Curated News: Grant Funded News

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A team of Wayne State University School of Medicine researchers led by Charles Chung, Ph.D., assistant professor of physiology, recently received a $1,894,271 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to address the critical need for new drug targets and diagnostic indexes for diastolic dysfunction using novel biomechanical tests that ultimately can be translated into clinical practice.

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New study suggests monetary reparations for Black descendants of people enslaved in the United States could have cut SARS-CoV-2 transmission and COVID-19 rates both among Black individuals and the population at large. Researchers modeled the impact of structural racism on viral transmission and disease impact in the state of Louisiana. The higher burden of SARS-CoV-2 infection among Black people also amplified the virus’s spread in the wider population. Reparations could have reduced SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the overall population by as much as 68 percent. Compared with white people, Black individuals in the United States are more likely to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, more likely to end up in the hospital with COVID-19, and more likely to die from the disease.

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Low-income middle-aged African-American women with high blood pressure very commonly suffer from depression and should be better screened for this serious mental health condition.

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Saint Louis University was awarded a $500,000 grant from the Clare Boothe Luce program of the Henry Luce Foundation to create a tenure-track assistant professor position in Robotics and Autonomous Systems for a new, early-career, female faculty member within Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology.

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DALLAS – Feb. 11, 2021 – A study led by UT Southwestern has identified a mechanism that controls the activity of proteins known as chaperones, which guide proteins to fold into the right shapes. The findings, published online today in Nature Communications, could shed light on hundreds of degenerative and neurodegenerative diseases caused by protein misfolding, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s, potentially leading to new treatments for these devastating conditions.

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced plans to invest $25 million in fundamental science to lay the groundwork for technology that finds reuses for plastic waste, makes strides toward addressing the global plastic waste crisis, and reduces the climate impacts of plastic production.

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The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) announced the annual winners of its two signature exhibitor awards, the SLAS Ignite Award and the New Product Award, given out during SLAS2021 Digital, January 25-27. This year, the 10th Annual SLAS International Conference and Exhibition was rebranded to SLAS2021 Digital and was held entirely online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. More than 200 exhibitors participated in the virtual exhibition.

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The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) awarded its annual attendee presenter awards recognizing the outstanding science and technology research presented at the SLAS2021 Digital Conference and Exhibition, January 25-27. This year, the 10th Annual SLAS International Conference and Exhibition was rebranded to SLAS2021 Digital and was held entirely online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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New York City’s transit system exposes riders to more inhaled pollutants than any other metropolitan subway system in the Northeastern United States, a new study finds. Yet even its “cleaner” neighbors struggle with enough toxins to give health-conscious travelers pause.

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Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have been awarded a five-year, $10.15 million grant to develop a broad-spectrum immunomodulatory eye drop.

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Individually, California blackworms live an unremarkable life eating microorganisms in ponds and serving as tropical fish food for aquarium enthusiasts. But together, tens, hundreds, or thousands of the centimeter-long creatures can collaborate to form a “worm blob,” a shape-shifting living liquid that collectively protects its members from drying out and helps them escape threats such as excessive heat.

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Feb. 9, 2021) — Scientists have devised a new approach for detecting and potentially heading off the effects of two rare pediatric diseases before birth.

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The UNC Department of Biology's Professor Patrick Burns, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor James Haughian, Ph.D., are using fish byproducts, which are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, to improve reproduction in female cows in the dairy and beef industries.

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A study led by Case Western Reserve University researchers found that patients with dementia were at a significantly increased risk for COVID-19—and the risk was higher still for African Americans with dementia.

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A new study describes how cellular survival after radiation exposure depends on behavior of the protein p53 over time. In vulnerable tissues, p53 levels go up and remain high, leading to cell death. In tissues that tend to survive radiation damage, p53 levels oscillate up and down.

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By making it the default to send colorectal cancer screening tests to patients’ homes unless they opted out via text message, screening rates increased by more than 1,000 percent

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Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have succeeded in developing an artificial intelligence (AI) approach to detect electron correlation – the interaction between a system’s electrons – which is vital but expensive to calculate in quantum chemistry.

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Older adults who are classified as having “prediabetes” due to moderately elevated measures of blood sugar usually don’t go on to develop full-blown diabetes.

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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) were once thought to be waste material discarded by cells. But they have been found to play a critical role in communication between cells, carrying “cargos” of proteins, nucleic acids and other materials. Jessica Tannis of the University of Delaware has been awarded a $1.8 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grant to research them.

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A $2.65 million gift to support Cornell University and partner research in Tanzania will improve distribution of new and more resistant varieties of cassava while empowering women and marginalized groups in the East African nation.

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A phase II clinical trial shows that changing the gut microbiome through fecal transplant can transform cancer patients who never responded to immunotherapy into patients who do.

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In a new study in Circulation, researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine in collaboration with investigators at Vanderbilt University and Tufts Medical Center reveal a mechanism that is activating T cells, a type of immune cell, and causing inflammation in the heart.

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Jerry and Sherri Damerow, longtime supporters of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in Arkansas, have made a planned gift of $1 million to support scholarships for science majors at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The gift will benefit the Jerry and Sherri Damerow Endowed Science Scholarship, which provides scholarships for students majoring in astronomy, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and Earth Science.

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Currently, there are no methods to discern the spectrum of COVID-19’s severity and predict which children with SARS-CoV-2 exposure will develop severe illness, including MIS-C. Because of this, there is an urgent need to develop a diagnostic modality to distinguish the varying phenotypes of disease and risk stratify disease.

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DALLAS – Feb. 3, 2021 – Inactivating a gene in young songbirds that’s closely linked with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) prevents the birds from forming memories necessary to accurately reproduce their fathers’ songs, a new study led by UT Southwestern shows.

