support from the Baylor College of Medicine to assist with their Brittle Bone Disorders Consortium as part of the Rare Disease Clinical Research Network.
John Davis, PhD, obstetrics/gynecology, has received support from Massachusetts General Hospital to assist in their studies of novel mechanisms of cervical cancer development and progression.