Five teams receive Challenge Grants
In a fiercely competitive selection process, five research teams led by UB scientists have been awarded $3.6 million in federal Challenge Grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to carry out projects that could lead to benefits ranging from improved alcohol addiction treatment to less invasive ways to measure certain biomarkers in humans that, in high levels, may be indicative of poor health.
The NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research program, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 through the National Institutes of Health, is designed to use stimulus money to spur economic activity and innovative research. The NIH requested proposals in 15 broad scientific areas focusing on challenging biological, biomedical and behavioral research problems that agency officials believe will benefit from an influx of dollars. The program, which funds two years of research, drew more than 20,000 applications, just 840 of which had received awards as of early October.
The interdisciplinary nature of many projects the federal program will fund is indicative of progress the university is making on UB 2020, the long-range planning initiative that calls for researchers across UB to work together to solve problems.
“We will be able to use these funds to not only meet the goal of stimulating scientific inquiry, but also to use as a mechanism to stimulate the local economy through new hires and purchases,” says Jean Wactawski-Wende, vice provost for strategic initiatives and principal investigator on one of the federally supported projects.
The five UB Challenge Grant awardees will receive funding ranging from just over $400,000 to just under $1 million:
• Robert Rychtarik, senior research scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions (RIA), along with institute researchers Neil McGillicuddy and Christopher Barrick, received $994,778 to design and conduct a pilot clinical trial on an Internet-based training program to help women cope with a partner’s drinking problem. Nearly one in 20 adult women in the U.S. is married to or lives with an alcoholic or problem drinking partner. The Internet-based coping skills training may help remove social, economic and psychological barriers that can prevent individuals from seeking help in traditional treatment settings and lead to their improved health, less drinking by their partner and fewer negative effects on their children.
• Wactawski-Wende, professor and associate chair of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, received $954,397 to study whether inflammatory biomarkers such as cytokines—proteins that help regulate inflammation in humans—are found in saliva in levels correlating with amounts in blood. If so, cytokines, with high levels some may be indicative of poor health, could be measured using a non-invasive saliva test instead of a blood test. The project team includes colleagues in the School of Dental Medicine (Robert Genco, Frank Scannapieco) and the School of Public Health and Health Professions (Christopher Andrews, Richard Browne and Michael LaMonte), as well as partners at Boston University. The researchers will also explore the extent to which amounts of these biomarkers predict the onset and progression of periodontal disease and osteoporotic bone loss.
• Paul Stasiewicz, a RIA senior research scientist, received $757,330 to examine cognitive behavioral therapy, a treatment that has shown success in reducing alcohol dependence. Besides looking at the therapy’s impact on the acquisition and use of coping skills that prevent ongoing alcohol dependence, Stasiewicz and institute researcher Clara Bradizza will investigate its effects on four mechanisms hypothesized to reduce dependence: increasing self-confidence; reducing the positive expectancies of drinking; strengthening the therapeutic alliance between doctor and patient; and reducing negative emotional states that can deter successful treatment.
• Deborah Waldrop, associate professor of social work, received $451,157 to lead a study that will explore how, when and with whom older cancer patients communicate their concerns and needs, and how they decide to use services such as home care and hospice. Co-investigators include Mary Ann Meeker from the School of Nursing and a doctor from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Among other objectives, the research will seek to identify differences in decision-making between individuals suffering from different types of cancer who enroll in hospice and those who do not.
• Jerome Roth, professor of pharmacology and toxicology, received $426,471 to head a study examining the role of the parkin gene in regulating manganese neurotoxicity, a syndrome resembling Parkinson’s disease. Mutations in the parkin gene, a protein involved in the degradation of a variety of proteins, have been shown to lead to early onset of Parkinson’s disease. Roth’s preliminary evidence has demonstrated that such mutations also may be linked to increased susceptibility to developing manganese poisoning. His new study could help explain why exposure to high levels of manganese may predispose an individual to developing Parkinson’s disease.
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