Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of this project is to develop therapeutic antivirals to treat life-threatening flavivirus infections. Enfuvirtide, a clinically successful peptide HIV fusion inhibitor, is the prototype for a new class of antivirals that inhibit viral envelope protein structural rearrangements essential for viral entry into host cells. In preliminary experiment ...

ABSTRACT The goal of this study is to develop an RNAi-based genetic precision medicine to treat alcohol associated liver disease (AALD). AALD is a devastating health problem worldwide, accounts for the majority of alcohol-related mortality globally and is the second most indication for liver transplantation in the US. The current medical management for AALD remains limited, and no proven pathobiol ...

Project Summary/AbstractMood disorders, like many psychiatric conditions, have their onset in emerging adulthood and often last a lifetime. Mental illnesses have an excessively large loading of Disability Adjusted Life Years, making early intervention crucial for both individuals and society. Differentiating bipolar disorder (BD) from major depressive disorder (MDD) based on the Diagnostic and Sta ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We hypothesize that for a class of dopamine transporter SPECT agents, an automated software processing package can be developed, which will objectively yield striatal quantitative uptake values for evaluating Parkinson' s disease (PD) diagnosis and progression. This fully automated and Objective Striatal Analysis (OSA) package will be able to evaluate subjects ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Genetics has provided one of the most discerning and powerful approaches to the dissection of biological function and Drosophila has served as a major model organism for such analyses, many of which have been probed processes relevant to human health. Now gene inactivation by RNAi is revolutionizing genetic approaches. By making possible extremely rapid whole g ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): West Nile (WN) virus is a flavivirus that can cause fatal human encephalitis. Over the past four years, this virus has established itself across the United States. There are no approved vaccines or therapies to protect against WN virus. This project is designed to develop an effective anti-WN virus RNA interference therapy. Our hypothesis is that small interfer ...

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Leptospirosis a zoonotic disease is an important public health problem worldwide It is caused by spirochete bacteria belonging to nine species and more than serovars of the genus Leptospira In the US there is increasing awareness of the importance of leptospirosis as the cause of disease among inner city populations military personnel and individuals ...

Abstract: Non-Tuberculosis Mycobacteria (NTM) are responsible for widespread, life threatening infections of the lungs, skin, lymphatic and hematological systems. The rapid, global spread of resistant organisms has significantly reduced the number of agents that can be used effectively to treat these infections. Of specific clinical relevance are the slow-growing Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) ...

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant This proposal seeks to develop a novel vaccine against Lyme disease by targeting Ixodes scapularis proteins critical for Borrelia burgdorferi transmission from the tick to mammalian host Earlier work has identified four tick proteins Salp TRE tHRF and TSLPI that facilitate different steps of spirochete transmission and immunity against these protein ...

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 ...