Award Data

Project Summary Smell disorders are highly impactful in daily life. Gas leaks and spoiled food are undetectable dangers. Adequate nutrition is compromised as food become unpalatable without the core contribution smell plays in flavor perception. Affected individuals also feel disconnected from the world and other people, contributing to an increased incidence of depression. Smell disorders may als ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The convergence of biomedicine and computation in the form of biomedical computing has demonstrated gains in the areas of genetic sequences, biomedical images, qualitative descriptors for health and social science and geospatial images and chemical formulae. This provides a unique opportunity to utilize novel image processing techniques to more accurately and o ...

PROJECT SUMMARY Genomic instabilityinduced by DNA damageand partly mitigated by DNA repair and antioxidantsplays a critical role in the pathogenesis of many major human diseasessuch as neurodegenerationcancer and cardiovascular diseasetogether with agingThere is a critical need for automated assays that can perform these assessmentsand bring them into greater routine usewhich will help advance our ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Phase I STTR proposal seeks funding to transfer technology from the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution (nonprofit) to GenoMechanix (for-profit) relating to a strategy for doing "sequencing by synthesis". This strategy involves the incorporation, in a template-directed polymerization step, of a nucleoside triphosphate having its 3'-hydroxyl group ...

DESCRIPTION (Applicant's Abstract): The investigators have developed a plasmid vector that expresses the normal human alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) gene in human respiratory epithelium when delivered as a plasmid-cationic liposome complex. In subjects with inherited AAT deficiency, they showed that liposome mediated transfer of the normal AAT gene to the nasal respiratory epi ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Anthrax is an infectious illness that has been known for many years, largely in rural settings, but since the terrorist attacks of 9-11, has recently emerged as a major national security concern. Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, exists naturally in various forms and is now considered a bioterrorism agent. There is fear that this microbe coul ...

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Drug resistance to HIV is a major threat to achieving long-term viral suppression in HIV+ individuals. Up to 16% of newly infected individuals acquire HIV with resistance to at least one of the major antiretroviral classes, and incomplete viral suppression and virologic failure are often associated with drug resistance. Therefore, current DHHS guideline recommends drug r ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Molecular interactions are central to the understanding of basic biology and cellular function, are paramount to all molecular assays (research and in vitro diagnostics), are essential in biomarker discovery and critical toward evaluating therapeutics. However, the tools available to quantify these interactions have limitations, in so far as they either rely up ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Molecular interactions form the foundation of biology and chemistry. They are central to life itself and determine catalytic activity, cellular function, and therapeutic efficacy. The vast majority of diagnostic procedures depend on some type of specific molecular interaction. Therefore, the ability to perform pure liquid-phase molecular binding analysis at hi ...

PROJECT SUMMARY In the past decade, the rate of deaths from Alzheimerandapos;s disease (AD) and other dementias escalated more than twice the rate of deaths from heart disease. Unfortunately, there is a lack of low-cost and non-invasive diagnostic instruments to accurately identify individuals at risk of AD and ADRD. Advanced non-invasive imaging shows that retinal neurodegeneration and visual def ...