Research highlights

UNMC College of Medicine faculty received 23 grant awards representing $7.2 million in new funding during the month of August.
 
Here’s a quick summary of 12 of the largest grants received.
 
Kenneth Bayles, PhD, pathology/microbiology, has been awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for $2.4 million to continue investigating staphylococcal biofilm and disease.  Staphylococcus aureus biofilms are the leading cause of indwelling medical device-related infections. The research program project seeks to identify mechanisms that S. aureus uses to alter its host’s immune response, allowing it to persist. Projects will continue to develop and improve strategies to treat S. aureus biofilm-related infections.
 
David Warren, PhD, neurological sciences, has received a NIH award from the National Institute on Aging. The $493,000 award will support an investigation of the role of specific genes that mark Alzheimer’s disease in the development of brain systems most affected by the disease. Dr. Warren and his team will be testing whether these genes increase one’s vulnerability to Alzheimer’s disease.
 
Matthew Van Hook, PhD, ophthalmology and visual sciences, has received a $381,000 NIH award from the National Eye Institute to determine how elevated eye pressure affects the function of a certain brain region that receives visual information from the eye. This research will expand the understanding of the link between eye pressure and altered neuron function in glaucoma in the pursuit of developing early detection methods and novel therapeutics.
 
Kelly Stauch, PhD, pharmacology/experimental neuroscience, has received a $345,000 award from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research programs to investigate the link between traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer’s disease. The research will focus on the role of human tau in synaptic dysfunction and functional impairment following a traumatic brain injury.
 
Armen Petrosyan, PhD, biochemistry and molecular biology, was awarded a NIH grant for $343,000 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. This award will support research to investigate the role of chronic alcohol abuse in the progression of prostate cancer. Dr. Petrosyan hopes to identify the mechanism involved in the alcohol-mediated tumor initiation and progression.
 
Michael Rowley, PhD, genetics, cell biology, and anatomy, has received a $249,000 NIH award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to discover the fundamental principles underlying chromatic organization to better understand how three-dimensional organization controls gene expression.
 
Channabasavaiah Gurumurthy, PhD, pharmacology/experimental neuroscience, has received an NIH award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The $230,000 award will support research to develop a method for preparing and inserting long ssDNA strands using genome editing mechanisms. This project hopes to accelerate the application of the CRISPR genome-editing tool for use with longer strands of ssDNA.
 
Thuy Koll, MD, internal medicine ­- geriatrics, has been awarded a $114,000 NIH grant from the National Institute on Aging to further investigate how cognitive function in older adults is affected in individuals who undergo hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). This research will expand the understanding of this relationship to develop patient education and interventions for older adults to maintain or improve their quality of life following HCT treatments.
 
Santhi Gorantla, PhD, pharmacology/experimental neuroscience, has received funding on two projects as federal-pass through funding: one through the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke focusing on NeuroAIDS, and another through Drexel University from the National Institute on Drug Abuse focusing on HIV infection.
 
Christopher Thompson, PhD student, biochemistry and molecular biology, has received an NIH award through the National Cancer Institute to support his research plan and program of study. His project will focus on investigating mucin splice variants in pancreatic cancer diagnosis and pathogenesis.
 
Ted Mikuls, MD, internal medicine ­- rheumatology, has received technical salary support for his Veterans Affairs Nebraska Educational Biomedical Research Association rheumatology trials.
 
Shilpa Buch, PhD, pharmacology/experimental neuroscience, has received support in the form of pass-through funding through the Rural Drug Addiction Research Center (RDAR) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to support various projects that lead the RDAR efforts at UNMC.
 
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.
 
Derrick Eichele, MD, internal medicine – gastroenterology and hepatology, has received three awards to act as the UNMC lead on clinical trials investigating the safety and efficacy of a novel drug in patients with moderate to severely active Crohn’s disease.
 
David Mercer, MD, PhD, surgery – transplant, has received funding as the UNMC lead on a phase III clinical trial investigating the long term safety and efficacy of a novel drug for individuals with short bowel syndrome.
 
Cyrus Desouza, MBBS, internal medicine – diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism, has received funding to act as the UNMC lead on two clinical trials investigating the use of a drug in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
 
Benjamin Teply, MD, internal medicine – oncology/hematology, has received funding as the UNMC lead on a phase III clinical trial evaluating the use of a drug used alongside chemotherapy in muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
 
Aleem Siddique, MBBS, surgery – cardiothoracic surgery, has received support to assist with a registry of patients who have received transplanted lungs perfused on a novel organ care system.
 
Donald Coulter, MD, pediatrics – hematology/oncology, has received a work order on the Children’s Oncology Group Pediatric MATCH Trial.
 
Hani Haider, PhD, orthopaedic surgery, has received a work order to conduct patellar constraint and contact area tests for a knee system.