Research highlights

Joshua Santarpia, PhD, pathology/microbiology, received a grant of $1,501,925 for "environmental sampling for COVID-19."

The UNMC College of Medicine received new grant awards representing $6,986,832 in new funding in August.

  • Sara Bares, MD, internal medicine-infectious diseases, received a grant of $179,298 from the University of Colorado-Anschutz Medical Campus for the proposal, “Prospective pilot study of the efficacy, safety and tolerability of bctegravir-based HIV ART same-day treatment evaluation.”
  • Carol Casey, PhD, internal medicine-GI, received a grant of $13,701 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for a proposal titled “Nebraska Center for the Prevention of Obesity Diseases through Dietary Molecules.”
  • Rebekah Dawson, PhD, cellular and integrative physiology, received a grant of $457,065 from the NIH for the proposal, “Development of a next-generation glycomics platform to enable glycan structure analyses for precision medicine.”
  • Cyrus Desouza, MBBS, internal medicine-DEM, received a grant of $57,930 for staff salary support to support his Nebraska Educational Biomedical Research Association-funded research.
  • Joseph Fernandes, MD, neurological sciences, received four grants totaling $35,687 from Massachusetts General Hospital for the tasks orders one through four on platform-level site support and regimen specific appendices.
  • Andrew Goldsweig, MD, internal medicine-cardiovascular, received a grant of $90,001 from Rutgers University for the proposal, “Myocardial Ischemia and Transfusion (MINT).”
  • Chi Lin, MD, PhD, radiation oncology, received a grant of $59,100 from the Lahey Hospital & Medical Center for the proposal, “A randomized multi-center Phase III study of individualized stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) versus trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE) as a bridge to transplant in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).”
  • James McClay, MD, emergency medicine, received a grant of $20,000 from Duke Clinical Research Institute for the proposal, “Data use agreement: Using PCORnet to compare blood pressure control strategies Pro000100146.”
  • Russell Mcculloh, MD, pediatrics, received a grant of $20,000 from Duke University for the proposal, “Pharmacokinetics of understudied drugs administered to children per standard of care.”
  • Ted Mikuls, MD, internal medicine-rheumatology, received a grant of $140,396 from the University of Colorado-Anschutz Medical Center for the proposal, “Identifying key autoantibody and inflammatory factors in the initiation, propagation and transition to clinically-apparent rheumatoid arthritis.”
  • Satyanarayana Rachagani, PhD, biochemistry and molecular biology, received a grant of $384,895 from the NIH for the proposal, “Targeting tumor and its microenvironment using nanotherapeutics for pancreatic cancer.”
  • Joshua Santarpia, PhD, pathology/microbiology, received a grant of $1,501,925 from the Battelle Memorial Institute for the proposal, “Environmental sampling for COVID-19.”
  • Nora Sarvetnick, PhD, surgery-transplant, received a grant of $587,404 from the NIH for the proposal, “Uncovering pathogenic anti-bacterial defense mechanisms to identify novel targets for prevention of T1D.”
  • Vijay Shivaswamy, MBBS, internal medicine-DEM, received three grants totaling $150,799 for staff salary support to support his Nebraska Educational Biomedical Research Association research.
  • Hanjun Wang, MD, anesthesiology, received a grant of $14,257 from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas for the proposal, “Targeting insulin resistance to improve abnormal cardiovascular control in diabetes.”
  • Tony Wilson, PhD neurological sciences, received a grant of $1,924,688 from the NIH for the proposal, “New MEG system for improved quantification of human brain dynamics.”
  • Jingwei Xie, PhD, surgery-transplant, received a grant of $488,000 from the NIH for the proposal, “Novel Janus-type antimicrobial dressings for the treatment of biofilms in chronic wounds.”

Industry-sponsored grants and contracts:

The following industry-sponsored contracts and foundation grants were received. Information on clinical trials enrolling patients at UNMC can be found here.

  • Diana Florescu, MD, internal medicine-infectious diseases, received funding for a master protocol assessing the safety, tolerability and efficacy of anti-spoke(s) SARA-COV-2 monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
  • Hani Haider, PhD, orthopaedic surgery, received funding for a work order on an in vitro wear durability study of UHMWPE tibial bearings from the double medical total knee replacement system.
  • Jennifer Merickel, PhD, neurological sciences, received funding to explore “feasibility and utility of the car as a platform for monitoring behavior as an index of driver health and disease.”
  • Joshua Santarpia, PhD, pathology/microbiology, received funding for controlled bioaerosols assessment.
  • Kari Simonsen, MD, pediatrics, received funding for “a Phase 2/3 randomized, double-blind, palivizumab-controlled study to evaluate the safety of MEDI8897, a monoclonal antibody with an extended half-life against respiratory syncytial virus, in high-risk children.”
  • Carol Toris, PhD, ophthalmology/visual sciences, received funding to explore the “effect of an endothelin antagonist of PER-001 on intraocular pressure in monkeys.” She also received funding to explore “changes in outflow facility with a novel Schlemm’s canal drainage.”
  • Tammy Wichmann, MD, internal medicine-pulmonary, received funding for “a prospective, multicenter study for the identification of biomarker signatures for early detection of pulmonary hypertension.”
  • Ronald Zolty, PhD, internal medicine-cardiovascular, received funding for a Multicenter, randomized, double-blind, 90-day superiority trial to evaluate the effect on clinical benefit, safety and tolerability of once daily oral Empagliflozin 10 mg compared to placebo, initiated in patients hospitalized for acute heart.
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