College of Medicine receives record research funding

During the past fiscal year, Penn State College of Medicine received a historic number of research awards — more than $73 million in funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and more than $154 million in total research awards.

“This milestone, reached despite a global pandemic, reflects the commitment of our faculty, staff and trainees to improving human health through discoveries,” said Dr. Leslie Parent, vice dean for research and graduate studies. “I am proud of everyone who contributed to this effort.”

Between April and June, researchers received more than 219 awards totaling more than $50.4 million. Read more about 13 NIH-funded projects below.

Amy Arnold, PhD

Angiotensin-(1-7) and hypothalamic control of blood pressure

Investigator: Amy Arnold, PhD, assistant professor of neural and behavioral sciences

Grant amount: $409,324 ($2,213,946 anticipated through March 2026)

Awarded by: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Goal: Obesity is a global health problem that greatly increases the risk for developing hypertension, or high blood pressure. An important contributor to obesity-related hypertension is excessive sympathetic nervous system activity that affects cardiovascular organs. Arnold will determine if the hormone angiotensin-(1-7) provides cardiovascular protection in obesity by engaging brain circuits to reduce sympathetic outflow and blood pressure.

Dara Babinski, MA, PhD

Testing a biosocial model of borderline personality features in youth

Investigator: Dara Babinski, MA, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral health

Grant amount: $164,314 ($459,740 anticipated through June 2023)

Awarded by: National Institute of Mental Health

Goal: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with social dysfunction and suicidal behavior and requires psychological treatment. Although traditionally diagnosed in adulthood, data suggest that the origins of BPD may arise in childhood through commonly diagnosed mental health disorders in children like depression, anxiety and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Babinski will conduct a study of adolescent girls to better understand the biology behind BPD features in youth. Her results will be used to develop strategies for assessing BPD features in youth with the goal of identifying those with a high risk for developing the disorder.

Michelle Desir, PhD

Beneficial or fostering future struggles (B.F.F.s) characterizing the role of friends in the developmental trajectory of maltreated adolescents

Investigator: Michelle Desir, PhD, postdoctoral fellow

Grant amount: $69,841 ($134,855 anticipated through April 2023)

Awarded by: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Goal: Research shows that friendship plays an important part in adolescent development. Yet, little information is available about the friendships of maltreated adolescents, who have experienced harm, often by their primary caregivers, in the form of abuse and/or not having their basic needs met for food, clothing, shelter, education or medical care. Desir will identify how maltreated and non-maltreated adolescents’ friendships differ and whether friendships can have a positive influence on maltreated adolescents’ lives.

Negative regulation of innate immune signaling pathways by the selective autophagy receptor TAX1BP1

Investigator: Edward Harhaj, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology

Grant amount: $411,599 ($3,152,135 anticipated through May 2026)

Awarded by: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Goal: Innate immune responses are the body’s first line of defense against disease-causing bacteria, viruses and microorganisms called pathogens. As cells respond to pathogens, a series of signals initiate immune responses that can lead to inflammation when triggered and must be tightly regulated to avoid too much inflammation, which can cause tissue damage. Harhaj will study how a specific protein regulates innate immune signaling.

Leslie Parent, MD

Role of biomolecular condensates in regulating HIV-1 viral ribonucleoprotein complex formation in the setting of substance use disorder

Investigator: Leslie Parent, MD, associate vice president for health sciences research; vice dean for research and graduate studies; professor of medicine

Grant amount: $188,360 ($360,238 anticipated through April 2023)

Awarded by: National Institute on Drug Abuse

Goal: HIV and AIDS has resulted in over 35 million deaths across the globe. A compelling, ongoing need exists to develop novel treatment strategies to combat the continuing emergence of drug-resistant viral strains. Parent’s lab studies the role of a protein called Gag, acts as an escort for genetic material when the HIV virus replicates in cells. Therapeutics targeting Gag protein’s interaction with viral genetic material has not yet been developed. Parent and an interdisciplinary research team will use methods in biophysics, genetics, state-of-the-art live cell imaging and targeted drug interventions to better understand how Gag protein and viral genetic material form complexes during the replication process with the goal of identifying new drug targets, particularly examining how substance use disorder affects these biological interactions.

Anirban Paul, PhD, MSc

Cell-type specific risk and resilience in Alzheimer’s disease and aging

Investigator: Anirban Paul, PhD, MSc, assistant professor of neural and behavioral sciences

Grant amount: $2,194,586 anticipated through April 2024

Awarded by: National Institute on Aging

Goal: Alzheimer’s disease shows distinct progressive biological and behavioral hallmarks but how the disease develops and progresses at a cellular level is not well known. Through cross-disciplinary systems biology approaches, Paul will identify the vulnerable brain cell types and investigate the biological relationship between healthy aging and development of Alzheimer’s pathology.

Elizabeth Proctor, PhD

Coupling and spread of molecular and functional pathology of Alzheimer’s disease

Investigator: Elizabeth Proctor, PhD, assistant professor of neurosurgery, pharmacology, biomedical engineering and engineering science and mechanics

Grant amount: $438,028 anticipated through April 2023

Awarded by: National Institute on Aging

Goal: Researchers are trying to understand how brain cells decay in Alzheimer’s and how the disease spreads from one region of the brain to another. Proctor will test whether molecular and cellular dysfunction can be transmitted from cell to cell along their pathways of communication in the brain and whether adjustments in molecular and cellular functions can correct brain functional changes that happen in disease.

