Loma Linda University's Office of Research and School of Medicine recently announced that five research teams have received internally funded grants for research that was intended to receive larger externally funded grants.
This award covers the Grants for Research and School Partnerships (GRASP) award and the Grants to Promote Collaborative and Translational Research (GCAT) award.
Loma Linda University Health has experienced a surge in external funding over the past few years, according to Dr. Michael Samardzija, vice president for research.
“We are committed to providing projects that Loma Linda Health University considers most promising to generate data for future externally funded grants that will help generate solutions to currently unmet medical needs.” We continue to invest in
The following teams won $75,000 (24 months) in prizes.
GRASP was awarded to Yan Chen Wongworawat, MD, and Minh Phuong Dong, MD, for their research on “Non-invasive prognostic biomarkers for oral cancer using RNA sequencing.” This project is a joint research between the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, and the Dental Research Center, School of Dentistry. This study aims to establish RNA sequencing of oral brush swab specimens as a highly accurate and viable alternative to tissue-based RNA analysis.
GRASP was awarded to Ahmed Hocht, MD, DDS, MSD, and Esther Wu, MD, for research on “The Impact of Bariatric Surgery on Periodontal Health.” This project aims to determine the impact of bariatric surgery on the restoration of periodontal inflammatory homeostasis. This project is a joint research project between the Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, and the Department of Periodontics, Faculty of Dentistry.
GCAT 2.0 was awarded to Julia Unternaehrer-Hamm, PhD, and Yevgeniya Ioffe, MD, for their project “Reversing Chemotherapy Resistance in Organoid and Patient-Derived Xenograft Models of Ovarian Cancer.” Their aim was to determine the relationship between chemoresistance and stemness and EMT, and the efficacy of treatments targeting key chemoresistance factors in preclinical models of recurrent ovarian cancer. Their long-term goal is to accelerate the development of novel treatments for EOC that target CSCs and sensitize chemotherapy-resistant tumors. This project is a joint research project between the School of Medicine's Department of Basic Science and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
GCAT was awarded to Mary Kearns Jonker, Ph.D., and David Rabkin, MD, for the project “Tissue Engineering for Cardiovascular Repair.” They plan to explore the possibility of accelerating the recovery of infarcted hearts by developing a new approach to create cardiovascular tissue-derived stem cell-seeded patches for placement at the infarcted site. This project is a collaboration between the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery and Thoracic Surgery and the Department of Pathology and Human Anatomy at the School of Medicine.
GCAT was awarded to Ciprian Gheorghe, MD, and David A. Hessinger, PhD, for the project “BK Channels as Potential Therapeutic Targets to Ameliorate the Effects of Intrauterine Hypoxia.”The purpose of their research is Identify potential therapeutic targets for intrauterine hypoxia (IUH), a major cause of fetal death and neonatal morbidity. This project is a collaboration between the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the School of Medicine and the Department of Basic Science.
