Award Data

Project Summary/Abstract !Amblyopia is vision loss caused by neglect of a structurally normal eye due to strabismus, asymmetric refraction (anisometropia), or deprivation. It is irreversible if not treated by age 7, but half of all patients in the U.S. are undetected and untreated until after it is too late, making it the leading cause of preventable vision loss. Rebion (Rebiscan, Inc) has develop ...

Abstract In normal pregnancy, the cervix remains closed until term and then dilates under the influence of uterine contractions. In cases of cervical insufficiency (CI), the cervix dilates in the second trimester in the absence of uterine contractions, which leads to a preterm birth. Infants born prematurely are at risk of lifelong morbidities including chronic lung disease, feeding difficulties, ...

Assays for accurate diagnosis of early stages of infection with biothreat agents, on the day of infection or within a few days of infection, will find wide use in both civilian and military applications These diagnostic assays, which are anticipated to be highly specific and sensitive, will add to the repertoire of tools of hospitals and clinics that serve our armed forces personnel deployed on th ...

PROJECT SUMMARY Chemical risk assessment is widely applied in industries and regulatory agencies as an important tool to evaluate chemical toxicity in support of chemical registration, safety evaluation, and exposure limitation development. One of the most notable improvements in dose-response assessment - a required quantitative step in risk assessment - is the development of benchmark dose (BMD) ...

PROJECT SUMMARY The rising number of Americans currently living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) demands pressing therapeutic and diagnostic solutions. The consensus is that early detection is critical to delay and better manage the disease. The recent discovery of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and their potentially important cellular functions in neuronal-glial communication, synaptic plasticity, o ...

PROJECT SUMMARY Thiopurines such as mercaptopurine are S-substituted antimetabolites used as functional analogs to natural nucleobase precursors. They are highly effective against hematologic malignancies (leukemia and lymphoma) and autoimmune diseases (inflammatory bowel diseases [IBD]), with an estimated patient population andgt;350,000 in the US. However, the cytotoxicity of thiopurines depends ...

PROJECT SUMMARY In light of the opioid crises, minimizing postoperative pain and postoperative opioid requirements to reduce chronic opioid dependency among surgical patients have become major concerns for surgeons and anesthesiologists. Effective intraoperative nociception control can mitigate these concerns. Unfortunately, existing nociceptive monitoring tools use indicators that are inherently ...

Abstract The 90 kD heat shock proteins (Hsp90) are molecular chaperones that are responsible for the folding of select proteins, many of which are directly associated with cancer progression. Consequently, inhibition of the Hsp90 protein folding machinery results in a combinatorial attack on numerous oncogenic pathways. Seventeen small molecule inhibitors of Hsp90 have entered clinical trials for ...

Rates of obesity have steadily increased in the United States, with approximately 50 percent of Americans projected to be classified as obese by 2030. Interestingly, obesity even seems to be a risk factor for the severity of illness in response to COVID-19 disease. Although behavioral (dieting and exercise), pharmacological, and surgical approaches exist for weight loss, many individuals who lose ...

EpiZode: Noninvasive Seizure Screening in Preclinical Models of Epilepsy There is an urgent need for research into treatment options for epilepsy and other seizure disorders. Animal models are increasingly used to understand disease mechanisms and to screen promising therapeutic approaches. Animal epilepsy model use typically requires expensive and labor-intensive experimentation, with invasive EE ...