Award Data

Pertussis (Whooping cough) is a highly contagious, airborne disease that is rapidly re-emerging as a serious public health threat in the United States. Despite high vaccine coverage, annual reported cases in the U.S. have been increasing recently, with an average of 25,000 per year from 2010-2019. This is a level unseen since the early 1960s. Diagnosis of pertussis is challenging because its early ...

Abstract Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal muscle disease with an incidence of 1 in 5000 males. DMD results from mutations in the gene encoding dystrophin, a 427 kDa scaffolding protein responsible for providing a mechanical link between the muscle fiber actin cytoskeleton and laminin in the extracellular matrix. The α7β1 integrin is a transmembrane linkage system in skeletal and card ...

Project Summary A significant number (~30-50%) of liver cancers have no curative treatments due to their proximity to critical anatomy. Minimally invasive thermal ablation is a promising treatment for these untreatable solid tumors. If delivered precisely, ablations offer the treatment efficacy of traditional surgery with lower patient risk, clinician time, and overall cost. Existing ablation tech ...

It is estimated that approximately 5-10% of all diagnosed cancers are caused by Hereditary Cancer Syndromes (HCS) that are associated with germline mutations (inherited genetic mutations passed directly from a parent to a child that create a genetic predisposition to certain types of cancer). Recent epidemiologic models indicate that 1 in 279 people may be carriers of one of the most common HCS, a ...

Summary Climate change is an urgent public health threat, and climate-related health risks disproportionately impact vulnerable populations. Public health agencies have underscored the need to develop scalable and innovative health-equity centered, multi-level interventions that offer tools and resources to 1) raise awareness of the inextricable link between climate change and health and 2) suppor ...

PROJECT ABSTRACT Although rt11 million family/friends are caregivers to rt6 million people with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and AD- Related Dementias (AD/ADRD), they do not typically receive personalized education, strategies and support to manage their own wellbeing and complex dementia-related symptoms. Lack of personalized care contributes to $321 billion annually in AD/ADRD care costs. In respons ...

Project Summary: The field of quantitative biology involves using mathematics, statistics, and modeling to analyze the results of biological experiments. Students at the high school and undergraduate levels can develop these skills through a comprehensive STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education. These analytical skills are crucial for success in many careers, including those in ...

Perinatal brain injury resulting in mental retardation and cerebral palsy is the most severe disability in children and affects 40-148 in preterm and 1–2/1000 in full term infants. This places a huge burden on society, emphasizing the critical need for improved prevention/treatment strategies to decrease perinatal brain injury. Hypothermia (HT) is the only FDA approved therapy to attenuate brain ...

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 ...

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to implement a high-efficiency, low-power magnetic bearing that will enable the successful development of high-speed flywheel energy storage systems (FESS) both for space and terrestrial applications. FESS are mechanical batteries that overcome some of the limitations of lithium-ion batteri ...