Womack hosts NIH Director Bertagnolli in Arkansas’ Third District

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Monica Bertagnolli, M.D., Flickr Image

Rogers, AR—October 23, 2024…Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) hosted National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Monica Bertagnolli, M.D., in the River Valley on Monday and in Northwest Arkansas on Tuesday. Congressman Womack, Director Bertagnolli, and Senator John Boozman (R-AR) visited medical organizations, gained a comprehensive understanding of the region’s medical needs, and saw the partnership between the NIH and local healthcare in action.

Congressman Womack said, “It’s important to bring Washington to Arkansas to ensure Third District Arkansans' needs are met and their voices are heard. I want leaders in our nation, such as Director Bertagnolli, to see the exciting medical research and advancements happening in the Third District while fully understanding the area’s healthcare needs. I’m grateful Director Bertagnolli took the opportunity to see firsthand the remarkable work of our local health providers, researchers, and partners. Senator Boozman and I look forward to a continued partnership with Director Bertagnolli to improve health outcomes for Arkansans.”

Director Bertagnolli said, “The entire community – academic institutions, public health departments, health care providers, businesses, and state and federal government – all play a critical role in making health better for everyone. It is so inspiring to see how Arkansas is working to address the needs of their communities on all fronts, and partnering to eliminate the extra health challenges this region is experiencing. I am so grateful to Congressman Womack and Senator Boozman for hosting me. I have learned so much and am eager to bring more health research to Arkansas. The talent and dedication I have witnessed here makes me sure that we will make tremendous progress.”

Senator Boozman said, “The collaboration in Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley as growing hubs for local and regional medical care as well as nationally recognized innovative research is a tremendous asset. NIH plays a critical role in funding this vital work through the grants and partnerships it supports that generate advanced treatments, cures and overall better outcomes in our communities. Congressman Womack and I were pleased to show Director Bertagnolli the impact of these investments and provide our medical professionals an opportunity to share their feedback directly with the leader of America’s premier health research organization.”

NIH awards Arkansas Children’s Research Institute $2.9 million for cystic fibrosis

by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $2.9 million to Arkansas Children’s Research Institute (ACRI) to examine how a critical therapy for patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) might become even more effective at treating the genetic respiratory illness.

The five-year study will be led by Dr. Jennifer S. Guimbellot, chief of Pediatric Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine at Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH) and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), where she also serves as an associate professor of Pediatrics.

CF is a progressive disorder that severely damages the lungs, digestive system and other organs by affecting cells that produce mucus, sweat and digestive juices. For decades, CF therapies focused on reducing the problems the condition caused and made it easier to live with the symptoms. Improvements in screening and treatments helped people with CF live into their 40s and 50s.

NIH awards Arkansas Children’s Research Institute $2.9 million for cystic fibrosis

Marius Nagalo, Ph.D., First at UAMS to Receive NIH New Innovator Award

By Marty Trieschmann

LITTLE ROCK — A researcher at the Winthrop P Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), Marius Nagalo, Ph.D., has received the prestigious New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Granted directly from the NIH Director’s Office “this award supports early career investigators of exceptional creativity who propose bold and highly innovative research projects with the potential to produce a major impact on broad, important areas relevant to the NIH mission,” according to the NIH.

Nagalo is the first UAMS researcher to receive the New Innovator Award from the NIH, joining an elite group of previous award recipients from Stanford University, Harvard, Cornell, MIT, Penn, Duke, Yale, and the Cleveland Clinic.

Marius Nagalo, Ph.D., First at UAMS to Receive NIH New Innovator Award

Marius Nagalo, Ph.D., (left) is the first UAMS researcher to receive the prestigious New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health. Image by Evan Lewis

NIH Awards UAMS $3.7 Million in Quest for More Effective Tuberculosis Vaccine

By David Robinson

LITTLE ROCK — UAMS researcher Lu Huang, Ph.D., has received a $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support his pursuit of a more effective tuberculosis (TB) vaccine, a feat that has eluded scientists for more than 100 years.

The five-year grant from the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will allow Huang to explore new ways to help the body fight TB based on his recent findings.

Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is the only approved vaccine available today and has been used since 1921. Although protective for children, its effectiveness when given to adults remains uncertain, and it is not commonly used in the United States.

NIH Awards UAMS $3.7 Million in Quest for More Effective Tuberculosis Vaccine

Lu Huang, Ph.D., center, with his lab team at UAMS (front, l-r): J. Tucker Andrews and Ananya Ranaraja; and (back): Grant Dawson and Jilliyn Jeu.

Arkansas Children’s Research Institute receives $3 million to study deadly fungus

by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

A pair of infectious disease experts are establishing an emerging research program at Arkansas Children’s Research Institute (ACRI) to address a germ considered to be the leading cause of death for patients with weakened immune systems.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have awarded grants worth more than $3 million to ACRI principal investigators Praveen Juvvadi and William Steinbach, who also serves as chief pediatrician at Arkansas Children’s and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine. Juvvadi is also an associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at UAMS.

Aspergillus fumigatus is a relatively common fungus found in the environment in places like decaying leaf litter. It is a leading cause of death among people with compromised immune systems, a population that includes children with chronic illnesses. The fungus’ mortality rate exceeds 40%. Health care teams have trouble fighting Aspergillus fumigatus because the germ adapts and becomes stronger against currently available treatments.

Arkansas Children’s Research Institute receives $3 million to study deadly fungus

National Institutes of Health Awards $31.7 Million to UAMS Translational Research Institute

By David Robinson

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Translational Research Institute announced today that it will receive $31.7 million to continue its role in a national effort to accelerate discoveries for the toughest health challenges facing Arkansans and people across the United States.

The funding by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) puts UAMS among an elite group of research centers. The highly competitive Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) goes to only about 60 research institutions nationwide.

“This award attests to the unique capabilities of UAMS researchers in advancing discoveries and treatments,” U.S. Sen. John Boozman said in a statement provided by his office. “The institute has helped put UAMS in position to conduct exceptional, innovative science that’s on par with the best research institutions in the country. We can be proud this outstanding work is occurring right here in our state to improve the lives of Arkansans and all Americans.”

National Institutes of Health Awards $31.7 Million to UAMS Translational Research Institute

UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, announced the UAMS Translational Research Institute's Clinical and Translational Science Award during a news conference Wednesday. Image by Evan Lewis

NIH Awards Additional $3.7 Million to UAMS to Continue Groundbreaking Research into High Blood Pressure

By Linda Satter

LITTLE ROCK — In a major boost to cardiovascular research, the National Institutes of Health has awarded an additional $3.7 million to Shengyu Mu, Ph.D., and his team of researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) to continue their groundbreaking study on the role of immune cells in hypertension.

Mu, an associate professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, was awarded an initial $1.89 million grant in 2019 to fund his laboratory’s exploration of the link between immune cells and hypertension, a widespread and serious health condition.

During that time, the team made substantial discoveries indicating that immune disorders contribute to high blood pressure, paving the way for the next phase of research.

NIH Awards Additional $3.7 Million to UAMS to Continue Groundbreaking Research into High Blood Pressure

NIH Awards UAMS $1.54 Million to Tackle Brittle Bone Disease

By David Robinson

LITTLE ROCK — A UAMS research team is using a $1.54 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support its goal of finding better treatments for osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), also known as brittle bone disease.

The four-year award from the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute will allow Roy Morello, Ph.D., and his interdisciplinary team to test whether lung abnormalities in OI patients can be treated separately from OI’s bone-related defects.

An estimated 25,000 to 50,000 people in the United States live with OI, a rare genetic disorder of connective tissues that has no cure. It is mainly caused by mutations in the genes responsible for producing Type I collagen, a protein that normally holds bones together and makes them strong. With inadequate collagen, bones become brittle and prone to fractures.

NIH Awards UAMS $1.54 Million to Tackle Brittle Bone Disease

Roy Morello, Ph.D., in his lab at UAMS.

