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Projects
Projects 2011 - 2012 | Coulter RoPe Funds | Previous Years' Projects Coulter Funded Projects 2011 - 2012
Kimberly A. Kelly, PhD, Asst. Professor of Biomedical Engineering Pancreatic cancer has the shortest survival duration of any solid cancer with an estimated 1-year survival rate of 25% and a 5-year survival rate of only 6%. Early detection and complete surgical resection offers the best hope for longer survival for the 43,000 newly diagnosed patients every year. Unfortunately, there are currently no suitable blood tests or other techniques for early detection. Thus, pancreatic cancer is revealed at an advanced stage in most patients and only 10-15% of patients are eligible for surgery. In previous work, we have identified plectin-1 as a novel biomarker for pancreatic cancer and have discovered a novel peptide that specifically recognized plectin-1 in pancreatic cancers, allowing detection of these tumors with imaging. The objective of our study is to develop a plectin-1-based blood test for pancreatic cancer to aid in early detection.
John Herr, PhD, Biomedical Engineering and Cell Biology Over 22,000 women die from ovarian or uterine cancer in the United States every year. Cancer egg cell biomarkers are gene products that are expressed in various tumors (but among healthy tissue are found only in female germ cells) and may present a remarkable opportunity for tumor diagnosis and treatment. There remains lack of definitive diagnostic tests for ovarian and uterine cancers and poor prognosis for patients with these diseases (46% and 71%, respectively). SAS1R, a model cancer egg cell biomarker, offers a potential diagnostic target for earlier diagnosis of these cancers. This study will explore the tumor biology of SAS1R and attempt to develop a SAS1R-based diagnostic test for ovarian and uterine cancers.
John A. Hossack, PhD, Biomedical Engineering Spinal anesthesia and diagnostic procedures, including epidurals and spinal taps, are common medical practices performed primarily to diagnose disease and alleviate pain. Over 2 million epidurals are performed annually to women giving birth alone. The current standard of care, called the manual or "blind approach," is associated with failure rates as high as 40% over all cases, and more than 70% in obese patients. It is well known that the prevalence of obesity is increasing significantly within the U.S. and in the developing world. These failures can result in significant health complications and thus, increased non-reimbursable costs to healthcare providers. As a result, fluoroscopy has been increasingly used to replace the blind approach; however, this procedure has become a leading cause of a cumulative radiation dose in the United States. Given the health risks and increased costs associated with current treatment options, there exists a need for advances in medical equipment to increase efficacy and safety and reduce costs for these procedures. In this proposal, we address this clinical need by developing a hand-carried ultrasound device for 3D bone imaging.
Paul A. Yates, MD, PhD, Department of Ophthalmology Diabetes and associated diseases are potentially blinding and impair the vision of over 10.7 million diabetic patients in the U.S. It has been increasingly recognized that eye screening within the primary care clinic is critical for early prevention. However, there are significant cost barriers associated with the purchase of an eye camera that has been extremely prohibitive to establishing a nationwide screening network. The proposed end-stage translational research project aims to bring-to-market a novel, lower-cost retinal camera technology that can be used by primary care physicians to screen for eye disease.
Craig H. Meyer, PhD, Associate Professor, Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology Every year, 795,000 patients suffer from a stroke and 22,340 are diagnosed with brain tumors in the United States. The evaluation of blood flow to the brain has gained significant importance in the modern care of stroke and brain tumor patients. Currently, blood flow is routinely assessed by CT and MRI imaging. In stroke patients, this information is used to characterize brain tissue health, guide blood flow recovery therapies, and predict the onset of hemorrhage. In brain tumor patients, the imaging information is used to characterize cancer growth and used to monitor the response of therapies. However, routine characterization with these techniques involves imaging with the aid of contrast agents, which are detrimental to patients with kidney problems. Arterial spin labeling can measure blood flow without the use of a contrast agent. This proposal will use arterial spin labeling to characterize blood flow to the brain to assess its effectiveness on diagnosing strokes and brain tumors.
Edward Botchwey, PhD,Biomedical Engineering An estimated 128 million individuals, or one in three Americans, could benefit from regenerative medicine involving stem cells. These stem cells may be donated from one patient and transplanted into another to assist in the treatment of brain injury, Type 1diabetes, and cardiovascular damage. In the past 10 years, over 20,000 stem cell transplantations have been made from umbilical cord blood. However, donor engraftment remains an impediment to successful outcomes, particularly among adult patients. The overall objective of this proposal is to manipulate the cell receptors of bone marrow to increase the attachment of umbilical cord-derived stem cells. An increased adhesion of these stem cells to marrow may result in a more successful engraftment. These pre-clinical laboratory studies will be conducted to set the basis for a subsequent FDA investigational new drug application beyond this grant.
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