Award Data

PROJECT SUMMARY RNA viruses, such as influenza and the Ebola virus, have been classified as the greatest threat for causing a global pandemic given their high mutation rates and abilities to jump between host species. National and global agencies have called for research and development efforts to improve RNA virus surveillance capabilities. While the tools for surveilling DNA viruses have advance ...

ABSTRACTRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is extremely ubiquitous, with almost all humans acquiring the infection by the age of two.It is manifested by several secondary acute respiratory illnesses including bronchiolitis croup, bronchitis, pneumonia and the common cold.RSV does not elicit a protective immune response in humans, which results in recurrent infections in children and adults.Infants ...

In this SBIR Phase I project, IllExcor Therapeutics proposes the development and evaluation of novel prodrug therapeutics as a yet untapped approach to treat sickle cell disease (SCD), a hereditary malady involving a single point hemoglobin (Hb) mutation that leads to severe adverse physiological complications culminating in painful vaso-occlusive crises, chronic endothelial damage, and progressiv ...

PROJECT SUMMARY SARS-CoV-2 is the β-coronavirus causing the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Large- scale diagnostic testing and large-scale screening are key tools used to contain outbreaks, and are especially important for something as transmissible as SARS-CoV-2. While various clinical specimens—like blood, pharyngeal swabs, saliva, anal swabs, and urine—have showed th ...

Despite the fact that fungal diseases are an increasing clinical burden, particularly among immunocompromised patients, there are no anti-fungal vaccines approved for clinical use. The fungal opportunistic pathogen, Pneumocystis jirovecii is the causative agent of Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP), which remains a serious AIDS-defining, opportunistic infection and is of increasing concern in persons re ...

Randamp;R Other Project Information 7. Project Summary/Abstract Neurobiological changes caused by addiction impair behavioral control and increase relapse risk (Volkow, Koob, andamp; McLellan, 2016), substantiating the need for long-term care coordination and recovery engagement for individuals with Substance Use Disorders (SUD) (Humphreys, Malenka, Knutson, andamp; MacCoun, 2017). Because addicti ...

Project Summary/Abstract The proposed effort addresses an unmet need for early detection of pulmonary edema (PE). PE is a cardiovascular disorder and is the underlying cause of acute respiratory distress syndrome and acute heart failure, projected to affect more than 8 million Americans by 2030. PE is caused by abnormally high capillary leakage into the alveolar cavities leading to accumulation of ...

ABSTRACT / PROJECT SUMMARY Wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the developed world. Anti-VEGF therapy is currently the gold standard for wet AMD treatment. However, up to 50% of patients in the long term have a suboptimal response to anti-VEGF therapy. A better alternative method for treatment of AMD is urgently needed. We have recently inve ...

PROJECT SUMMARY Glycans have several distinct properties that make them excellent targets for disease biomarkers. Firstly, their location glycans on cell surfaces makes them the first point of contact for cellular interactions, and thus they are crucial in the control of normal metabolic processes. Secondly, cell surface molecules are also strategically exposed for surveillance by the immune syste ...

Non-tuberculous mycobacterial lung disease (NTM-LD) caused by Mycobacterium avium complex is a serious chronic infection causing permanent lung damage, and is difficult to treat, typically requiring 12-24 months of treatment with rifampin, macrolide and ethambutol. We hypothesize that combined deuterated ambroxol and [acyl-13C]INH will allow both pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic enhancement of ...