Award Data

SUMMARY Arboviruses present a constant threat to human and animal health worldwide. They are transmitted by hematophagous arthropods, primarily mosquitoes. One of them, Aedes aegypti, is the primary vector of several widely spread arboviruses such as Zika, dengue and West Nile viruses, and for most of them, human-licensed vaccines do not exist or are suboptimal. These pathogens are transmitted int ...

PROJECT SUMMARY In light of the opioid crises, minimizing postoperative pain and postoperative opioid requirements to reduce chronic opioid dependency among surgical patients have become major concerns for surgeons and anesthesiologists. Effective intraoperative nociception control can mitigate these concerns. Unfortunately, existing nociceptive monitoring tools use indicators that are inherently ...

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Two million Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) occur per year in the US, killing andgt;90,000 patients and costing ~$50-100 billion (adjusted by CPI to 2020 dollars). HAIs are the 6th leading cause of death in the US, ahead of diabetes and kidney disease. Reducing HAIs is a top priority of the US Department of Health and Human Services1 and experts have called for nov ...

Precise, customizable drug delivery remains a long-term goal, for HIV in particular, as such technologies would allow therapies tailored to a patient’s biological makeup and potentially improve adherence. Extended-release methods address part of the issue, but face limitations. A novel drug delivery system could offer better pediatric dosing, via both oral and new routes of administration. Exist ...

Abstract The advance of biotechnology is dependent on approaches for rapidly iterating through genetically engineered enzymes and pathways. While computational and gene synthesis techniques have seen considerable innovation in the last few decades, screening variants for desired activities has lagged behind, with few notable advances. Indeed, microwell plates, a nearly 60-year-old technology, rema ...

The melanocortin peptide therapeutic setmelanotide, (ImcivreeTM), is highly effective in the treatment of the rare obesity syndromes, POMC and leptin receptor deficiency. However, the drug is ineffective for the most common syndromic obesity, melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) deficiency (MC4R haploinsufficiency), found at a prevalence greater than 1/1000 individuals. Further, the drug is ineffective ...

AbstractHistone modifications carry rich information of cellular memory and gene regulatory mechanisms. Single cell analysis of histone modification in conjunction with transcriptome could recover this critical layer of cell identity and help to dissect the cellular and molecular composition of complex tissues such as the brain. We recently developed an ultra-high throughput single cell multi-omic ...

Project Summary Skin is the first line of defense against the outside environment. When the skin barrier is breached by UV irradiation (UVR) or toxic chemicals, living cell layers including epidermal keratinocytes, melanocytes and dermal fibroblasts are subjected to DNA damage. If unrepaired, this damage can lead to photoaging and cutaneous carcinogenesis. In fact, skin cancer is by far the most c ...

Physical activity (PA) is a modifiable risk factor for a number of preventable chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, strokes, obesity, and diabetes. These conditions constitute health disparities for African American men. Behavioral interventions have proven to be effective in promoting increases in physical activity. While behavior change programs have been shown to assist participa ...

ABSTRACT Suicide is one of the top ten causes of death in the US and suicide rates have increased steadily over the last twenty years. Currently, the most effective treatment options are cognitive behavioral therapies for suicide prevention (CBT-SP), which have been shown to reduce both suicide attempt (SA) risk and suicide ideation (SI). However, access to these treatments is limited because ther ...