Award Data

Internet-based TRAC (i-TRAC): Interactive Emotion Regulation Skills Training to Improve AdolescentSexual Health Adolescence is a critical developmental period during which behavioral patterns are formed that have powerful influences on current and future health. This is particularly true for sexual behavior, which is affected by the biological changes of puberty as well as normative developmental ...

Abstract Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative disease in the musculoskeletal system. While it can affect any joint, hip, and knee, OA carries an enormous burden of pain and reduced mobility. Despite decades of research, there are currently no clinically effective treatments that can repair damaged cartilage or halt the progression of this disease. However, recent advances in tissue ...

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a devastating acute inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract resulting in intestinal necrosis, systemic sepsis and multi-system organ failure found mostly in infants born prematurely. Despite modern medical advances in the past decade, the etiology remains elusive and morbidity and mortality are still unacceptably high. It has been concluded that the ...

PROJECT SUMMARYSpinal fusion is the standard treatment for persistent neck and back pain, but the hardware used to stabilize the fusion can harbor or even promote bacteria that lead to persistent, difficult-to-treat infections that are costly and damaging to patient health. Among the available materials for spinal fusion, polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) cages stand out due to their strength, biocomp ...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, debilitating inflammatory disease with high medical and societal costs afflicting more than 1.6 million Americans. Blockade of TNFα-driven inflammation with approved anti-TNFα biologics (such as Humira®, Remicade®, Simponi®, and Enbrel®) is an effective treatment for many patients suffering from RA. However, due at least in part to the immunogenicity o ...

Abstract Uroflowmetry is the most common urodynamic test performed by urologists to assess the function of the lower urinary tract. This simple non-invasive study measures urinary flow rates and when summarized graphically offers insights into various types of lower urinary tract symptoms. Current systems call upon a patient to void into a commode with a funnel to direct the flow of urine into a v ...

SUMMARY/Abstract Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanovesicles, which contain surface markers, and cell- and cell-state-specific cargo of their tissue (and cell) of origin, reflecting the tissue or cell’s physiological state. Most importantly, neuronal EVs can pass the blood-brain barrier (BBB) into blood circulation and provide a new approach of gaining direct access to brain pathogenic process ...

This Phase I SBIR develops a system for gentle and accurate insertion of large optical neuroscience probes (e.g., GRIN lenses) to improve outcomes in aging research. Additionally, the project supports Qingguang Zhang. Ph.D. through the NIA Research and Entrepreneurial Development Immersion (REDI) program at a small business. Entrepreneurial development activities for his project will include proje ...

ABSTRACT The ability to measure and manipulate local brain circuit activity in living, behaving animals is essential to understanding the complexities of brain function and dysfunction. A novel, penetrating high-density carbon fiber electrode array composed of flexible, ultrathin conductive carbon microfibers was recently developed under the BRAIN Initiative to study neural microcircuit dynamics. ...

Project Summary: The goal of this project is to create two prototypes of a novel live spike sorting system which can be used by investigators to spike sort streams of neural data recorded by multi-channel, high channel and ultra-high channel probes. In most in-vivo extracellular recording conditions, an electrode can pick up neural spikes from several nearby neurons resulting in so-called “multi ...