UAMS Testing New Noninvasive Device for Diagnosing Fetal Heart Conditions

By David Robinson

Three grants in six months from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are helping University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) researcher Hari Eswaran, Ph.D., explore promising noninvasive methods for diagnosing serious fetal health conditions.

The grants total $4.4 million and support his pioneering work with sensor arrays that can reveal important functional details of fetal development in the later stages of pregnancy. The NIH grants are just part of Eswaran’s externally supported research, which totals $12.8 million in active funding.

https://news.uams.edu/2022/04/27/uams-testing-new-noninvasive-device-for-diagnosing-fetal-heart-conditions/

UAMS researcher Hari Eswaran, Ph.D., first will test the new optically-pumped magnetometer's effectiveness detecting fetal heart conditions. The noninvasive imaging technology will be tested in the future for its ability to reveal other important functional details of fetal development.

UAMS Receives $18.9 Million NIH Award to Address Health Disparities

By David Robinson

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has received $18.9 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support new research and interventions that will focus on reducing cancer and cardiovascular disease disparities among people who live in rural areas and African American populations across Arkansas.

The five-year award from the NIH National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) will support the establishment of the Center for Research, Health and Social Justice – one of only 11 Multiple Chronic Disease (MCD) Centers funded in the United States. Leading the grant are Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health faculty members Carol Cornell, Ph.D., a professor and chair of the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, and director of the NIMHD-funded Arkansas Center for Health Disparities, and Pebbles Fagan, Ph.D., MPH, a professor and director of the Center for the Study of Tobacco.

The overall goals of the center are to:

• Advance the science of chronic disease health disparities through multidisciplinary team science to improve cancer and cardiovascular outcomes.

• Facilitate research and training opportunities to strengthen the capacity of researchers and community members to develop interventions that reduce cancer and cardiovascular disease disparities using social justice principles.

• Support academic-community partnerships to address the root causes of chronic disease disparities among African Americans and in rural areas in the state.

https://news.uams.edu/2021/11/15/uams-receives-18-9-million-nih-award-to-address-health-disparities/

Members of the research team include, (back row, l-r) Keneshia Bryant-Moore, Ph.D., FNP-BC, RN, Pebbles Fagan, Ph.D., Carol Cornell, Ph.D., Linda Luster and Christina Hamilton; (front) Elizabeth Taylor, Theresa Prewitt, Dr.P.H., and Tiffany Haynes, Ph.D. Pictured separately are, from top: Mark Williams, Ph.D., Chris Long, Ph.D., and Mignonne Guy, Ph.D. (Virginia Commonwealth University).

$10.8 Million NIH Grant to Establish Metabolic Research Center

A $10.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will enable an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the U of A and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to address the role of cell and tissue metabolism in rare and common diseases such as cancer, diabetes, obesity and mitochondrial disorders.

The five-year award, funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, establishes the Arkansas Integrative Metabolic Research Center as an NIH-designated Center of Biomedical Research Excellence. The award recognizes the university’s unique combination of expertise in advanced imaging techniques, bioenergetics and data science.

“Our center will support important scientific contributions not only in specific biomedical fields associated with metabolic diseases, but also broader contemporary research on metabolism, exploring issues such as the sensitivity of mitochondrial biomarkers to explain the onset and progression of rare and common diseases,” said Kyle Quinn, associate professor of biomedical engineering. “Ultimately, the center will help cultivate a critical mass of researchers determined to solve multiple human health problems with metabolic underpinnings that have been particularly devastating in Arkansas and the southeastern United States, such as cancer, diabetes and obesity.”

https://biochemistry.uams.edu/2021/04/07/10-8-million-nih-grant-to-establish-metabolic-research-center/

Top row, from left: Kyle Quinn, director of Arkansas Integrative Metabolic Research Center and associate professor of biomedical engineering; Chenguang Fan, assistant professor of biochemistry; Shilpa Iyer, assistant professor of biological sciences; and Isabelle Racine Miousse, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Bottom row: Adam Paré, assistant professor of biological sciences; Narasimhan Rajaram, associate professor of biomedical engineering; Young Hye Song, assistant professor of biomedical engineering; and Justin Zhan, professor of computer science and computer engineering.