Gurudutt Pendyala, Ph.D., a basic science researcher in the Department of Anesthesiology, was awarded a $458 thousand grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his collaborative research that uses new diagnostic technology to detect a newborn’s exposure to the opiate pain medication oxycodone. Investigators hope this research leads to a minimally-invasive blood test for risk assessment and timely intervention for oxycodone exposure.
The grant, awarded Sept. 30, is a Cutting-Edge Basic Research Award (CEBRA) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a division of the NIH. CEBRAs are awarded to investigators who test an innovative hypothesis for which there is scant precedent or preliminary data and, if confirmed, would transform current thinking or create revolutionary techniques for addiction research.
This research is innovative in two ways. First, it utilizes extracellular vesicles (EVs) as biomarkers to signal exposure to oxycodone. Currently, no reliable biomarkers are available to objectively assess a newborn’s risk from drug exposure. Dr. Pendyala’s current research with EVs is blazing trails in the area of substance use treatment.
Secondly, the research utilizes a new technology that could generate amounts of cell data not previously not achieved. Dr. Pendyala’s co-investigator is Hakho Lee, Ph.D., an associate professor in Radiology at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Biomedical Engineering Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Lee’s lab is developing this new technology, called High-Throughput Integrated Magneto-Electrochemical Exosome (HiMEX), that will be used in the study detect up to 96 proteins in blood. Previous technology, iMEX, could only detect one protein. Investigators hope this study validates the new technology and that it can eventually have clinical use.
"It’s like going from a wired, rotary telephone to a cell phone," said Dr. Pendyala.
Drs. Pendyala and Lee will both perform the research in their respective laboratories.
The CEBRA grant brings Dr. Pendyala’s laboratory grant funding total to nearly $3.3 million since August of 2018. Grants include:
- $2.3 million NIH grant to study the neurobiology and sex differences associated with methamphetamine addiction in animal models (October 2018)
- $420 thousand NIH grant to study inflammation associated with methamphetamine addiction alongside the presence of HIV in the brain (April 2019)
- $50 thousand DHHS grant to study role of extracellular vesicles associated with nicotine addiction in differing sexes (June 2019)