Award Data

Purpose: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disabilities characterized by deficits in social competence, communication skills, and behaviors that are restricted and repetitive. ASD are one of the fastest growing disability categories in the country, with recent prevalence rates of 1 in 110 children. Many students with ASD rely on visual supports to engage in learning in educati ...

The gray whale migration generates many hours of video that must be examined carefully to identify passing whales and get an accurate count of their numbers. Unfortunately, humans lack the necessary attention span. To solve this problem, a detector will be developed that can process hours of video, detecting whale blows while minimizing false positives and negatives. With an accurate record of ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Point of care testing is a test that is performed near or at the site of care. In addition it has come to imply a rapid turnaround time, ease of use and convenience for the patient. Traditional Point of Care single usecartridge tests are lateral flow immunoassay tests where the capture antibody is labeled with a chromagen, which allows for a positive reaction t ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Despite the rise of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, the development of new antibiotics is on the decline. Methicillin-resistant Staphococcal aureus infections (MRSA) in the United States has been increasing, causing 19,000 deaths per year in the United States and contributing to 3 billion to 4 billion of additional annual health care costs. The issue of ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to develop a contrast agent for photoacoustic imaging targeted to the receptors of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGFR), so it can be accumulated and retained in tumor endothelial cells by VEGFR-mediated endocytosis. VEGFR are over expressed in angiogenic tumor vasculature from the very early stages of tumor development and therefore VEGFR imag ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Heart disease remains the primary cause of morbidity and mortality in the industrialized world and continues to incur costs estimated at 30 billion per year, despite detailed understanding of the mechanisms governing cardiac function and contractility. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a recently discovered family of tiny regulatory RNAs, act as negative regulators of gene ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to develop a recombinant subunit vaccine against cutaneous leishmaniasis. This vaccine will incorporate two protein antigens, TSA/TryP and P-4. Both antigens are highly conserved among Leishmania species, arerecognized by T cells of human patients, and confer protection against a live challenge in murine model studies. We expect that immunization usi ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Lyme disease, due to infection with the Ixodes tick-transmitted spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States, with more than 28,000 cases reported annually. The infectioncan remain localized to the skin or disseminate to cause disease in the skin, heart, joints and nervous system. The ospC genotype of the spiroch ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our recent series of innovative randomized trials evaluating the efficacy of various strategies for training clinicians to use evidence based therapies in alcohol and drug abuse has indicated that while both in-person workshop and computer-assisted training can impart the skills necessary to deliver Twelve Step Facilitation, they are by no means sufficient in e ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Currently available anti-angiogenic drugs inhibit VEGF/VEGFR signaling, which leads to transient vascular regression followed by rebound of drug-resistant vasculature, which significantly decrease the therapeutic efficacy of very expensive anti-angiogenic treatment. To overcome this problem, we are developing a cytotoxic 177Lu radiopharmaceutical, scVEGF/Lu. Th ...