Award Data

Project Summary: Alzheimer’s Disease is associated with metabolic dysfunction, glucose and insulin resistance, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and reduced exercise capacity. Oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction correlate with the development of beta-amyloid (Aβ) deposits, one of the hallmarks of AD that begin years before the onset of memory and cognitive decline. Moreove ...

ABSTRACT / PROJECT SUMMARYAcute ischemic stroke is poised for a revolution. With the advent of mechanical thrombectomy in the last decade, the worst clots can be removed. While thrombectomy has improved outcomes, most treated patients still have severe deficits, in large part due to secondary injury caused by ischemia-reperfusion injury. To solve this problem, many neuroprotective drugs were trial ...

Abstract Currently, clinically used drug abuse medications exist for treatment of addiction to opiates, alcohol, and nicotine, but not psychostimulants, such as methamphetamine (METH). Compounds that co-activate both nociceptin opioid peptide (NOP) and mu receptors have potential for treatment of drug abuse. In particular, buprenorphine, a partial mu agonist/kappa antagonist, which also acts as a ...

Lupus nephritis (LN), an immune complex-mediated glomerulonephritis, affects up to two-thirds of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Despite standard treatment protocols, progression of the most aggressive forms of LN (class III and IV) to end-stage renal failure remains high. Thus, there is a need for biomarkers of therapeutic response that would allow physicians to make better-informed t ...

Project Summary: Self-developing, instant radiochromic films based on the solid-state polymerization of diacetylenes (R-C≡C-C≡C- R’, where R and R’ are substituent groups) are used for measuring radiation therapy dose. Currently available radiochromic films, e.g., the GafChromicTM EBT films from Ashland (Bridgewater, NJ, USA), have many drawbacks such as they are very expensive, sensitive ...

Project Summary: Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy (ACM) is the most prevalent form of ethanol-induced heart damage. Alcohol dose-dependently induces ACM, characterized by progressive reduction in myocardial contractility and ventricular dilatation, culminating in heart failure. At the cellular level, chronic alcohol consumption results in cardiomyocyte death, cardiac inflammation, and cardiac fibrosis. Th ...

Abstract Our long-term objective is to fill the unmet need for treatments for heart failure (HF). Caveolin-1 is a promising therapeutic target in fibrotic diseases. The profibrotic effects of caveolin-1 deficiency in cells and in mouse models is suppressed by a peptide equivalent to its active site (caveolin-1 scaffolding domain, CSD). We have shown the beneficial effects of CSD in two independent ...

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive interstitial lung disease with a median survival of only 3 - 5 years from diagnosis. Although two FDA-approved drugs, pirfenidone and nintedanib, may slow the rate of decline of lung function in some IPF patients, neither drug significantly alters the course of this lethal disease. There is a great need for new drugs with greater efficacy and le ...

PROJECT SUMMARY Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive breast cancer subtype. It accounts for ~15% of all breast cancer yet is responsible for 30% of breast cancer deaths. TNBC is treated primarily by conventional chemotherapy; however, resistance to therapy is common, leading to high mortality rates. Importantly, the benefit of current therapeutic strategies used in chemoresi ...

Opioid use disorder (OUD) is highly prevalent among individuals with diagnosed anxiety disorders with more than 60% of individuals with OUD reporting a lifetime anxiety disorder. Co-occurring anxiety is linked to earlier and more rapid progression into OUD, poorer treatment outcomes, and high probability of co-use of other substances, particularly benzodiazepines (BZDs). BZDs are currently the sta ...