Award Data

Abstract We propose to initiate preclinical development of a gene therapeutic targeted to Alzheimer's Disease. The World Health Organization's and Alzheimer's Disease International's report on Dementia (2012) recognizes that the global burden of AlzheimerDisease is forecast to worsen significantly with prevalence predicted to double every 20 years. Interventions that could prov ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Acid ceramidase (AC) has been implicated as a novel target for cancer therapy because of its pivotal role in regulating interconversion of three key bioactive lipids; ceramide (Cer), sphingosine (Sph) and Sphingosine-1-Phosphate (S1P). It is well known that Cer functions predominantly as a tumor suppressor lipid and mediator of apoptosis following chemo and rad ...

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): NMR is probably the most powerful and widely used analytical technique for structure determination and function elucidation of molecules of all types, but it suffers from low sensitivity, particularly for insoluble biological macromolecules. Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) with Magic Angle Spinning (MAS) has recently demonstrated S/N gains exceeding t ...

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant This proposal seeks to develop a novel vaccine against Lyme disease by targeting Ixodes scapularis proteins critical for Borrelia burgdorferi transmission from the tick to mammalian host Earlier work has identified four tick proteins Salp TRE tHRF and TSLPI that facilitate different steps of spirochete transmission and immunity against these protein ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of the proposed project is to advance the development of novel peptides targeting MARCKS (Myristoylated Alanine-Rich C Kinase Substrate) protein as platform drug molecules for the treatment of Acute Lung Injury (ALI) and its more severe form, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), thereby providing the first pharmacologic therapeutic for this ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Recent cancer therapies have focused on using biologics to target specific signal transduction pathways implicated in the tumor development or progression. For example, recombinant fusion proteins consisting of the extracellular domain of the immunoregluatory proteins and the constant (Fc) domain of immunoglobulin (IgG) represent a growing class of protein ther ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are becoming frequent occurrences off the coasts of the United States, particularly in coastal waters of New England, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean. Historically, HABs have beenassociated with fish kills and marine mammal mortalities; however, their effects on human health and economic loss due to HAB contamination of se ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Reducing protein deposition events is essential for slowing the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD), especially A 1-42 peptide oligomers that accumulate inside and outside neurons and cause functional compromise. Finding a strategy to reduce A oligomeric assemblies is widely thought to be the key objective for treating AD. Accumulation of A peptides is on ...

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant One of the challenges of research in infectious diseases is to find ways to use the increasing knowledge of the mechanisms underlying disease transformation and progression to develop novel therapeutic strategies for diseases such as increasing menace of bacterial infections Targeting specific RNA such as rRNA which are involved in proliferation and survival ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) affected ~14,600 new patients in 2013 in the US and caused over 10,000 deaths, primarily in older adults. The current chemotherapy regimen, a combination of cytarabine (AraC) and anthracyclines such as daunorubicin (DNR), has resulted in 5-year survival rates of only 30-40% (less than 10% in patients over 60 years old). The principa ...