College of Medicine receives record National Institutes of Health funding

Faculty receive grants and contracts for innovative projects

Penn State College of Medicine researchers obtained more than $142 million in total research awards last fiscal year, securing the college’s position as the top-funded college at Penn State for the second consecutive year. The total includes nearly $78 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a new all-time record.

“I am exceptionally proud of our investigators for achieving this record level of support,” said Dr. Leslie Parent, vice dean for research and graduate studies. “NIH funding is one way to measure scientific competitiveness among medical schools due to the rigor and peer review process for awards. Our continued record-breaking NIH funding level speaks to both the groundbreaking research we are pursuing and the collaborative momentum of faculty, staff, students, postdoctoral scholars, residents and fellows. Together, we are doing great work to advance biomedical sciences.”

Between April and June 2022, College of Medicine researchers received 230 grants and contracts totaling $45.6 million for research. Faculty will address cardiovascular health disparities in rural areas, test a new therapeutic for brain cancers and work to understand immune responses in the contexts of pain management and inflammatory bowel disease.

Read more about 10 projects below.

Vernon Chinchilli, PhD

“Data coordinating center for the type 1 diabetes in acute pancreatitis consortium supplement”

Investigator: Vernon Chinchilli, PhD, distinguished professor and chair, Department of Public Health Sciences

Grant amount: $1,769,082 ($11,426,874 anticipated through March 2025)

Awarded by: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Goal: Penn State College of Medicine will serve as the data coordinating center for a clinical research trial that spans 10 medical centers. The researchers will investigate how magnetic resonance imaging, more commonly known as MRI, can be used to measure the development and progression of type 1 diabetes after acute pancreatitis.

Kenneth Lee, PhD

“Structure and function of polyamine transporters”

Investigator: Kenneth Lee, PhD, assistant professor of cellular and molecular physiology

Grant amount: $429,508 ($2,187,962 anticipated through April 2027)

Awarded by: National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Goal: Lee will use cryo-electron microscopy and other biophysical techniques to better understand how cells transport polyamines, molecules essential to many cellular processes. Studying how polyamines are transported in and out of cells will give researchers insight into possible therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases caused by mutations in proteins that mediate cellular polyamine homeostasis.

Jianhua Li, MD, PhD

“Exercise pressor reflex in peripheral artery disease: roles of flow limitation and reperfusion”

Investigator: Jianhua Li, MD, PhD, professor of medicine

Grant amount: $809,121 ($3,884,099 anticipated through June 2023)

Awarded by: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Goal: Peripheral artery disease is a condition that results in impaired blood flow to lower extremities. Li will study how a medication called amiloride can be used with exercise as a treatment for patients with peripheral artery disease.

Seyed Alireza Mansouri, MD

Neuro-pharmacological properties of repurposed posaconazole in glioblastoma: a phase 0 clinical trial”

Investigator: Seyed Alireza Mansouri, MD, assistant professor of neurosurgery

Grant amount: $70,423 ($140,846 anticipated through March 2024)

Awarded by: National Cancer Institute

Goal: Mansouri will launch a clinical trial to determine how a medication called posaconazole can be used to treat an aggressive and hard-to-treat type of brain tumor called high-grade gliomas.

Amanda Miller, PhD

“Angiotensin-(1-7) and beta-adrenergic receptor signaling in aging”

Investigator: Amanda Miller, PhD, postdoctoral scholar, Department of Neural and Behavioral Sciences

Grant amount: $105,980 ($211,960 anticipated through May 2023)

Awarded by: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Goal: As people age, their risk for high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease increases. Miller will use this competitive K99 funding from the National Institutes of Health to further study how a hormone in the body, angiotensin (Ang)-(1-7), can help improve age-related cardiovascular disease through a series of cellular, preclinical and clinical studies.

Jennifer Nyland, PhD

“Immune and neuroendocrine mediators of sex-differences in pain following traumatic burn injury”

Investigator: Jennifer Nyland, PhD, assistant professor of neural and behavioral sciences

Grant amount: $405,900 ($2,029,500 anticipated through April 2027)

Awarded by: National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Goal: Pain from traumatic burn injuries is severe, and recent evidence suggests that not only is burn-related pain currently undertreated, but that females report more severe pain overall and are more likely to experience chronic pain following traumatic burn injuries. Nyland will investigate whether immune responses in the development of pain are sex-specific with the goal of developing new targets and approaches for treating chronic pain from traumatic burn injuries.

Cayce Onks, DO, MS

“The use of micro-doppler radar to identify service members at risk for musculoskeletal injury: a gold standard comparison”

Investigator: Cayce Onks, DO, MS, associate professor of family and community medicine and of orthopaedics and rehabilitation

Grant amount: $1,499,996 anticipated through June 2026

Awarded by: U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command

Goal: Onks will investigate if it is possible to use micro-doppler radar technology to identify service members at risk for developing musculoskeletal injuries. The development of portable and low-cost technology would allow for limited injury preventative resources to be devoted to the highest-risk service members. This would reduce injury rates, saving the health system billions and could significantly increase service member availability for deployment.

Ian Paul, MD, MSc

Richard Legro, MD

“Early intervention to promote cardiovascular health of mothers and children in Northern Appalachia”

Investigators: Ian Paul, MD, MSc, professor of pediatrics and public health sciences, chief of the Division of Academic General Pediatrics; and Richard Legro, MD, Professor and University Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, professor of public health sciences

Grant amount: $663,593 ($5,956,671 anticipated through March 2029)

Awarded by: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Goal: Paul and Legro, in partnership with home visitation agencies in the Northern Appalachian region of Pennsylvania, will evaluate whether an intervention program can help improve cardiovascular health among high-risk mothers and young children during pregnancy and the first two years after delivery.

Iryna Pinchuk, PhD

“Targeting MK2 for Crohn’s disease”

Investigator: Iryna Pinchuk, PhD, associate professor of medicine

Grant amount: $1,461,237 anticipated through May 2026

Awarded by: U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command

Goal: Pinchuk will investigate how activation of MK2, a protein involved in inflammatory immune responses within cells known as CD90+ Fibroblasts, contributes to the progression of Crohn’s disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation of the digestive tract. In this multi-institutional proposal (including a partnership with Ellen Beswick, PhD, at the University of Utah), the potential of MK2 as a therapeutic target against Crohn’s disease will also be evaluated.

Clare Sample, PhD

“A rabbit model of Epstein-Barr virus infection”

Investigator: Clare Sample, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology

Grant amount: $242,118 ($443,603 anticipated through May 2023)

Awarded by: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Goal: The lack of a biologically accurate animal model of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection has long hampered efforts to fully understand the complex lifecycle of this potentially cancer-causing human herpesvirus, and for the development of antiviral drugs and vaccines with which to treat or prevent EBV-associated disease. Sample will expand on previous work supporting the laboratory rabbit as a model of EBV infection and assess whether key components of EBV infection in its human host are comparable to those in the rabbit, thus validating the utility of this animal model.

Other awards

• See grant highlights from previous months here.
• See details on grants awarded to the College of Medicine from 2017 to present here.

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