Award Data

Abstract The 90 kD heat shock proteins (Hsp90) are molecular chaperones that are responsible for the folding of select proteins, many of which are directly associated with cancer progression. Consequently, inhibition of the Hsp90 protein folding machinery results in a combinatorial attack on numerous oncogenic pathways. Seventeen small molecule inhibitors of Hsp90 have entered clinical trials for ...

ABSTRACTChronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of hospitalization in the US. Exacerbations - a worsening or “flare up” of symptoms - cause most COPD hospitalizations. Since most exacerbations can be treated with changes of inhalers and/or oral medications, at-home detection of lung function deterioration may facilitate earlier intervention and help delay or pre ...

Project Summary Natural products (NPs) and derivatives thereof provide a rich source of chemical matter for drug discovery and development. Over the past 30 years, NP-derived drugs have accounted for more than 35% of FDA approvals. Despite their demonstrated importance, development of new NPs has slowed over the past 15 years due to the lack of efficient methods for discovery, production, and opti ...

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: ...

PROJECT SUMMARY Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is an opioid withdrawal syndrome that develops shortly after birth to in utero-exposed neonates. The cost of NAS is high: newborns with NAS are typically receive care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), where the daily cost of care is high. Nearly 22,000 infants are born with NAS each year at a cost of $1.5 billion1. Moreover, medication-b ...

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 ...

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This Phase I/II STTR Fast Track proposal responds to the call from the 2018/2019 NCATS SBIR/STTR Research Priorities to develop technologies so that “new treatments and cures for disease can be delivered to patients more quickly”. The production of life-altering gene editing vectors, cancer killing viruses, and life- saving vaccines currently depends on traditional cel ...

AbstractImpaired mitochondrial respiration plays a key role in metabolic, cardiovascular, and aging-related diseases. However, mitochondrial respirometry analysis currently requires processing of the living tissue sample within an hour after being taken from the patient. This requirement makes respirometry analysis largely unfeasible to standard clinical practice and clinical studies. We invented ...

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 ...

Non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA), a lack of sperm in the ejaculate due to defective spermatogenesis, affects as many as 100,000 men in the US, and represents an unmet medical need because many of these men would like to father children, but cannot without surgical intervention. Current therapy for such men is suboptimal, because it relies upon microsurgical testicular sperm extraction (micro-TESE ...