Award Data

ABSTRACT Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a highly debilitating disease that affects about 1% of the global population, which increases up to 10% in individuals aged more than 65 years. The life expectancy for these patients is less than 10 years after diagnosis, and no specific drugs are available for pharmacologic treatment. Despite the introduction PDE5, prostacyclin analogs, and endothelin antag ...

Project Summary Unprotected receptive anal intercourse (RAI) is the sexual behavior with the highest per-act risk of HIV acquisition, conferring 10 to 20 times more risk than unprotected vaginal intercourse. We are developing an antiviral rectal rinse (enema) using a novel HIV entry inhibitor, the lectin Griffithsin (GRFT), because there is a lack of on-demand antiviral HIV prevention products tha ...

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate) are toxic and persistent compounds resulting from the production and use of fluoropolymers such as Gortex® and Teflon ®. The structure of PFAS preclude environmental degradation and can lead to bioaccumulation in animals and humans. Reported adverse effects of these compounds in humans include: ...

This grant is for translational development of a scalable, nucleic acid-based formulation of cytomegalovirus-vectored vaccines that can be distributed without a cold chain. HIV candidate vaccines that use cytomegalovirus (CMV) as delivery vector and immunomodulatory adjuvant have shown extraordinary promise. In our preliminary work, for example, a rhesus cytomegalovirus-vectored SIV vaccine lackin ...

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections, affecting 150 million people worldwide each year. In the USA, community-acquired UTIs account for about 11 million cases each year that cost the U.S. public health budget $5 billion annually. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) accounts for up to 80% of UTIs. While UTIs are currently treated with antibiotics, the fre ...

Abstract Factors that contribute to the onset of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remain incompletely understood. Although specific genetic factors may increase risk, most IBD cannot be readily explained based on genetics. Dysbiosis in intestinal microbiomes also has been implicated. Once IBD is established, chronic inflammation is a central hallmark and also a major target for therapy. Both forms ...

PROJECT SUMMARY Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a malignant disease of hematopoietic precursor cells in the bone marrow, is one of the most common cancers in adults accounting for 1% of all cancers. AML is typically diagnosed later in life with individuals 60 and older having a long-term survival rate of merely 5-15%. Cytogenic analysis of the abnormal cells at the time of diagnosis has proven to be ...

SUMMARYIn 2014 the United States experienced an outbreak of a previously unknown neurological disease with polio-like symptoms later known as acute flaccid myelitis (AFM). A biennial surge in cases of AFM in 2016 and 2018 has alarmed public health officials. Since then, rapidly accumulating clinical, immunological, and epidemiological evidence has pointed to EV-D68 as the major causative agent of ...

Abstract Rejuvenation Technologies Inc. (RTI) aims to prevent liver fibrosis in alcoholic hepatitis (AH) by enhancing liver regenerative capacity. AH is an acute form of alcoholic liver disease with mortality of up to 50% within 1 month of presentation. Most AH patients exhibit advanced fibrosis/cirrhosis, which contributes to acute-on-chronic liver failure. RTI will ameliorate/prevent this fibros ...

Project Summary Despite significant cost and clear evidence of health risks associated with Cesarean section surgeries, an unnecessarily large number of infants are delivered via Cesarean section (C- Section) surgeries. The high rate of C-section in the US, relative to globally accepted norms, and the associated additional cost and complications are in part, due to high false positive rate of intr ...