FY15 Intramural Grants Program grantees announced

The Division of Research & Innovation
FY2015 Intramural Grants Program

The Division of Research and Innovation is pleased to announce its grantees
for the Intramural Grants Program for Fiscal Year 2015. This program is
designed to advance and accelerate the research programs of UNTHSC faculty
members and doctoral students. These
intramural grants support pilot studies, data collection, data analyses and
other research activities that will likely result in extramural grant support,
enable the development of external partnerships, and/or enhance the commercial
potential of UNT Health Science Center discoveries.

Faculty Research Pilot Grants were awarded to the following Principal Investigators:

Video-Observed Therapy as a Means to Deliver
Cost-Effective, Patient-Centered Latent Tuberculosis Treatment.
Erin Carlson, PhD, Assistant Professor,
Department of Health Management and Policy

Ultrasound as an Alternative
Therapeutic Option for Lupus.
Keisa
W. Mathis, PhD
, Assistant Professor, Department of Integrative Physiology
and Anatomy

The Role of Posterior Tibial Slope in
Achieving Physiological Patellofemoral Kinematics and Cruciate Strain in
Cruciate Retaining vs. Constraining Implant Designs.
Russell Wagner, MD, Associate Professor and Vice Chairman,
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

Effects of Acute Muscle Fatigue on
Postural Control in Persons with Parkinson Disease.
Evan Papa, DPT, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Physical
Therapy

Potential Therapeutic Benefits of
Remote Ischemic Preconditioning vs. Occlusive Exercise ? An Acute Study.
Caroline Rickards, PhD, Assistant
Professor, Department of Integrative Physiology and Anatomy

A Novel Approach for Providing
Neighborhood Level and Personalized Air Quality Data.
David
Sterling, PhD
, CIH, Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational
Health Sciences

Glycomic and Transcriptomic
Alterations at Single-Cell Level During Senescence.
Yu-Chieh (Jack) Wang, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of
Pharmaceutical Sciences

Inhibition of HIF-1a Downregulates
Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition without Undermining Cell Survival in
Hypoxic Lens Epithelial Cells
Patrick
R. Cammarata, PhD
, Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Immunology

Redox Status of HMGB1 Mediates
Immunity to Listeria Monocytogenes.
Rance
Berg, PhD
, Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Immunology

A Novel Prodrug Approach to Deliver
TRH into the Brain.
Katalin Prokai,
PhD
, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience

A Novel Approach to Target Survivin
Gene Expression in Medulloblastoma.
Umesh
T. Sankpal
, PhD, Research
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics

Epigenetic Regulation of
Glaucoma-Associated Factors in the Trabecular Meshwork.
Weiming Mao, PhD, Assistant Professor,
Department of Cell Biology and Immunology

Faculty Research Pilot Grants were also awarded to the collaborative
projects between the Autonomous University of State of Mexico (UAEM) and UNTHSC
for the following Principal Investigators from UNTHSC:

Delivery of Radioactive Imaging Agents
by Reconstituted High Density Lipoproteins (rHDL). Validation of the rHDL/Drug
Delivery Model by Nuclear Molecular Imaging.
Andras G. Lacko, PhD, Professor, Department of Integrative
Physiology and Anatomy

Hydrogel-Polymer Nanocomposite-Based
Targeted Delivery for Pancreatic Cancer Therapy.
Jamboor K. Vishwanatha, PhD, Professor, Department of Molecular and
Medical Genetics

Doctoral Student Bridge Grants were awarded to the following PhD students
and their mentors
:

Store-operated Ca2+ entry and Renal
Protection in Diabetic Nephropathy.
Sarika
Chaudhari
, Department of
Integrative Physiology and Anatomy, Dr.
Rong Ma
, Mentor.

Thymic
Involution Perturbs Negative Selection Leading to Autoreactive T Cells That
Induce Chronic Age-related Inflammation,
Brandon Coder, Department of Cell
Biology and Immunology, Dr. Dong-Ming Su,
Mentor.

Quantitative
Proteomic Investigation of Estrogenic Endocrine-Disrupting Effects in the Rat
Uterus
, Fatima Sahyouni, Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Dr. Laszlo Prokai, Mentor.

ASIC
Modulators that Influence GABA-A rho-1 Receptor Activity
, Heather Snell,
Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Dr. Eric B. Gonzales, Mentor.

“Untitled”, Amruta S. Agharkar,
Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Dr. Eric B. Gonzales,
Mentor.

Novel Organic
Fluorophores for Biomedical Applications
, Rahul Chib, Department of Cell Biology
and Immunology, Dr. Zygmunt Gryczynski,
Mentor.

Mechanisms
by which Estradiol (E2) Suppress Neuronal Cox-2 Expression
, Winfred Stacey, Department of
Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Dr.
Rosalie Uht
, Mentor.

Glucocorticoid
Receptor Mediated Regulation of CHR Gene
, Shreyas Bhave, Department of
Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Dr.
Rosalie Uht
, Mentor.

Questions or Inquiries should be directed to:

Aurelio Rodriguez
Research Funding Development Manager
Office: CBH-207
Phone: 817-735-7649

Aurelio.Rodriguez@unthsc.edu