Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Over 34 million people are currently living with HIV/AIDS. Combination antiviral therapies have significantly reduced the morbidity and mortality of the disease; however, there is currently no cure for the disease. Discovery that a naturally occurring variant of CCR5, the delta32 mutation, renders cells resistant to HIV infection has led to efforts by several a ...

Abstract The ability of the immune system to recognize and initiate an immune response to foreign particles such as bacteria and viruses has generated interest in development of particulate vaccine technologies. We are developing an innovative approach toproduce particulate vaccines via layer-by-layer (LbL) fabrication of synthetic microparticles (MP). We have shown that LbL-MP loaded with epitope ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) is an infectious disease with a large global health burden occurring primarily in Central and Eastern Africa. HAT is 100% fatal if untreated and the current drug therapies suffer frompoor safety profiles, difficult treatment regimens, limited effectiveness, and high costs. Furthermore, drugs that cross the blood brain barrier ...

Project Summary We propose an instrument system for automated, multiplexed cell- and tissue-based experiments (i.e. tissue microarrays) called the Microfluidic Flow Cell Array (MFCA). The MFCA consists of a microfluidic flow cell array integrated with an inverted fluorescent microscope, allowing the observation of 48 flow chambers simultaneously or an individual chamber at higher magnification. Th ...

Project Summary Evasion of apoptosis is a hallmark of cancer and is associated with oncogenesis, tumor maintenance, and resistance to conventional chemotherapy. BCL-2 was the first identified anti-apoptotic factor and is a member of the BCL-2 family of proteins that cooperate in the regulation of programmed cell death. BCL-2 plays a dominant role in the survival of multiple lymphoid malignancies a ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Accurate, early disease diagnosis and monitoring are critical aspects to effective prevention, treatment, and remission of disease. Most diagnostic methods available today are not simple or sensitive enough to significantly impact patients' response to treatment or survival outcome. This unmet need is highlighted by diseases, such as brain cancers, that o ...

PROJECT SUMMARY Biopsy capability is an absolute requirement for imaging facilities planning to provide breast cancer screening services. The limitations of mammography have ushered in several other imaging technologies, such as magnetic resonance (MR), positron emission mammography, and breast specific gamma, or molecular breast imaging. However, these are all relatively expensive modalities and ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cancer is a significant health burden in the US and across the globe, representing the second leading cause of death in the US. Cancer cells have metabolic pathways that are altered significantly compared to normal cells. As a result, the pathways involved (lipid biosynthesis for example) are considered excellent targets for therapeutic intervention. The levels ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this SBIR is to develop an innovative adolescent primary health care delivery model for use in primary care that overcomes barriers of health care provider time, skill and teen engagement when providing effective tobacco use reduction counseling. This will be achieved by creating a web-based counseling module that will provide interactive, technolog ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In the USA, about 36 million adults suffer from hearing loss and three out of every 1,000 children are born deaf or hard-of-hearing. When conventional hearing aids provide no appreciable benefit, implantable electronicdevices using electrode arrays inside the cochlea are a viable solution. With these cochlear implants, the profoundly deaf achieve reasonable wor ...