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A scientific detective story starting with a single patient in Pittsburgh unearths how the SARS-CoV-2 virus mutates to create new variants, including the UK strain B.1.1.7, and escapes neutralizing antibodies.

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Researchers identified spinal cord neurons responsible for an itchy sensation after an epidural morphine injection and found a drug that may fix the problem without reducing morphine’s pain-killing effects.

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A $4 million subcontract grant for scientists to collect COVID-19 data from virus researchers across the country in order to develop a data coordinating center has been awarded to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Biomedical Informatics.

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DALLAS – Feb. 3, 2021 – Gaining more fat cells is probably not what most people want, although that might be exactly what they need to fight off diabetes and other diseases. How and where the body can add fat cells has remained a mystery – but two new studies from UT Southwestern provide answers on the way this process works.

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In a study published today in Current Biology, Canadian biology professors Simon Joly and Daniel Schoen show that cleistogamy, as this type of self-pollination is known, is strongly associated with bilaterally symmetric flowers, such as orchids, that have a single plane of symmetry instead of multiple ones.

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While the number of immigrants from Arab countries to the United States has steadily increased over the past several years, family and child health research on this population remains scarce. Wayne State University College of Nursing faculty to research this disparity.

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In an era of required social distancing and stressed medical resources, a virtual clinical environment that allows doctors and nurses to safely practice intubating a simulated COVID-19 patient, among other necessary procedures, could accelerate and enhance training efforts. With the support of a new $654,000 supplement grant, a team of engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will develop an artificially intelligent agent called the Virtual Intelligent preceptor for COVID (VIVID), which will prepare teams for surgeries, to intubate patients, and to properly use personal protective gear, without increasing anyone’s risk of exposure.

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Feb. 3, 2021) — A pair of scientists from Van Andel Institute and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have been granted a three-year, $1.5 million Allen Distinguished Investigator award from The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, a division of the Allen Institute, to better understand how diet and metabolism influence the immune system’s ability to fight off threats such as infections.

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Scientists from MIPT, Moscow Pedagogical State University and the University of Manchester have created a highly sensitive terahertz detector based on the effect of quantum-mechanical tunneling in graphene. The sensitivity of the device is already superior to commercially available analogs based on semiconductors and superconductors, which opens up prospects for applications of the graphene detector in wireless communications, security systems, radio astronomy, and medical diagnostics. The research results are published in a high-rank journal Nature Communications.

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Chu-Young Kim, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at The University of Texas at El Paso, is helping combat the threat of superbugs – illnesses caused by drug-resistant bacteria – by returning to nature. His work is supported by a $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a biological method for producing new versions of current antibiotics that have become ineffective due to resistance

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A surgical procedure meant to counter ulcerative colitis, an immune disease affecting the colon, may trigger a second immune system attack, a new study shows.

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Hormone therapy can be effective for receptor-positive breast cancer, but it only works for 55% of patients. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that only women whose tumors responded to a one-day estrogen challenge benefited from hormone therapy. The findings could help improve treatment decisions.

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A $1.2. million challenge grant from the Mabee Foundation brings Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed) closer to its goal of $10 million to fund the construction of its Nonhuman Primate Animal Facility (NHP ALFA) on its campus. The Institute is more than halfway to its goal. This project will accommodate the critical need of the Southwest National Primate Research Center (SNPRC) to provide innovative, contemporary accommodations and laboratory space for animals involved in research that aid in testing the safety and efficacy of new and improved diagnostics, therapies and vaccines at a larger scale.

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NIH researchers and their collaborators found that inhaling unfragmented hyaluronan improves lung function in patients suffering from severe exacerbation of COPD. Hyaluronan is a sugar secreted by living tissue that acts as a scaffold for cells. Utilized as a treatment, hyaluronan decreased the number of days in the hospital.

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Stem cell study findings show that LMNA gene mutations can disrupt the “identity” of heart muscle cells

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A new potential biomarker raises concerns over the current standard for treating COVID-19 induced blood clots with high dose blood thinners.

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Researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified how breast cancer cells hide from immune cells to stay alive. The discovery could lead to better immunotherapy treatment for patients.

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Engineers have developed a thread-based sensor capable of monitoring the direction, angle of rotation and degree of displacement of the head. The design is a proof of principle that could be extended to measuring movements of other limbs by sensors attached like tatoos to the skin.

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The five-year, $680,500 NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program award will be utilized to gain a better understanding of how improper DNA replication and compaction can cause changes in gene expression in offspring while creating a comprehensive learning environment for aspiring high school-aged and undergraduate scientists who will have significant roles in the research.

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Researchers uncovered how stanniocalcin-1, or STC1, works inside a tumor cell to block a cellular “eat-me” signal that typically triggers the immune system to produce T cells to fight the tumor. The findings provide a potential target to improve immune responses to cancer.

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Using X-ray tomography, a research team has observed the internal evolution of the materials inside solid-state lithium batteries as they were charged and discharged. Detailed three-dimensional information from the research could help improve the reliability and performance of the batteries, which use solid materials to replace the flammable liquid electrolytes in existing lithium-ion batteries.

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in a first-of-its-kind study, University of Utah Health scientists found that hormonal IUDs were comparable to copper IUDs for use as emergency contraceptives. The researchers say the finding supports adding hormonal IUDs to current emergency contraception options.

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A new type of rocket thruster that could take humankind to Mars and beyond has been proposed by a physicist at PPPL. The device would apply magnetic fields to cause particles of plasma to shoot out the back of a rocket and propel the craft forward.

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Funds from an NSF $500,000 grant will be used to bring together an interdisciplinary team of researchers with complementary expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) and material science to lay the groundwork for an AI-Enabled Materials Discovery, Design, and Synthesis (AIMS) Institute.