Victor Ruiz-Velasco, MA, PhD

Marc Kaufman, MA, PhD

Opioid-induced potentiation of the exercise pressor reflex via acid-sensing ion channels (ASIC3) in health and simulated peripheral artery disease

Investigator: Victor Ruiz-Velasco, MA, PhD, professor and associate chair for basic science research in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine; professor of neural and behavioral sciences and pharmacology; and Marc Kaufman, MA, PhD, professor of medicine and research associate director at Penn State Heart and Vascular Institute.

Grant amount: $552,124 anticipated through March 2022

Awarded by: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Goal: Peripheral artery disease is a narrowing of the peripheral arteries that carry blood away from the heart. As a result, less blood reaches these parts of the body, which can result in pain during exercise. The exercise pressor reflex is a series of physiological changes that occur when the body exercises. Ruiz-Velasco and Kaufman aim to better understand how neurotransmitters called endomorphins and other clinically-used opiates (fentanyl, oxycodone and remifentanil) affect the exercise pressor reflex by interacting with acid-sensing ion channels (ASIC) in cells.

Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH

Nurse AMIE: Addressing Metastatic Individuals Every day in rural PA and WV

Investigator: Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, distinguished professor public health sciences and physical medicine and rehabilitation

Grant amount: $431,472 ($3,221,457 anticipated through April 2026)

Awarded by: National Institutes of Health

Goal: Cancer patients who live in rural settings experience worse outcomes compared with those in urban settings. People in rural regions have difficulty accessing supportive care services due to travel challenges, cost of services and overall lack of available supportive care resources. Schmitz and team have developed and pilot tested a tablet-based symptom assessment and supportive care intervention called Nurse AMIE (Addressing Metastatic Individuals Everyday) that was well received by patients with metastatic cancer, including a subset of rural patients. The team will further assess through a clinical trial how Nurse AMIE helps patients with metastatic cancer living in rural areas address fatigue, sleep, distress and pain experienced as a result of their cancer treatments.

Hong-Gang Wang, PhD

Autophagy heterogeneity and tumor metastasis

Investigator: Hong-Gang Wang, PhD, Lois High Berstler Professor of pediatrics and pharmacology

Grant amount: $417,005 anticipated through March 2023

Awarded by: National Cancer Institute

Goal: Prior research suggests that autophagy, a process by which cells degrade and recycle their components, may serve as a protective mechanism that drives tumor growth and limits chemotherapy-induced death. However, clinical trials investigating the use of certain drugs as inhibitors of this process in combination with chemotherapeutics have produced slight improvements in patient response. Wang’s project will study the mechanisms by subpopulations of tumor cells with different levels of autophagy can initiate intercellular communication to enhance the growth and spread of cancer. Collectively, these studies will provide critical knowledge regarding how autophagy should be targeted for cancer therapy.

Dissecting structural details of hepadnavirus subviral particles

Investigator: Joseph Wang, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology

Grant amount: $243,270 ($445,995 anticipated through April 2023)

Awarded by: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Goal: It is estimated that 257 million people suffer from chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) worldwide and about 887,000 die from it each year. Standard of care treatment of chronic HBV with current drugs decreases viral load and improves liver condition, but rarely leads to a “cure”, even after years of treatment. There is an unmet medical need for new therapeutics for chronic HBV that lead to a sustained response. In order to seek out new therapeutic targets, Wang and his team will study the structures of the HBV virus and its envelope protein using cryo-electron microscopy to facilitate current efforts in development of a cure for HBV infection.

Joshua Warrick, MD

The role of transcription factors in driving aggressive phenotype in non-invasive bladder cancer

Investigator: Joshua Warrick, MD, Laurence M. Demers Career Development Professor (Associate Professor) of pathology and laboratory medicine; associate professor of surgery and urology

Grant amount: $406,613 anticipated through March 2023

Awarded by: National Cancer Institute

Goal: Bladder cancer is commonly diagnosed at an early stage. Although some methods exist for diagnosing and treating the disease, they can be painful and cause difficulties with urination. Being able to determine which bladder cancer patients are at higher risk for remission could be useful. Warrick previously found that bladder cancer tumors that express high levels of a particular gene, SALL4, are more likely to progress and recur after the cancer is surgically removed. His research group will further study how expression of SALL4 drives cellular growth in early stage bladder cancer.

Yang Yang, PhD

Discovery of functionally selective dopamine ligands for age-related cognitive decline

Investigator: Yang Yang, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology

Grant amount: $902,723 ($1,464,036 anticipated through May 2024)

Awarded by: National Institutes of Health

Goal: As society rapidly ages, a major determinant of quality-of-life in overall health is age-related cognitive decline. Yang and her team will study selectivity and signaling of dopamine D1 receptors in the brain with the goal of discovering new and superior drug compounds that could translate into new therapeutics to improve brain function in patients with neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.

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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