Research highlights

UNMC College of Medicine faculty received 31 grant awards representing more than $6.2 million in new funding during the month of July.
 
Here’s a brief summary of several of the largest grants received:
 
Tony Wilson, PhD, neurological sciences, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $867,000 from the National Institute of Mental Health for a study titled, "Multimodal Imaging of NeuroHIV Dynamics (MIND): An Omaha-Pittsburgh Consortium."
 
Howard Gendelman, MD, pharmacology & experimental neuroscience, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $719,000 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a study titled, "Chemical, Nanomedicine and Autophagy Strategies to Create Sustained-Release Antiretrovirals."
 
Mohd Nasser, PhD, biochemistry & molecular biology, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $532,000 from the National Cancer Institute for a study titled, "Novel approach to attenuate small cell lung cancer growth and metastasis."
 
Yulong Li, MD, PhD, emergency medicine, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $381,000 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for a study titled, "Potential therapies to improve ventricular vagal function in type 2 diabetes."
 
Kelly Stauch, PhD, pharmacology & experimental neuroscience, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $381,000 from the National Institute on Aging for a study titled, "Mechanisms of Presynaptic Energetic Failure Due to Age-Related Pathologic Tau Accumulation."
 
Kurt Fisher, MD, PhD, pathology & microbiology, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $237,000 from the National Cancer Institute for a study titled, "The Role of PGC1beta & ERRalpha as novel targets for therapy in colorectal cancer."
 
Laurey Steinke, PhD, biochemistry & molecular biology, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $190,000 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a study titled, "Dissecting the metabolic determinants of micro-niche development within Staphylococcus aureus biofilm."
 
Parmender Mehta, PhD, biochemistry & molecular biology, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $76,000 from the National Cancer Institute for a study titled, "Cadherin-catenin Complex and YAP1 in Prostate Cancer."
 
Two individuals have received support through the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (NE DHHS) Cancer and Smoking Disease Research Grant competition. Funded by LB506, this program focuses on reducing cancer and smoking-related diseases. Recipients include:
Kishore Bhakat, PhD, genetics, cell biology & anatomy, for a project titled, "Targeting FACT Complex to overcome 5-FU resistance in colon cancer;" and
Sarah Holstein, MD, PhD, internal medicine – oncology & hematology, for a project titled "Investigation of the biodistribution of novel multiple myeloma drugs."
 
Paul Fey, PhD, pathology & microbiology, has received a National Institutes of Health award for $8,000 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to attend the 2018 International Conference on Gram-Positive Pathogens.
 
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.
 
Andrew Goldsweig, MD, internal medicine – cardiology, is the UNMC lead on a clinical study titled, "The Randomized And Controlled Noninferiority Trial to Evaluate Safety and Clinical Efficacy of the SurVeil™ Drug-Coated Balloon in the Treatment of Subjects with Stenotic Lesions of the Femoropopliteal Artery Compared to the Medtronic IN.PACT Admiral." Dr. Goldsweig has also received support from the Henry Ford Health System for a study titled, "National Cardiogenic Shock Initiative (NCSI)."
 
Vijaya Bhatt, MD, internal medicine – oncology & hematology, is the UNMC lead on a clinical study titled, "GRAVITAS-301: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase 3 Study of Itacitinib or Placebo in Combination With Corticosteroids for the Treatment of First-Line Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease."
 
Vinicius Ernani, MD, internal medicine – oncology & hematology, is the UNMC lead on a clinical study titled, "A Phase III, Randomized, Double-blind Trial of Platinum Doublet Chemotherapy +/-Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) as Neoadjuvant/Adjuvant Therapy for Participants with Resectable Stage IIB or IIIA Non-small Cell Lung Cancer."
 
Peter James Murphy, MD, internal medicine – pulmonary, critical care, sleep & allergy, has received support from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for a study titled "CFF Center Adult Program." He also is the UNMC lead on a clinical study titled "A Phase 3, Randomized, Double-blind, Controlled Study Evaluating the Efficacy and Safety of VX-445 Combination Therapy in Subjects With Cystic Fibrosis Who Are Heterozygous for the F508del Mutation and a Minimal Function Mutation."
 
Eric Langewisch, MD, internal medicine – nephrology, is the UNMC lead on a clinical study titled, "Informed Consent To Participate In The Evaluation Of Patient Outcomes From The Kidney Allograft Outcomes Allosure Registry (KOAR)."
 
Julia Shanks, PhD, cellular & integrative physiology, has received support from the American Heart Association for a study titled, "A novel pulmonary spinal reflex."
 
Cyrus Desouza, MBBS, internal medicine – diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism, has received four separate awards covering technical salary support for his Veteran’s Affairs Nebraska Educational Biomedical Research Association-sponsored clinical trials.
 
Bryant England, MD, internal medicine – rheumatology, has received the Scientist Development Award through the Rheumatology Research Foundation.
 
Angela Yetman, MD, pediatrics – cardiology, has received support from New England Research Institutes for a study titled, "Fontan-associated Liver Disease (FALD)."
 
Christopher Vargo, MD, radiology, is the UNMC lead on a clinical study titled, "LC Bead LUMI Retrospective Data Analysis."
 
Dmitry Oleynikov, MD, surgery – general surgery, has received the 2018-19 W. L. Gore Fellowship Sponsorship from W. L. Gore & Associates.
 
Russell McCulloh, MD, pediatrics – hospitalists, has received support from the University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute for a study titled, "Data Coordinating and Operations Center (DCOC) for the IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network."
 
Travis McCumber, PhD, genetics, cell biology & anatomy, has received support from the University of Nebraska at Omaha through its NASA Nebraska Space Grant for a study titled, "The Development of a Fluid Shear Stress Streamer for Live Cell Video Microscopy."
 
Susan Swindells, MBBS, internal medicine – infectious diseases, has received support from American University for a study titled, "Understanding the dynamics of switching to long-acting, injectable ART from fixed dose oral combination therapies among PLHIV in the U.S., Spain, and Argentina."
 
Christopher Erickson, MD, pediatrics – cardiology, has received support from the University of Utah for a study titled, "Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome in children."