Award Data

PROJECT SUMMARY Although the ubiquity of metabolic problems in pulmonary hypertension (PH) has been known for more than a decade, a wealth of new details on the nature of this problem presents the opportunity for intervention. A combination of experimental work in cells and animals and early trials in humans, suggests that these metabolic problems are part of the causation for PH, and that inactiv ...

Project Summary This STTR proposal will focus on developing and testing a novel, first-on-the-market implantable biosensor for in vivo, real-time sensing of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate (GLU) for animal studies. GABA and GLU are neurotransmitters (NTs) that are essential for information processing and plasticity, memory, and other functions. GLU is the major excitatory NT and GABA ...

PROJECT SUMMARY The U.S. Preventative Task Force found current ultrasound-based screening methods unreliable, causing unnecessary biopsies and failing to detect clinically significant Prostate Cancer (PCa) in patients with an elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Millions of men in the U.S. alone are currently at elevated risk for PCa, but there are no effective alternatives for screening. Alt ...

PROJECT SUMMARY Significance: The overarching goal of this proposal is to develop an intervention to help unemployed individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) return to work. Individuals who lose their jobs are at risk for MDD and other psychiatric disorders. Because a core feature of MDD is decreased motivation, unemployed individuals with MDD can enter a `vicious cycle' where their depres ...

Influenza A viruses belong to the orthomyxoviridae family, and have a negative-sense, segmented RNA genome, which can cause seasonal or pandemic flu with high morbidity and significant mortality. Vaccination is the most prevalent prophylactic means for controlling influenza infections. However, an effective vaccine usually takes at least six months to develop. Furthermore, vaccination has limited ...

Project Summary/Abstract Neuroscience research over the last decade has been revolutionized by many technological advancements. Pharmacology and optogenetics represent two distinct, and sometimes complementary tools used in neuroscience research to study the central and peripheral nervous systems in the context of the BRAIN initiative. Advanced interrogations of underlying neural circuits and biol ...

Drug resistant bacteria such as MRSA, and airborne-transmitted microbes such as influenza and TB, present significant health issues, with major healthcare and economic consequences. UV light is a well-established highly-efficient anti-microbial modality, effective both against both bacteria and viruses. However it is not possible to use UV sterilization in scenarios where people are present becaus ...

Project Summary/Abstract Kidney stones (KS) are highly prevalent, excruciating, and associated with long term complications of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end stage renal disease (ESRD). They account for 1.3M ER visits and andgt;$10B of medical costs annually and have a striking recurrence rate of 50% in 5 years and up to 80% in 10 years, reflecting the inadequacies of current interventions. ...

Ebola (EBOV) and Marburg (MARV) viruses belong to the Filoviridae family and can cause fatal hemorrhagic fevers characterized by widespread tissue destruction after an incubation period of 4-14 days. Due to safety concerns, these viruses are designated as biosafety level 4 agents. Currently, there is no effective vaccine or therapeutic treatment for filoviral infections in humans. Africa has recen ...

Project Summary/Abstract Every year, approximately 1,200 severe mistreatments happen in radiation therapy. Radiation therapy lawsuits rank in the top third of all medical specialties with an average of $313,000 per claim settled or litigated. The current method for detecting treatment errors is by a weekly patient chart check, where each treatment record is manually reviewed on a weekly basis. Thi ...