Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Neuron-cell culture is widely used for studies in basic research, drug discovery, and toxicity testing. Traditional random cultures allow limited access to subcellular compartments (axons, dendrites, synapses) due to extensive and haphazard growth of neurons. Our long-term goal is to provide robust, user-friendly, and cost effective culture platforms that can o ...

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 ...

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 ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Crystallization, followed by subsequent structure determination, is a major step in understanding the structure- function relationship of macromolecules. Understanding macromolecule structure has become a key part in the development of new pharmaceuticals, and is a major area of NIH research. Crystallization however is also the rate limiting step, despite techn ...

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 ...

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 ...

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of factors that increases the risks for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and mortality, and currently affects andgt; 40% of US adults. MetS is associated with endothelial dysfunction, decreased circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), and a pro-inflammatory state. We have made the exciting discovery that therapy with allogeneic me ...

ABSTRACT SUMMARY In previous studies we identified novel non hematopoietic umbilical cord blood stem cellsnhUCBSCsthat could be expanded to high passages and exhibit restorative properties following ischemic brain injury repairWe found that the high passaged cells were equivalentif not even betterthan the low passaged nh UCBSCsThis finding suggests that these cells can serve as a source of highly ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sleep deprivation (SD) occurs universally in modern societies and causes significant social and financial harm. Numerous human and animal studies indicate that various forms of SD are deleterious to mental and physicalhealth. Therefore, SD has been recognized as an unmet challenge to public health. There is increased need to study the effects of different forms ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Resident assistants (RAs) are often the first staff members at a college or university to learn that a student is engaged in alcohol or other drug abuse. This Phase II STTR application seeks support to further develop and test a web-based program called RA Resources (RAR) - Alcohol-Drug Problems. Phase 5, Inc. will conduct this theory-driven research project ...