Curated News: Grant Funded News

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University of Detroit Mercy (Detroit Mercy) and Wayne State University’s (WSU) ReBUILDetroit program recently received a renewal grant of more than $19 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The ReBUILDetroit program works to encourage undergraduate students from underrepresented or economically disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue careers in biomedical research.

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A wireless, wearable monitor built with stretchable electronics could allow comfortable, long-term health monitoring of adults, babies and small children without concern for skin injury or allergic reactions caused by conventional adhesive sensors with conductive gels.

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Working with mouse and human tissue, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report new evidence that a protein pumped out of some — but not all — populations of “helper” cells in the brain, called astrocytes, plays a specific role in directing the formation of connections among neurons needed for learning and forming new memories.

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The National Science Foundation has awarded the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego a two-year grant worth almost $400,000 to deploy a new system called CC* Compute: Triton Stratus as an enhancement to the existing Triton Shared Computing Cluster (TSCC) campus High-Performance Computing (HPC) platform.

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In their latest study, published in this week’s online issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI), reveal how the finely tuned balance between DNA methylation and demethylation prevents genomic instability and cancer.

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For respiratory infections in children under 12, physicians are increasingly more likely to recommend antihistamines and less likely to recommend cough and cold medicines, a Rutgers study found. Antihistamines are widely used over-the-counter to treat various allergic conditions. However, these medicines have little known benefit for children with colds, and some older antihistamines cause sedation and occasionally agitation in children.

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Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have developed a new combination treatment regimen that enhances the immune system’s ability to kill leukemias that do not respond to standard treatments. The regimen includes a therapeutic antibody designed to draw natural killer immune cells to cancer cells.

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A team of engineers at Washington University in St. Louis has found what they believe is a more stable, less toxic semiconductor for solar applications, using a novel double mineral discovered through data analytics and quantum-mechanical calculations.

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High blood pressure among children is on the rise and a lack of research about how to treat it has left pediatricians trying to make their best guess. That’s until researchers released results of a pioneering study that used a series of personalized trials to identify a preferred therapy for kids – the first step in tackling the problem.

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A study of patients' gut bacteria highlights likely reasons behind the pandemic spread of resistant E. coli strains, and the need to re-think the clinical significance of bacteria in the urine without symptoms, because treatment-resistant strains can be highly pathogenic to the urinary system.

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Scientists have known that bacteria in the gut, along with environmental and genetic factors, contribute to the debilitating intestinal ailment of Crohn’s disease (CD). But in 2016, Mahmoud A Ghannoum, PhD, FAAM, FIDSA, professor and director of the Center for Medical Mycology at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, was the first to identify a specific fungus in humans that interacted with bacteria in the development of the disease. Now, to learn precisely how that fungus interacts with bacteria to trigger CD, Ghannoum has received a five-year, $3M grant from the National Institutes of Health. His investigation will involve innovative molecular and cellular technologies, to delete specific genes in the fungus and note the effects on the inflammation that is a marker for CD using powerful microscopic analysis.

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A specific class of bacteria from the gut prevents mice from becoming obese, suggesting these same microbes may similarly control weight in people, a new study reports. The beneficial bacteria, called Clostridia, are part of the microbiome — collectively trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms that inhabit the intestine. University of Utah Health investigators led the study which publishes online in the journal Science on July 25.

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Researchers describe a new way to form an essential part of an artificial chromosome, called the centromere, by bypassing the biological requirements needed to form a natural one.

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A team of scientists have designed and tested in mice a novel and promising therapeutic strategy for treating Lafora Disease (LD), a fatal form of childhood epilepsy. This new type of drug is a first-in-class therapy for LD and an example of precision medicine that has potential for treating other types of aggregate-based neurological diseases.

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A report from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital links inherited mutations in the BRCA2 gene with an increased risk of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma in children and adolescents. The work appears as an advance online publication today in JAMA Oncology.

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Delivering two federally approved immunity-altering drugs together significantly extended the lives of mice injected with human ovarian cancer cells, an early proof-of-concept experiment that may advance treatment for the most deadly — although rare — gynecologic malignancy in humans, according to scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center who performed the research.

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Scientists studying poison ivy rashes in mice have identified two proteins and a neurotransmitter involved in poison ivy itch in mice. They could be potential drug targets that could lead to treating the aggravating itch in people.

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A research team led by Tufts University engineers has developed a 3D printed pill that samples bacteria found in the gut -- known as the microbiome -- as it passes through the gastrointestinal tract (GI). The ability to profile bacterial species throughout the GI tract could have important implications for the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases.

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Investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, alongside others, have revealed the cells of origin for specific subtypes of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor. The work also has implications for how medulloblastoma is classified, which may eventually shape clinical care. The work appears as an advance online publication today in Nature.

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Paralyzing damage in spinal cord injury is often caused by the zealous immune response to the injury. NIBIB-funded engineers have developed nanoparticles that lure immune cells away from the spinal cord, allowing regeneration that restored spinal cord function in mice.

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A team of scientists led by Texas Biomed’s Assistant Professor Smita Kulkarni, Ph.D. and Mary Carrington, Ph.D., at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, published results of a study that pinpointed a long noncoding RNA molecule which influences a key receptor involved in HIV infection and progression of the disease.

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A team led by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center investigators reports that a new laboratory test they developed to identify chemical changes to a group of cancer-related genes can accurately detect which breast tumors are cancerous or benign, and do it in far less time than gold-standard tests on biopsied breast tissue.

