Award Data

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: 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 ...

Project Summary/Abstract Approximately 500,000 people in the U.S. suffer from cutaneous lupus lesions (CLE), with a significant impact on quality of life.4 Yet, there is no cure, the treatment options are limited, and no new drug has been FDA- approved for over 50 years.84 As such, CLE represents a high unmet need for directed therapeutics. Skin lesions are caused by a complex autoimmune response ...

PROJECT SUMMARYThe overall goal of this Phase I proposal is to design and test the feasibility of novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reference standards (“phantoms”) that are urgently needed for comprehensive and standardized quality assurance (QA) of quantitative MRI biomarkers of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We propose to develop 1) a quantitative MR elastography (MRE) stif ...

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This project aims to quantify and establish elements of immersive virtual reality (VR) software that, when paired with treadmill training, produce balance perturbations that can be scaled to improve dynamic balance and are tolerated by people with stroke. VR continues to be used as an interactive and engaging way for clinicians to interact with patients during physical the ...

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT With the increased use of mobile health (mHealth) apps to improve health outcomes, protecting private health data is becoming increasingly important. These mHealth apps are offered by healthcare providers and used by patients for various reasons such as paying bills, scheduling appointments, sending messages to providers, accessing lab results, and viewing prescriptions an ...

Project Summary/Abstract Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most prevalent primary brain tumor in adults with extremely poor survival rates and largely unchanged standard of care. While there are many challenges to developing better GBM treatments, one of the major challenges is the immune-suppressive environment commonly found within GBM tumors. This immune-suppressive nature results in a tumor that is no ...