Curated News: Grant Funded News

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Babies born prematurely who require treatment to prevent blindness from retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) could be treated with a dose of Avastin (bevacizumab) that is a fraction of the dose commonly used for ROP currently. Results from the dose-finding study were published April 23 in JAMA Ophthalmology. The study was conducted by the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group (PEDIG) and supported by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health.

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Medical physicists at the Mayo Clinic have just made a unique library of computed tomography (CT) data publicly available so that imaging researchers can study, develop, validate, and optimize algorithms and enhance imaging hardware to produce peak-quality CT images using low radiation doses.

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Collaborators from the University of California San Diego and New York University (NYU) used salt, soap and water to make “bling” with a proposed novel experiment by UC San Diego’s Jérémie Palacci to form ionic colloidal crystals from common colloids.

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Using just electrostatic charge, common microparticles can spontaneously organize themselves into highly ordered crystalline materials—the equivalent of table salt or opals, according to a new study led by New York University chemists and published in Nature.

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Study: with smaller clinical trials, it may be up to doctors to notice rare drug side effects

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A UC Davis Health study found more evidence for the efficacy of behavioral intervention in treating language problems in youth with fragile X syndrome (FXS), but none for lovastatin as a treatment for FXS.

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A new study finds adults with traumatic spinal cord injury are at an increased risk of developing mental health disorders and secondary chronic diseases compared to adults without the condition.

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The randomized control trial will focus on the effectiveness of a cognitive remediation strategy called Goal Management Training that is aimed at improving cognitive functioning among PSP with PTSD. Researchers will examine changes in everyday functional outcomes, like the ability to return to work, but also in brain structure and brain function using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

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New CU Boulder research finds that an anticipated rise in carbon dioxide concentrations in our indoor living and working spaces by the year 2100 could lead to impaired human cognition.

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The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) across the world poses a threat to all, but particularly, countries with the weakest health syste

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Researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis received funding for a new COVID-19 test that is based on brand new technology that won't require brand new tools, making it easy for clinicians to use.

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National Eye Institute (NEI) researchers profiling epigenomic changes in light-sensing mouse photoreceptors have a clearer picture of how age-related eye diseases may be linked to age-related changes in the regulation of gene expression. The findings, published online April 21 in Cell Reports, suggest that the epigenome could be targeted as a therapeutic strategy to prevent leading causes of vision loss, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

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The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has awarded the University of Kentucky Superfund Research Center (UK-SRC) a five-year, $8.7 million grant to conduct research aimed at better understanding and minimizing the negative health and environmental impacts of chlorinated organic compounds found at Superfund sites across the Commonwealth and the U.S.

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With the support of a newly awarded National Science Foundation Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant, two Rensselaer researchers plan to examine ways to equip N95 respirator masks with antiviral properties and the ability to withstand sterilization. These improvements would better protect health care workers and enable the current supply of masks to last longer.

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Researchers have received a $1.7 million NIH grant for a novel project that is the first to investigate how the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1) influences neurotransmission through a direct action on neurons and how this action triggers behavioral changes. They will establish nIL-1R1 as a crucial link that could convert neuroinflammation to neural dysfunction, providing a new pathogenic mechanism for anxiety, depression, and cognitive dysfunction. Results from this work could suggest new targets for the treatment of psychopathology.

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After a yearlong study of people with opioid dependence, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report evidence that adding $8 an hour to their paychecks may help those in recovery stay drug free longer, as well as encourage them to get and hold regular jobs.

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A new study co-led by scientists at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) adds increasing evidence that Parkinson’s disease is partly an autoimmune disease. In fact, the researchers report that signs of autoimmunity can appear in Parkinson’s disease patients years before their official diagnosis.

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A consortium of California scientists from government, academia and business today published an initial manuscript describing a novel approach to prepare convalescent plasma for COVID-19 patients in BioRxiv.

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What do energy usage in buildings and traffic congestion have in common? Crowdsourcing.

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A blood test may be able to detect the most common form of pancreatic cancer while it is still in its early stages while also helping doctors accurately stage a patient’s disease and guide them to the appropriate treatment.

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The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research has awarded NYU College of Dentistry’s Yi Ye, PhD, a $2.2 million, five-year grant to study the role of Schwann cells, the most prevalent type of cell supporting neurons in the peripheral nervous system, in oral cancer progression and pain.

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In the Fall of 2019, The John A. Hartford Foundation awarded a three-year, $1.6M grant entitled, Moving and Scaling Home-Based Primary Care Phase II: Quality, Training and Advocacy. The project aims to improve care for the more than two million older adults who are the “invisible homebound” with functional impairments and frailty. This phase builds on the success of the initial grant phase, with the same organizations leading three complementary grants. While each organization has its own unique deliverables, they continue to work in close collaboration to achieve the overall goal ─ increasing access to high quality, home-based primary care that leads to improved outcomes for both patients and caregivers.

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This Lilliputian chip's detection bandwidth is enormous - from sweeping body motions to faint sounds of the heartbeat, pulse waves traversing body tissues, respiration rate, and lung sounds.

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Biologist awarded prestigious NSF CAREER Award

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A parser, the element in a computer system that converts data inputs into an understandable format, is the first line of defense for cybersecurity. A multi-institute group of researchers that includes Gang Tan, assistant professor of computer science and engineering in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Penn State, has received an $8 million grant that allots $1 million for Penn State’s part of the research to increase computer security by developing more secure parsers.

