Award Data

AbstractThe alarming scope of the rapidly growing opioid epidemic has commanded the nation’s attention. The White House’s Council of Economic Advisers estimates that in 2015, the economic cost of the opioid crisis was over $504.0 billion (2.8% of GDP); and it is only expected to continue rising. Today, 1 in 5 fatalities amongst young adults is opioid related; with half a million fatal overdose ...

Open-angle glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide, affecting nearly 70 million individuals. Nonsynonymous mutations in the myocilin gene lead to the most common hereditary form of open-angle glaucoma and account for 3-4% of all cases. Disease-causing mutations, localized to its olfactomedin domain (mOLF), destabilize the myocilin protein, leading to its misfolding and accumula ...

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 ...

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 ...

Project Summary/Abstract Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most prevalent adult leukemia in Western countries. Despite recent treatment advances, CLL remains incurable. In the era of emerging targeted therapies, disease progression and relapse increasingly are key challenges faced by CLL patients. Therefore, there is an ongoing need for the identification of targetable vulnerabilities in t ...

Obstetricians measure fetal heartrate (FHR) and uterine contractions to evaluate fetal health during pregnancy and labor. This monitoring is performed to decrease the development of complications while minimizing the need for unnecessary obstetric interventions and is especially important for women with high-risk pregnancies. However, many women, especially in rural areas, do not have the time or ...

Project Abstract An estimated 5.7 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia (ADRD) and one in ten people age 65 or older show symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. As ADRD progresses so does the level of dependency on others. As the disease progresses, higher levels of dependence in people with Alzheimer’s disease are associated with significantly increased burden and costs ...

PROJECT SUMMARY There is an increased interest in peptide medicines in pharmaceutical research and development (Randamp;D) because peptides are recognized as highly selective and efficacious, and at the same time relatively safe and well tolerated. Chemo-enzymatic peptide synthesis (CEPS) using peptide ligases features excellent purity and yield, thus becoming an attractive method to replace tradi ...

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 ...