Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There exists an urgent need to develop an effective, non-invasive method of detecting colorectal cancer (CRC), the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. Such non-invasive testing, if instituted for a large segment of the population, could result in a dramatic reduction in the approximately 56,000 annual deaths caused by CRC. However, current methods ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Advanced Molecular Diagnostic Test for Neurofibromatosis ABSTRACT Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by mutations in the NF1 gene. In children, NF1 causes learning disabilities, coordination problems and benign tumors later in life that grow on nerve tissue. Currently more than 100,000 Americans suffer from NF1 with the dise ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this application is to develop imageable tumor-targeting bacteria that can cure tumors without progressive infection of the host. Previous experiments by others employed anaerobic microorganisms for cancer therapy. Target specificity appeared largely due to the anaerobic requirements met principally in necrotic tumor areas. The resulting tumor killi ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Prostate cancer is the most prevalent cancer among men; and the second leading cause of cancer death among men in the US. There are currently no approved therapies for hormone-refractory prostate cancer. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated a strong relationship between incidence of and mortality from various cancers including prostate cancer, exposure to ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sleep-related breathing disorders (SRBDs), such as sleep apnea, take a heavy public health toll, especially on children. Mounting evidence suggests that these disorders can impact physical and mental development. Diagnosing and understanding these disorders are major challenges. Polysomnography, an imperfect gold standard, is not practical to apply on a wide ba ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of this project is to develop a CFD software for the grid-free simulation and analysis of the complex dynamics of the Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) associated with Mechanical Prosthetic Heart Valve (MPHV) "systems" as they respond to physiologically realistic 3-D pulsatile flow. The final product will be the first commercially available grid-f ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Airways can be obstructed by a variety of diseases resulting in breathing difficulties and compromised quality of life for the patients. Lung cancer is one of the major diseases causing airway obstruction. According to the American Cancer Society it is the single largest cause of cancer deaths in the United States (173,000 estimated new cases diagnosed in 2006) ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive disorder, which leads to the abnormal composition and physical properties of airway secretions in CF patients. Additionally, the lungs of CF patients are particularly susceptible to chronic bacterial infections with >80% of CF patients becoming chronically infected by 18 years of life with mucoid forms of Pseudomon ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Zhang, Yun Abstract There are over 40 lysosomal storage disorders, and most of these diseases affect adversely the central nervous system (CNS). The mainstay of treatment is enzyme replacement therapy (ERT). However, ERT is not effective for the brain, because the enzymes do not cross the brain capillary wall, which forms the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in vivo. ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The aim of this project is to develop a novel 'liquid array' platform, based on Encoded Sortable Particle (ESP) technology. ESPs are optically-encoded microfabricated particles that can be manipulated using magnetic force. They are manufactured on commercially available photolithographic equipment using efficient and robust techniques borrowed from the semi-con ...