UNMC received $12 million in federal research grants during the third quarter of fiscal year 2002-03. The third quarter includes the months of January, February and March. Total research funding for the year is now $38.8 million – a 9 percent increase over last year’s record-breaking $35.7 million after three quarters.
“It is very gratifying to see the continuing outstanding success of venerable UNMC investigators such as Ercole Cavalieri and Tim Baxter; and the impressive development of newer UNMC investigators like Keith Johnson and Dhirendra Singh,” said Thomas Rosenquist, Ph.D., vice chancellor for research for UNMC. “This kind of mix will assure the success of the Research Strategic Plan for growth of the UNMC research enterprise.”
Twenty-five investigators received grants worth $100,000 or more in the third quarter. Among the highlights:
Ercole Cavalieri, D.Sc., professor and director of the University of Nebraska Center for Environmental Toxocology, received a Breast Cancer of Excellence award of $1,538,505 from the Department of Defense. His studies have determined that breast cancer is initiated by the reaction of one specific estrogen derivative with DNA. This important finding has led the research team to devise strategies for preventing breast cancer initiation by preventing this reaction. In addition, the project deals with the identification of biomarkers that reveals susceptibility to cancer initiation.
Keith Johnson, Ph.D., professor in the department of oral biology in the College of Dentistry, received $341,775 to study aspects of oral squamous cell carcinoma, a type of head and neck cancer. Cancers of the head and neck often result in patient morbidity because treatment frequently causes obvious cosmetic changes or negatively impacts basic functions such as swallowing or speech. Oral squamous cell carcinomas are invasive, and the research is trying to understand why the cells become invasive. Alterations in how a cell recognizes and adheres to its neighbors contribute to the cell’s ability to migrate through underlying tissue. The research focuses on cadherins, a family of proteins that mediate cell to cell adhesion.
Lani Zimmerman, Ph.D., chairperson of the department of adult health and illness in the College of Nursing, received $338,100 to test the effectiveness of a home health device in improving the management of symptoms in older patients following coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The experimental group uses the Health Buddy, a small communication device that attaches to the phone line, like a telephone answering machine. The device delivers personalized health care information and questions to patients. Patients use the device for six weeks. Researchers are testing the effectiveness of the Health Buddy to monitor and manage symptoms, as well as potential complications, by comparing each group’s physical and social functioning, and problems encountered after surgery. They also will measure the number of visits to seek health care, including re-hospitalization, as well as patient satisfaction.
Dhirendra Singh, Ph.D., associate professor in the department of ophthalmology, received $294,000 to study the eye lens. Dr. Singh studies the eye lens because it represents one of the best biological systems, with its unique structural and metabolic features, to study the mechanism of aging. The epithelial cells covering the anterior region of the lens survive a lifetime, but the survival mechanism isn’t understood. Human bodies are exposed routinely to oxidizing chemicals and radiation from the environment, as well as metabolic by-products, that can damage DNA and proteins over the life span of the cell. Such damage may contribute to cell death, tissue injury, promote aging and is implicated in many chronic degenerative human diseases, including age-related cataracts – a very important disease of the aging population in the U.S. and worldwide. His investigation has discovered two proteins, Lens Epithelium-Derived Growth Factor (LEDGF) and Antioxidant Protein 2 (AOP2). This important finding may lead to develop strategies in postponing the aging or age related degenerative disorders.
Yuri Persidsky, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the department of pathology/microbiology, received $294,000 to study the role of brain microvascular cells (cells at the interface between blood and brain tissue) in the infiltration of the brain by white blood cells (leukocytes). It is believed that the accumulation of HIV-1 infected leukocytes in the brain and their production of neurotoxic substances are responsible for the HIV-1 associated dementia seen in patients with AIDS. The final goal of these studies is to develop new treatments for HIV-1 brain infection, targeting leukocyte migration into the brain.
Tim Baxter, M.D., professor in the department of surgery, received $203,523 to investigate the factors that lead to formation and progression of aortic aneurysms. Aortic aneurysms are a ballooning of the main artery in the abdomen. Rupture and bleeding from aneurysms is the 13th leading cause of death in the United States. Aneurysms are very common – affecting 2 percent of individuals over age 65 – but they are a silent killer as there are no symptoms present until the rupture occurs. Aortic aneurysms run in families and are usually detected by X-rays taken for other medical conditions. Research has shown that doxycycline, the well-known antibiotic, inhibits aneurysm development in an animal model. Doxycycline has the unusual property of blocking two enzymes important to aneurysm development and may be a possible medication to inhibit the growth of small aneurysms in patients.