November 14, 2008

Drexel University College of Medicine has announced the research projects which will receive funding from the College’s portion of Pennsylvania’s tobacco settlement funds. Eight awards were made from 38 applications after a rigorous internal review process. They include projects in a variety of research areas such as cancer, Alzheimer's Disease and HIV. The review panel conducted the evaluation according to the procedures used by the National Institutes of Health. The following is a list of the Drexel University College of Medicine awardees:

Drexelmed Interdisciplinary Program Initiative

Identification of Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets in 3D Hypoxic Breast Cancer
Principal Investigator: Greg Johannes, PhD, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Co-investigators: Fernando Garcia, MD (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine), Mauricio Reginato, PhD (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)

Drexelmed Translation Foundation Grants

Role of the Inflammasome in Early Systemic Sclerosis Dermal Lesions
Principal Investigator: Carol Artlett, PhD, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Co-investigator: Peter Katsikis, MD, PhD (Microbiology and Immunology)

Developing Therapies for Treating Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia
Principal Investigator: Peter Baas, PhD, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy
Co-investigator: Terry Heiman-Patterson, MD (Neurology)

Role of CTF18 in Female Germ Cell Development and Fertility
Principal Investigator: Karen Berkowitz, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

A Novel Microfluidic-Platform Liver Model System for Testing Drug Toxicity
Principal Investigator: Michael Bouchard, PhD, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Co-investigator: Moses Noh, PhD (COE: Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics)

Role of OGT as a Biomarker and Therapeutic Target for Prostate Cancer
Principal Inestigator: Mauricio Reginato, PhD, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Co-investigators: Keith Vosseller, PhD (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology); Fernando Garcia, MD (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine); Greg Johannes, PhD (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine)

RNA-interference Based Therapy for HIV-1 Associated Neuropathy
Principal Investigator: Laura Steel, PhD, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Co-investigator: Michele Kutzler, PhD (Medicine: Infectious Diseases)
Collaborator: Jeffrey Jacobson, MD (Medicine: Infectious Diseases)

Somatostatin Signaling in Alzheimer's Disease
Principal Investigator: Melanie Tallent, PhD, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology