Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Despite advances in the development of HIV drugs there remains a need for new therapies. Toxicities associated with long term use of many of the approved HIV drugs coupled with the development of resistance drives the need for new and novel antivirals. Maturation inhibitors (MIs) represent one such class of HIV therapies. HIV maturation inhibitors block virus r ...

Progressive muscle weakness and degeneration is a hallmark of Duchenne muscular dystrophyDMDIn DMD patientsthe lack of dystrophin reduces muscle fiber structural integritymaking muscles vulnerable to persistent injury and damageRepairing these damaged muscles requires the continual activation of muscle stem cellsmuSCwhich leads to muSC dysfunction and senescenceand ultimately the muscle degenerati ...

Project Summary AbstractUpwards ofmillion individuals are afflicted by chronic pain in the US alonewithmillion of these individuals suffering from neuropathic painOn a global scalechronic pain affectsbillion individualswithwho endure lower back painFrom a clinical perspectivethe International Association for the Study of Pain approximates thatinpatients present with painand on an annual basisinpat ...

Project Summary Occidiofungins (A-D) are cyclic nonribosomally synthesized antifungal peptides with submicromolar fungicidal activity against a broad spectrum of fungi. Optimization of the production and isolation of occidiofungins from liquid cultures has been performed. The production and isolation of predominantly one analog, called occidiofungin B (OCF001), supports its commercial development ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long term objective of this project is to enable elderly persons to independently live within their own homes later into their lives with the assurance that their safety and well-being can be remotely monitored by health care professionals. A critical component of remote health care monitoring is physically tracking the location of the patient within a livi ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this project is to develop and evaluate a position tracking and mobility assessment system that will enable the elderly to live longer and more safely at home or in an assisted living facility. The ability to move is a critical function tat underlies the quality of life for the elderly. Changes in mobility such as speed of walking have been shown to ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Menopause is associated with about a 10-15 pound weight gain and a redistribution of fat to the abdomen. The increase in abdominal fat, also known as visceral fat is known to produce cytokines that cause inflammation which can lead to the metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome represents a major public health burden because it increases the risk of cardiova ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In this small business technology transfer research (STTR) program, Omega Optics and the University of Texas at Austin propose to develop a planar lightwave circuit based surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectrometer for single molecule detection. The sensitivity of the SERS spectrometer comes from the 5-nm gap between gold nanowires, which can achieve ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Congenital cardiovascular defects, specifically single ventricle abnormalities, constitute the most common cause of death among infants born with birth defects. Even after surgically rerouting the single ventricle circulation via the Fontan procedure, the circulation in these patients relies on blood flowing passively through the lungs. Thus, this group of pati ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Since its introduction in the 1960's, fluorescein angiography (FA) has been the gold standard for retinal vascular diagnosis. However, FA is costly, invasive, and time-consuming, which limits its usefulness as a screening tool. As a potential non-invasive alternative to FA for diagnosing retinovascular disease, we have developed an imaging method called ph ...