Award Data

Abstract Sepsis, a heterogeneous syndrome characterized by whole-body inflammation caused by the body's response to an infection, is the most expensive and deadly condition treated in hospitals, with over 270,000 cases of sepsis-related deaths in the U.S. alone. The cornerstones of optimal sepsis care are early recognition accompanied by appropriate antimicrobial therapy, and use of evidence-based ...

PROJECT SUMMARY 5-ALA-induced PpIX fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) enables real-time visualization of residual cancer tissue during resection of brain tumors. This addresses a critical need in surgical oncology as the ability to identify residual tumor leads to improvements in overall survival, whereas the sparing of normal tissue benefits the patient’s quality of life. Currently, surgeons vis ...

Project Summary Today, researchers and clinicians, in academia and industry, lack the tools and technologies needed to accurately characterize, differentiate, and sort extracellular vesicles (EVs); currently available technologies were simply not developed to characterize entities smaller than 200 nanometers in size. While the importance of EVs in directing cargo delivery for intercellular communi ...

ABSTRACT Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is associated with vascular obstructions in the extremities, leading to intermittent claudication, ischemic ulcers, leg pain at rest, and amputation. In the US, approximately 6.5 million people have peripheral artery disease (PAD), affecting 12-20% of people over 60 years of age . Current cell therapies to restore limb perfusion have shown only moderate ben ...

PROJECT SUMMARY Minor injuries to articular cartilage can initiate a catabolic cascade, causing small defects to progress into larger, more symptomatic defects. Pain, lesion progression, and accelerated joint deterioration may be avoided with strategies that repair small defects with hyaline-like cartilage. The repair of chondral defects using arthroscopic techniques, performed in a minimally inva ...

Burkholderia pseudomallei (Bp) is the causative agent of melioidosis, a major cause of morbidity and septic death in tropical/subtropical regions worldwide. It is particularly virulent in diabetic patients and is also considered a Tier 1 select agent due to its potential use as a bioweapon. These bacteria are naturally resistant to many antibiotics and there are currently no vaccines available. Th ...

Retinal degeneration involving progressive deterioration and loss of function of photoreceptors is a major cause of permanent vision loss worldwide. Strategies to treat these incurable conditions incorporate retinal prostheses via electrically stimulating surviving retinal neurons with implanted devices in the eye, optogenetic therapy, and sonogenetic therapy. Existing challenges of these strategi ...

ABSTRACT Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) infects a majority of the world’s population and is a leading cause of disease in transplant patients and newborns, accounting for more congenital birth defects than Down’s syndrome, spina bifida, or fetal alcohol syndrome. There is no approved vaccine and all current antiviral therapies for CMV prevention or treatment suffer from toxicity and a low barrier ...

Abstract Alzheimer Disease (AD) is characterized by b-amyloid (Ab) accumulation, neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), neuroinflammation, and widespread neuronal and synaptic loss. To date, there are no therapies available, although immunotherapies i.e., Lecanemab hold promise. Species differences underlie the difficulties in translating therapeutics uncovered in animal models for human brain-specific d ...

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT The human gut microbiome consists of trillions of microorganisms which metabolize a variety of xenobiotic compounds, including environmental chemicals, thereby affecting their overall toxicity to the host organism. Gut microorganisms can either increase or decrease the toxicity of xenobiotic compounds based on reactions with microbial enzymes, which is referred to as Mic ...