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Researchers have discovered a technique for directly reprogramming skin cells into light-sensing rod photoreceptors used for vision, sidestepping the need for stem cells. The lab-made rods enabled blind mice to detect light after the cells were transplanted into the animals’ eyes.

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Radiation is one of the oldest and most common therapies for cancer, and typically is delivered locally, or to specific targeted sites in the body. While it has long been thought that locally-delivered radiation therapy typically does not help to shrink tumors outside the field of irradiation, new preclinical research from a team at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests a strategy for significantly increasing both the local and distant, or “abscopal,” effects of radiation. Results of the study, which was led by Elizabeth Repasky, PhD, have been newly published in Nature Communications.

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Researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering spent two weeks in India cooking with local residents. They found that soot wasn't the only worrisome byproduct of traditional cookstoves; organic carbons are causing problems, too.

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Researchers at the University of Memphis-based Center of Excellence for Mobile Sensor Data-to-Knowledge (MD2K) have introduced a new mobile app that may support physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. MD2K is supported by NIH with a grant administered by NIBIB.

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A new $6 million, 5-year grant from the National Institutes of Health extends funding for the Silvio O. Conte Cleveland Digestive Diseases Research Core Center (DDRCC), a cross-institutional collaboration of digestive disease investigators.

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DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) awarded $199,536 Phase 1 funding to Analytical AI of Birmingham, Alabama.

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– University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, announced today the launch of a large-scale COVID-19 Testing Initiative that will significantly expand testing capability over the coming weeks, enabled by new funding of $2.5 million from the State of Maryland.

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Canada institutions are pooling their scientific expertise to develop an extraordinary immunization program using passive plasma to fight COVID-19.

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Bioengineers have created a blood-drawing robot that performed as well or better than technicians. The device could increase blood draw success from difficult- to-find veins and allow healthcare workers more time to treat patients.

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A study examining MW189 in healthy adult volunteers was performed by a collaborative team from the University of Kentucky, Duke University and Northwestern University. The work by Van Eldik and the rest of the team is substantial as it is the first time MW189 had been tested in humans.

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Novel 'learning while doing' clinical trial approach called REMAP helps doctors find the optimal trade-off between quickly adopting new therapies during a pandemic, such as the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, and waiting until they are tested in longer clinical trials. The trial announced today at UPMC, called UPMC-REMAP-COVID19 learns from similar trials enrolling around the world and uses artificial intelligence to quickly arrive at answers.

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Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is launching a clinical trial for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. The trial will investigate the effectiveness of different combinations of the antimalarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin in treating ill patients infected with the novel coronavirus.

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Researchers have 3D printed coral-inspired structures that are capable of growing dense populations of microscopic algae. The work could lead to the development of compact, more efficient bioreactors for producing algae-based biofuels, as well as new techniques to repair and restore coral reefs.

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Amyloid is a key feature of Alzheimer’s disease, but the accumulation of these sticky proteins may not be the only risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study published this week. Other, modifiable risk factors, such as the amount of fats in our blood and how efficiently our bodies generate energy could also play important roles.

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Autoimmunity, a condition in which the body’s immune system reacts with components of its own cells, appears to be increasing in the United States, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health and their collaborators.

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Two new grant-funding opportunities from the PhRMA Foundation will provide substantial support for young researchers with innovative projects in Drug Discovery and Drug Delivery. Funding of up to $100,000 is available.

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Researchers at Sand Diego State University and the Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy used supercomputer simulations to study how ocean wave energy converters can harness energy and turn it into into electricity, offering the potential to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

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Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have written a new first draft chapter in the book of immunology. They have discovered a protective biological switch that, briefly, turns on the immune response at the first whiff of an invader—an important feature—but can also turn off potentially destructive immune rampage that may also occur. This “off” switch can protect against serious, life threatening inflammation.

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Today, the American Thoracic Society announced that Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., donated $500,000 to support the ATS COVID-19 Crisis Fund, a newly launched initiative to develop and disseminate research, education and scientific recommendations to providers in the pulmonary and critical care communities, as well as other clinicians in need of expanding their skill set during this emergency. Boehringer Ingelheim is the first to make a donation to the Fund.

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Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys have found a new way to kill pancreatic cancer cells by disrupting their pH equilibrium. The study, published in Cancer Discovery, reports how depleting an ion transport protein lowers the pH to a point that compromises pancreatic cancer cell growth.

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Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis studied the gut microbiomes of wild apes in the Republic of Congo, of captive apes in zoos in the U.S., and of people from around the world and discovered that lifestyle is more important than geography or even species in determining the makeup of the gut microbiome.

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The Coriell Institute for Medical Research has been awarded a $9.2 million grant through an open competition from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). This five-year award keeps Coriell in place as the steward of the NIGMS Human Genetic Cell Repository, a world-renowned collection of high quality cell lines and DNA samples representing genetic diseases, distinct human populations around the world, and more.

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The National Institutes of Health has awarded Tulane National Primate Research Center a contract of up to $10.3 million to evaluate vaccines and treatments to combat coronavirus disease 2019.

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New research from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, shows that following those guidelines can improve clinical outcomes for patients with high-risk breast cancer, or breast cancer that is likely to recur or spread.