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Research Highlights

The following 15 grants representing more than $1.4 million in new funding were awarded to UNMC College of Medicine faculty during April. 

Nora Sarvetnick, Ph.D., surgery – surgery transplant, has received a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation award for $500,000.  Dr. Sarvetnick will seek to identify new biomarkers that are expressed earlier and which may be more predictive of diabetes risk.

Industry-sponsored grants

Information on clinical trials enrolling patients at UNMC can be found here.

Hani Haider, Ph.D., orthopaedic surgery, has received six contracts to further his work in the development and wear testing of materials used in the development of artificial joints. 

Lori Maness-Harris, M.D., internal medicine – oncology/hematology, is the UNMC lead for an NIH, National Heart, Lung, & Blood Institute sponsored multi-center, clinical trial.  This study will assess whether reduced intensity conditioning regimens combined with Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplant improves the overall survival in patients over the age of 50 with a higher risk of developing Myelodysplastic Syndromes.

Apar Ganti, M.D., internal medicine – oncology/hematology, is the UNMC lead for an NIH, National Cancer Institute sponsored multi-center, clinical trial. This pilot trial will assess whether the study drug can decrease the side effects caused by radiation therapy in patients with lung cancer.

Carol Toris, Ph.D., ophthalmology & visual sciences, has received a contract to assess the utility of new endogenous lipid entities for the treatment of glaucoma.

Jue Wang, M.D., internal medicine – oncology/hematology, is the UNMC lead for a multi-center, Phase III clinical trial to assess whether combining adjuvant therapy with the study drug will prevent or delay the recurrence of renal cell cancer after surgery to remove the primary tumor in high risk patients.

Matthew Lunning, M.D., D.O., internal medicine – oncology/hematology, is the UNMC lead for a multi-center, Phase III clinical trial to evaluate whether the study drug improves clinical outcomes when combined with conventional R-CHOP for patients newly diagnosed with non-germinal center B-cell sub-type of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

John Halgren, M.D., ophthalmology & visual sciences, is the UNMC lead for a multi-center, Phase II clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a new study drug for the treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction of the eyelid.

Iraklis Pipinos, M.D., surgery – general surgery, has received a contract to explore the utility of a patient specific multi-cellular therapy in the treatment of peripheral arterial disease.

Jose Fernandes Filho, M.D., neurological sciences, has received a contract for device testing of neuro-stimulation technology for the treatment of breathing difficulty in patients with ALS.