UNMC College of Medicine faculty received 22 grant awards representing more than $5.3 million in new funding during the month of June.
Here’s a brief summary of five of the largest grants received:
Program project grant in pancreatic cancer
Surinder Batra, PhD, biochemistry & molecular biology, has received a National Institutes of Health award for more than $1.6 million from the National Cancer Institute. This program project grant will fund research into the mechanistic role of membrane-bound mucin proteins in facilitating the metastasis of pancreatic cancer, as well as signaling and gene regulation changes caused by cancer-specific mutations of these proteins.
Rescuing neuron degeneration in glaucoma
Iqbal Ahmad, PhD, ophthalmology & visual sciences, has received a National Institutes of Health award for more than $381,000 from the National Eye Institute for a study that will explore the use of induced pluripotent cells to generate retinal ganglion cells that could extend axons to connect with proper targets in the brain as a means to slow or reverse vision loss as part of glaucoma.
Role of alcoholic steatosis in liver disease progression
Kusum Kharbanda, PhD, internal medicine – GI, has received a National Institutes of Health award for more than $314,000 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to study the mechanisms of alcoholic steatosis development, which is an early precursor to fibrosis, cirrhosis, and cancer as part of alcoholic liver disease, and to develop interventions to manage and treat alcoholic and other fatty liver diseases.
3D bioprinting to create improved rotator cuff grafts
Bin Duan, PhD, internal medicine – cardiovascular medicine, has received a National Institutes of Health award for more than $282,000 from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to combine 3D bioprinting and biotextile techniques to develop living, engineered rotator cuff grafts, complete with cellular and vascular structure, to mimic the native tissue and promote tendon-to-bone healing in rotator cuff injuries.
Nebraska DHHS cancer and smoking disease research grants awarded
Four 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:
Vimla Band, PhD, genetics cell biology & anatomy, for a project titled "Validate 3D-bioprinted hydrogels to discover hypoxia pathway inhibitors;"
Pi-Wan Cheng, PhD, biochemistry & molecular biology, for a project titled "Formation of high mannose N-glycans in pancreatic cancer;"
Javeed Iqbal, PhD, pathology & microbiology, for a project titled "Role of Epigenomic Modifiers in AITL pathogenesis;" and
Naava Naslavsky, PhD, biochemistry & molecular biology, for a project titled "Mechanisms for the control of beta1-integrin recycling and cell migration."
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.
Matthew Rizzo, MD, neurological sciences, has received support from the Toyota Collaborative Safety Research Center for a study of driving safety and modeling multidimensional risk in drivers with diabetes.
Angela Yetman, MD, pediatrics – cardiology, is the UNMC lead on a clinical trial of an orally administered drug for the treatment of adolescent subjects who have undergone the Fontan procedure.
Cyrus Desouza, MBBS, internal medicine – diabetes, is the UNMC lead on a clinical study of the safety and effectiveness of a drug in patients with obesity.
John Colombo, MD, pediatrics – pulmonology, has received a Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Cystic Fibrosis Care, Teaching and Research Center grant. Dr. Colombo has maintained this center designation from the CF Foundation since 1989.
Kishore Challagundla, PhD, biochemistry & molecular biology, has received support through the Leukemia Research Foundation for a study titled "Exosomic miRNAs and PD-L1 in AML Therapy Resistance."
Hani Haider, PhD, orthopaedic surgery, has received support to test two sizes of a novel total knee replacement system as part of a wear durability study.
Ashley Deschamp, MD, pediatrics – pulmonology, has received support from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln for an EPSCoR grant titled "The Gut Microbiome as a Factor in Development and Progression of Cardiomyopathy – CF Microbiome."
James O’Dell, MD, internal medicine – rheumatology, has received support from the University of Nebraska Foundation for a comparative effectiveness study of two medications for the treatment of gout.
Marilynn Larson, PhD, pathology & microbiology, has received support for a study that aims to adapt universal bacterial sensor technology for use with select agent pathogens.
Austin Thompson, MD, internal medicine – pulmonary, is the UNMC lead on a clinical study that will perform a retrospective chart review of patients that were prescribed a specific drug for pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Samuel Cohen, MD, PhD, pathology & microbiology, has received support through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to assist with their risk assessment of inorganic arsenic in drinking water.
Brian Lowes, MD, PhD, internal medicine – cardiovascular medicine, has received support from the University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute to assist with a study of patient-reported outcomes as a result of drug therapy with a novel drug in patients with heart failure.
John Windle, MD, internal medicine – cardiovascular medicine, has received support from the Duke Clinical Research Institute to assist with their PEW Healthcare Data Interoperability project.
Sidharth Mahapatra, MD, PhD, pediatrics – critical care, has received support from Children's Research Institute – Washington DC to assist with the Multiple Therapies for Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): Comparative Effectiveness Approach (ADAPT) study.