Award Data

ABSTRACT The identification and removal of process-related protein impurities (PRPI) from biologic products is a critical step in drug development. Despite recent improvements in the purification and processing of biologics, the presence of immunogenic PRPI continue to raise concerns about drug safety and efficacy. We propose an innovative approach for assessing immunogenicity risk of PRPI using o ...

Project Summary/Abstract: Computational techniques for gene engineering, such as codon optimization, use synonymous codon changes to increase protein production. Applications for these computational gene optimizations include recombinant protein drugs, nucleic acid therapies, and mRNA vaccines. Although codon optimization increases protein production in certain systems, synonymous changes to a gen ...

The placenta is one of the least understood organs of the human body. Acting as a barrier between mother and fetus, the placenta mediates transport of oxygen, nutrients, fetal waste products and other compounds present in maternal circulation. Full term placental explants are currently the most widely used models for assessing transport and barrier function. Unfortunately, these models are depende ...

It is estimated that approximately 5-10% of all diagnosed cancers are caused by Hereditary Cancer Syndromes (HCS) that are associated with germline mutations (inherited genetic mutations passed directly from a parent to a child that create a genetic predisposition to certain types of cancer). Recent epidemiologic models indicate that 1 in 279 people may be carriers of one of the most common HCS, a ...

Summary Climate change is an urgent public health threat, and climate-related health risks disproportionately impact vulnerable populations. Public health agencies have underscored the need to develop scalable and innovative health-equity centered, multi-level interventions that offer tools and resources to 1) raise awareness of the inextricable link between climate change and health and 2) suppor ...

PROJECT SUMMARY Over 37 million individuals in the U.S. have chronic kidney disease (CKD) and are at high risk to die from cardiovascular complications. While great strides have been made to improve CKD care and dialysis access, minimal advances have been made in drug development to stall or reverse kidney damage and associated pathologies. Currently, therapeutic options to prevent cardiovascular ...

PROJECT ABSTRACT Although rt11 million family/friends are caregivers to rt6 million people with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and AD- Related Dementias (AD/ADRD), they do not typically receive personalized education, strategies and support to manage their own wellbeing and complex dementia-related symptoms. Lack of personalized care contributes to $321 billion annually in AD/ADRD care costs. In respons ...

Project Summary/Abstract: Recombinant proteins have a wide range of applications, from pharmaceutical products, drug discovery, protein-based polymers for drug delivery, antibodies enzymes, and sustainable technologies such as textiles and vegan food production such as the impossible burger. Towards meeting these increased demands by replacing batch culture with continuous culture reduces overhead ...

Perinatal brain injury resulting in mental retardation and cerebral palsy is the most severe disability in children and affects 40-148 in preterm and 1–2/1000 in full term infants. This places a huge burden on society, emphasizing the critical need for improved prevention/treatment strategies to decrease perinatal brain injury. Hypothermia (HT) is the only FDA approved therapy to attenuate brain ...

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease that affects over 32 million individuals in the United States, causing debilitating joint destruction and chronic joint pain, stiffness, and physical impairment. To restore and improve the patient’s quality of life, total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is the most common surgical intervention performed for OA to replace the compromised joint with arti ...