Award Data

Summary Technology for studying the higher order structure (HOS) and interactions of biomolecules is a highlighted NIGMS SBIR/STTR research topic. Mass-spectrometric methods for studying HOS include hydroxyl radical footprinting as well as chemical methods to covalently label amino acid side-chain functional groups, and also hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX) on protein backbone amides. These metho ...

The lack of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) appropriate for youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities (DD) and related cognitive impairments including Down syndrome (DS) poses a significant problem for healthcare research and practice. Parents and other professionals do not identify the same needs as youth, and failure to engage youth with DD in healthcare evaluation compromises healthc ...

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, with more than 300 million people affected. Most adults with depressive symptoms make at least one annual visit to a primary care physician (PCP). As such, primary care offers a ripe opportunity to identify and treat adults with depressive symptomatology. Yet, depression has historically been undertreated in primary ...

Project Abstract/Summary Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) deficiency (PDCD) is a rare disease of mitochondrial energy failure in which the life expectancy of affected children is severely truncated from unrelenting lactic acidosis and/or from progressive neurological and neuromuscular degeneration. Treatment of PDCD remains a serious, unmet, challenge. Dichloroacetate (DCA) represents the firs ...

The goal of the proposed project is to develop and commercialize a purely mechanical, ratcheting prosthetic finger – the Point Digit – which 1) has an industry leading strength to weight ratio, 2) can be operated unilaterally (one-handed), 3) offers anatomical rotation and flexion around the patient’s metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint, and 4) can be custom-made for each patient using advanced ...

ABSTRACTUp to 30% of low birth weight preterm infants manifest some form of periventricular white matter injury (PWMI) making it the most common form of brain injury affecting premature infants. PWMI is associated with significant morbidity, as affected individuals may have profound intellectual impairment and cerebral palsy. Highlighting the magnitude of PWMI, each year more than 400,000 infants ...

Project Summary: While currently available antiretroviral therapies are highly effective they are not curative. Patients are required to remain on life-long therapy which is associated with a variety adverse effects. Over time, viral-mediated drug resistance is likely to pose an increasingly serious problem for individuals on therapy. The development of novel classes of inhibitors that block viral ...

Neurodon LLC proposes to conduct lead optimization and candidate-seeking activities on a novel series of neuroprotective small molecules that shows efficacy in a transgenic model of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). AD is a leading cause of death in the United States, with some estimates ranking it as high as third behind cardiovascular disease and cancer. Despite the enormity of this national public he ...

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 Prostate cancer is one of the most commonly occurring forms of cancer, accounting for 21% of all cancer in men. The Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) aims to standardize reporting of prostate cancer using multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI). However, the in-depth analysis, as demanded by PI-RADS, remains challenging due to the complexity and heter ...