Announcements

Funding Opportunity – Pepper Center Pilot & Exploratory Studies Core RFA          “Integrating pathways affecting physical function for new approaches to disability treatment and prevention”          Eligibility: Basic science and clinical research projects are encouraged from investigators at Wake Forest Reynolda or Med Center campuses, and can include collaborations with investigators within legacy Atrium Health and other institutions, particularly those with Pepper Centers.          Overall Objective: to promote translational research to assess biological, behavioral, cognitive, genomic, metabolic, and other factors which contribute to age-related physical function decline, or progression to disability.          Major Goal: development and testing in clinical/re-clinical studies of novel interventions targeting age-related decline in physical function to prevent/reverse progression to disability.          Due date: LOI – July 16th     Application – August 27th          Funding: $25,000 for one year with the potential for a partial or full 2nd year.          Additional info:  contact Dr. Tom Register register@wakehealth.edu      Dr. Dalane Kitzman dkitzman@wakehealth.edu      Dr. Jingzhong Ding  jding@wakehealth.edu      Abby Archer aarcher@wakehealth.edu (admin inquiries & LOI)

Pfizer Announce a Quality Improvement Grant RFP – NSCLC Biomarker Testing    Oncology – Lung – Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)    Projects that will be considered are Quality Improvement initiatives that analyze and improve biomarker testing practices in NSCLC.    For patients diagnosed with metastatic NSCLC, sub-optimal biomarker testing practices continue to exist. A high percentage of patients are initiated on therapy before the care team receives the results of a comprehensive biomarker testing panel. For some patients, standardized biomarker tests are not performed at all.    Grant support is available to cancer centers or hospitals interested in forming multi-disciplinary teams to analyze their own testing practices and identify areas of improvement using Quality Improvement (QI) methodology such as root cause analysis, Plan do Study Act (PDSA) cycles, etc.    Funding: up to $150K will be considered.    Due date: June 23rd    Full info link: https://cdn.pfizer.com/pfizercom/2021-04/GMG_2021-Oncology_NSCLCBiomarkerTesting.pdf?VersionId=exNTa5CWbfSlkItd_Dtc130bGEjIWbMj

NIAAA – RFA – Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (CIFASD) Research Project          RFA-AA-21-010          Funding opportunity purpose: The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) seeks applications to continue the previously funded “Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders” (CIFASD). Responsive applications are expected to address urgent and important unmet needs in the fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) field through an integrated and multidisciplinary research approach. These unmet needs include identifying FASD cases early and accurately, improving interventions to mitigate FASD outcomes; expanding basic and mechanistic understanding of alcohol teratogenesis aimed at accelerated translation, and reducing prenatal alcohol exposure and the incidence of FASD. Cooperative Agreement (U01) applications in response to this FOA should propose individual clinical or basic research projects.          Due date: LOI – July 16th         Application – August 16th          NIAAA has committed $4.6 million in total costs to fund this FOA and its companions.  Up to eight U01 applications are expected to be funded. A maximum project period is 5yrs.          Full info link: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-AA-21-010.html

NHGRI – RFA – Non-Human Primate Developmental Genotype-Tissue Expression (NHP dGTEx) Project (U24 Clinical trials not allowed)    RFA-HG-21-026    The purpose of this funding opportunity is to solicit applications for the Non-Human Primate Developmental Genotype-Tissue Expression (NHP dGTEx) Research Center. The NHP dGTEx Research Center will perform four major functions: 1) create a tissue resource of multiple reference tissues across developmental stages in non-human primates (NHPs); 2) perform transcriptome sequencing and other genomic analysis of single-cell and bulk tissues; 3) analyze gene expression patterns in NHPs and compare them to human gene expression patterns; and 4) make the tissue samples and data available and usable for the research community.    Due date:  LOI – July 1st      Application – August 2nd    Funding: NHGRI and partners are commiting $3.5M per year to fund 1-2 awards.  Five year project periods.    Full info link: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-HG-21-026.html

List of All Foundation, Pilot, NIH Funding Opportunities https://mailchi.mp/wakehealth.edu/8yng942go6-8247762?e=9122ea0f40

Upcoming Events

CDOM June Seminar Date/Time:     Monday, June 7th (4 pm) Speaker:         Chia-Chi Chuang Key, PhD – Assistant Professor, Molecular Medicine Title:               “New Players in Cellular Lipid Accumulation” Webex info:    https://wakehealth.webex.com/wakehealth/j.php?MTID=m2c9a819e6c5aea212e22827b3e83f6a9 Meeting #: 161 799 4901 Passcode: 6MeehrKuC25

