Award Data

Abstract Opioid abuse disorder (OAD) affects 2.1 million of Americans annually resulting in overdoses numbering in the tens of thousands and skyrocketing rates of mortality. In addition to its enormous social impact, OAD carries a multi-billion-dollar price tag that includes $78.5 billion, specifically for health care and other costs related to prescription opioid abuse and misuse. Although effect ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Project Summary We propose to develop a non-invasive method to predict mammalian oocyte quality by analyzing the surrounding cumulus cells' gene expression patterns (cGEP). The result of the cGEP assay---a cGEP score---can be used to predict embryo quality and ultimately the embryo transfer (ET) results. This technology, if success, will for the first time ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Premature, very-low-birth-weight (VLBW; d1500 g) and low-birth-weight (LBW; 1500-2499 g) infants are at increased risk for long-term encephalopathy. 25-50% of the 63,000 VLBW infants born annually in the U.S. have majorlong-term cognitive or neurobehavioral deficits. Postnatal cerebral ischemia appears to play an important role in long-term cognitive sequelae. ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): State of the art techniques result in 10-year solid organ graft loss of up to 80% in cardiopulmonary organ transplantation, and re-transplantation is often not possible. Establishment of donor-specific immunological tolerance (DSIT), a condition in which a recipient accepts a transplant without immunosuppression, while retaining the ability to fight infections, ...

PROJECT SUMMARY Traumatic brain injury (TBI) represents a significant societal and economic impact. To date, there are no FDA- approved pharmacotherapies to prevent or reverse TBI. The standard of care in an emergency setting focuses first on stabilizing the patient and secondly on management of cerebral hemodynamics. The patient may undergo surgery to remove hematomas, repair skull fractures, and ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Methamphetamine (MA) dependence is associated with neuropsychiatric side effects that make the addiction extremely challenging to treat. Patients seeking treatment experience ongoing impairments in cognition, mood, and motivation. Currently, there are no FDA-approved pharmacotherapies for MA dependence. The goal of this proof-of-concept research project is test ...

7. Project Summary Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disease in which myelin of the central nervous system (CNS) is destroyed by a self-reactive immune response. This demyelination is accompanied by the death of the myelinating cells themselves, the oligodendrocytes. Repeated bouts of demyelination leave the denuded CNS neurons vulnerable to degradation and is the major cause of neuro ...

PROJECT SUMMARY More thanpatients are diagnosed each year with glioblastomathe most common primary brain tumorCurrent treatments are inadequate and there have been no major therapeutic breakthroughs in decadesHencethere is an urgent need to develop novel strategies to address this devastating diseaseHoweverdevelopment of an effective treatment for glioblastoma is severely hampered bythe blood brai ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As elders age, they need increasing amounts of adaptive assistance and care from their caregivers- people who are often busy or remote. With the baby boomer generation preparing to retire, the sheer number of people who will need support will far outstrip the nation's ability to provide professional caregivers. Furthermore, the nation will not be able to afford ...

Optical photothermal IR (OPTIR) microscopy for chemical imaging of living cells at sub-micron resolution Project Summary/Abstract Photothermal Spectroscopy Corp (PSC) and Prof. Ji-Xin Cheng of Boston University in collaboration with Prof. Rohith Reddy (University of Houston) propose to develop, validate, and commercialize a novel technical called Optical Photothermal Infrared (OPTIR) spectroscopy. ...