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A de novo gene mutation that encodes a brain protein in a child with autism has been placed into the brains of mice. These mice then showed severe alterations of specific behaviors that closely resemble those seen in human autism spectrum disorder, or ASD.

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Mammal brains — including those of humans — store and recall impressive amounts of information based on our good and bad decisions and interactions in an ever-changing world. Now, in a series of new experiments with mice, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine report they have added to evidence that such “decision-based” memories are stored in very particular parts of the brain.

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A new spectroscopic technique reveals that glucose use in live cells provides valuable information about the functional status of cells, tissues, and organs. Shifts in a cell’s use of glucose can signal changes in health and progress of disease.

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A University of Vermont study offers a novel framework to test strategies for managing invasive pests. Applying the framework to swede midge, a new invasive fly causing 100% crop losses for organic broccoli growers, the researchers have uncovered which odors are most effective at repelling the pest.

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American teenagers and adults are more likely to try illegal or recreational drugs for the first time in the summer, a new study shows.

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Bacteria in the bloodstream can trigger an overwhelming immune response that causes sepsis. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found genes that help protect the body's cells from dying during sepsis, which could lead to new treatments for the life-threatening condition.

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Herbs, including cilantro, have a long history of use as folk medicine anticonvulsants. Until now, many of the underlying mechanisms of how the herbs worked remained unknown. In a new study, researchers uncovered the molecular action that enables cilantro to effectively delay certain seizures common in epilepsy and other diseases.

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Using single-molecule imaging, researchers witness how molecules find and fix damaged DNA

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In a study using yeast cells and data from cancer cell lines, Johns Hopkins University scientists report they have found a potential weak spot among cancer cells that have extra sets of chromosomes, the structures that carry genetic material. The vulnerability, they say, is rooted in a common feature among cancer cells — their high intracellular protein concentrations — that make them appear bloated and overstuffed, and which could be used as possible new targets for cancer treatments.

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As cells age, their ability to shed harmful refuse declines. New research findings suggest that the deterioration of autophagy in aged neurons—cells that never replicate and are as old as the bodies they inhabit—could be a risk factor for a suite of neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.

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Before they reach the egg, sperm have to make it through bombardment by the female immune system. Researchers have discovered an interaction with the endometrium that may help sperm evade this attack--or may help it target the weakest.

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Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are working on membranes that could separate chemicals without using energy-intensive distillation processes.

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BIDMC researchers report that a daily moderate dose of resveratrol significantly preserved muscle function and mitigated muscle atrophy in an animal model mimicking Mars’ partial gravity. Novel model innovated by BIDMC researchers will help scientists fill in the blanks about the little understood physiological consequences of partial gravity.

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Over eight years, patients covered under a global budget payment model for doctors and hospitals showed slower spending growth and better quality than comparable populations mostly under the traditional fee-for-service model.

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St. Jude investigators have discovered an association between a deficiency in the enzyme neuraminidase 1 and the build-up of connective tissue in organs such as the muscle, kidney, liver, heart and lungs.

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Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center study coauthors Anne Marie Lennon, Simeon Springer, Marco Dal Molin, Christopher Wolfgang and Bert Vogelstein will participate in a press teleconference organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science at 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 16. To RSVP, send an email to [email protected]. An audio recording and transcript will be available on the MedPak webpage (eurekalert.org/journls/scitransmed/) at the end of the teleconference.

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Results suggest some forms of PD are an autoimmune disease triggered years before noticeable symptoms

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It is well understood that urban black males are at a disproportionately high risk of poor health outcomes. But little is known about how the neighborhood environments where these men live contribute to their health.

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In a study published in Scientific Reports, first author Yamicia D. Connor, MD, PhD, a resident in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), and colleagues, reveal that unlike non-metastatic cells, breast metastatic cells have the ability to change shape, flattening to more effectively cross the endothelium and into the blood stream.

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Researchers have created a new type of tiny 3D-printed robot that moves by harnessing vibration from piezoelectric actuators, ultrasound sources or even tiny speakers. Swarms of these “micro-bristle-bots” might work together to sense environmental changes, move materials – or perhaps one day repair injuries inside the human body.

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The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California San Diego, has been awarded a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) valued $10 million to deploy Expanse, a new supercomputer designed to advance research that is increasingly dependent upon heterogeneous and distributed resources.

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Death rates from sepsis fell faster in New York than expected – and faster than in peer states – following the introduction of the nation’s first state-mandated sepsis regulation.

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A new biomedical research study finds a transcription factor called Slug contributes to breast cell fitness by promoting efficient repair of DNA damage. The absence of Slug leads to unresolved DNA damage and accelerated aging of breast cells.

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A highly competitive $4.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) will support Keck School of Medicine of USC efforts to recruit patients from underrepresented populations into cardiac surgery clinical trials.

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Even after nearly a decade of strict HIV treatment, cells sheltering the virus could be found in the cerebrospinal fluid of half of participants in a national clinical trial of people living with HIV. Moreover, those participants had higher likelihood of cognitive deficits.

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A discovery about HIV published in Nature Immunology paves the way to new therapies that might complement antiretroviral therapy.

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A new study, led by researchers from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), uncovers the long-sought-after, three-dimensional structure of a toxin primarily responsible for devastating Clostridium difficile infection (CDI).

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Researchers have developed a significantly improved delivery mechanism for the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing method in the liver. The delivery uses biodegradable synthetic lipid nanoparticles that carry the molecular editing tools into cells to precisely alter their genetic code with as much as 90 percent efficiency.