Cancer Biology- Seminar Date/Time:     Tuesday, June 8th (10 am) Speaker:         Dan Zhao, PhD – Fellow-Watabe Lab Title:               “Exosomal miR-1304 promotes breast cancer progression in African Americans by activating cancer-associate adipocytes” Webex info:    https://wakehealth.webex.com/wakehealth/j.php?MTID=mcfbbdf13b274693d58ae7eebe8cb0e19 [wakehealth.webex.com]

Geriatric Journal Club Date/Time:     Wednesday, June 9th (1:00 – 2:00 pm) Speakers:        Rachel Martin, MD – Geriatric Medicine Fellowship, PGY-4 “Multicomponent behavioral intervention to reduce exposure to anticholinergics in primary care older adults” https://agsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jgs.17121  

Charles Semelka, MD – Geriatric Medicine Fellowship, PGY-4 “Potential reversal of epigenetic age using a diet and lifestyle intervention: a pilot randomized clinical trial” https://www.aging-us.com/article/202913/text Zoom info:      https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85743543043?pwd=SXNFQ0tDa3lwSlpteWlXYVlNUHVTZz09 Meeting ID: 857 4354 3043 Passcode:  694140

Recent Publications

DiBiase RM, Salas RME, Gamaldo CE, Nutakki A, Elicer I, Attarian Hp, Kapembwa KC, Strowd RE, Tackett S, Saylor DR. Training in Neurology: Implementation and Evaluation of an Objective Structured Clinical Examination Tool for Neurology Post-graduate Trainees in Lusaka, Zambia. Neurology. 2021 Apr 30;10.1212/WNL.0000000000012134. [Online ahead of print] PMID: 33931541. https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0000000000012134  

Walker SJ, Wagoner AL, Leavitt D, Mack DL. A simplified approach for derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells from Epstein-Barr virus immortalized B-lymphoblastoid cell lines. Heliyon. 2021 Apr 3;7(4):e06617. PMCID: PMC8047170.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc8047170/  

Kinciad HJ, *Nagpal R, Yadav H. Diet-Microbiota-Brain Axis in Alzheimer’s Disease. Ann Nutr Metab. 2021 Apr 27;1-7. [Online ahead of print] PMID: 33906194. https://doi.org/10.1159/000515700  

*Wang L, Ahn YJ, Asmis R. Inhibition of myeloid HDAC2 upregulates glutaredoxin 1 expression, improves protein thiol redox state and protects against high-calorie diet-induced monocyte dysfunction and atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis. 2021 May 25;328:23-32. [Online ahead of print] PMID: 34077868. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2021.05.002  

Pan X-F, Yang JJ, Shu X-O, Moore SC, Palmer ND, Guasch-Ferre M, Herrington DM, Harada S, Eliassen H, Wang TJ, Gerszten RE, Albanes D, Tzoulaki I, Karaman I, Elliott P, Zhu H, Wagenknecht LE, Zheng W, Cai H, Cai Q, Matthews CE, Menni C, Meyer KA, Lipworth LP, Ose J, Fornage M, Ulrich CM, Yu D. Associations of circulating choline and its related metabolites with cardiometabolic biomarkers: an international pooled analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2021 May 21;nqab 152. [Online ahead of print] PMID: 3402044.  

CPM Faculty Member Highlights

The Rahbar Lab: Engineering Solutions for Critically Injured Patients in Emergency Medicine & Trauma Surgery

The mission of the Rahbar Lab (a.k.a. The “E.R.” Lab) at Wake Forest is to understand the highly dynamic and complex responses to traumatic injuries, with the ultimate goal to discover and deliver improved treatments and management strategies for the critically injured. Our lab has a special interest in the areas of hemorrhagic shock & resuscitation, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and concussions, and acute lung injury (ALI). We are able to characterize the acute inflammatory, thrombotic and metabolic physiologic responses to traumatic injuries via the serial collection of blood, urine and/or tissue samples from trauma patients and/or animal models. Exploiting longitudinal statistical analysis methods, we have been able to not only characterize the temporal patterns of change after injury, but also use this data to develop new predictive algorithms for triaging trauma patients. Most recently, we have begun to investigate the effect of genetic variants and omega-3 fatty acid metabolism on the downstream inflammatory and thrombotic path340ways to identify new personalized adjuvant nutritional support to improve patient outcomes. This work is currently being expanded into 3D tissue culture models that will allow for the probing of specific SNP-diet interactions within the tissue microenvironment. Dr. Rahbar is the recipient of a K25 from NHLBI and is the Co-PI of the NSF REU program in Biomedical Engineering. She is actively seeking new collaborations to expand her work on the role of fatty acids on inflammatory and thrombotic events, particularly within the context of acute lung injury (ALI) and traumatic brain injury (TBI).