Cancer, cardiovascular disease and COVID-19: College of Medicine faculty receive research funds
Between January and March 2022, Penn State College of Medicine received 145 grants and contracts totaling $32.8 million for research.
Faculty will train undergraduate students in cardiovascular research, study the development and progression of viral illnesses and identify new treatment targets for cancer.
Read more about eleven projects below.
Sophia Allen, PhD, MBA
Mixed methods research to increase engagement and smoking abstinence among African Americans enrolled in Quitline text messaging services
Investigators: Sophia Allen, PhD, MBA, assistant professor of public health sciences
Grant amount: $178,742 ($885,802 anticipated through December 2026)
Awarded by: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Goal: This mentored career development award from the National Institutes of Health will allow Allen to continue to investigate and alleviate health disparities in tobacco-related disease for African Americans through use of technology interventions. Specifically, she will explore how social determinants of health might explain differences in smoking abstinence between African Americans and white smokers using technology as a means to quit smoking. The goal is to develop more targeted, technological approaches to smoking cessation among African Americans. Read more.
How does cytomegalovirus use interferon lambda for optimal spread
Investigators: Nicholas Buchkovich, PhD, associate professor of microbiology and immunology
Grant amount: $243,540 ($446,490 anticipated through December 2023)
Awarded by: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Goal: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is found throughout all geographic regions and socioeconomic groups and has severe clinical implications for immunocompromised people and pregnant women who become infected. The virus’ ability to replicate is dependent upon successfully dampening the effects of the host’s antiviral responses. A number of HCMV genes are dedicated to combatting the antiviral immune response of host cells. Buchkovich’s lab found that one mediator of an important antiviral signaling pathway actually enhances viral replication. They seek to better understand how HCMV usurps a normally antiviral signaling pathway to promote replication and spread. Read more.
N. Benjamin Fredrick, MD
The Pennsylvania Training Center for Health Equity
Investigators: N. Benjamin Fredrick, MD, professor of family and community medicine and public health sciences
Grant amount: $2,974,286 through May 2023
Awarded by: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Health
Goal: The Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center and Penn State College of Medicine are partnering with the Pennsylvania Department of Health and its Office of Health Equity to fortify the state’s public health workforce through a new PA Training Center for Health Equity. Working together, they will expand and equip the public health workforce to address the needs of communities that have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, including racial and ethnic minority populations and rural communities. The training center will also work to advance health equity by training Community Health Workers, and providing continuing education on health equity decision-making and a variety of public health topics.
Philippe Haouzi, MD, PhD
Restoring the mechanical properties of the respiratory system as a treatment of fentanyl overdose-induced hypoventilation using kappa agonists
Investigators: Philippe Haouzi, MD, PhD, professor of medicine
Grant amount: $202,950 ($446,490 anticipated through March 2023)
Awarded by: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Goal: Mu-opioid agonists, such as morphine and fentanyl, induce muscle rigidity that alters the mechanical properties of the chest wall and the respiratory system leading to potentially lethal hypoventilation, or shallow or slow breathing. Haouzi will study the efficacy of kappa-opioid receptor agonists, and more specifically the only commercially available kappa-opioid agonist nalfurafine, as a countermeasure against mu-opioid-induced hypoventilation.
Ping He, MD, PhD
Role of increased circulating microparticles in adverse outcomes of COVID-19 patients with diabetes
Investigators: Ping He, MD, PhD, professor of cellular and molecular physiology
Grant amount: $324,720 anticipated through March 2023
Awarded by: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Goal: COVID-19 patients with pre-existing diseases like diabetes have a greater risk of death. To date, the underlying causes for this disparity remain unknown. He aims to identify the biological mechanisms that lead to higher risk and adverse outcomes of COVID-19 patients with diabetes and reveal potential targets for therapeutic development. In particular, the lab will explore how diabetes-induced microparticles may contribute to poor outcomes for COVID-19 patients with diabetes. Read more.
Jiafen Hu, PhD, MSc
The role of bacterial vaginosis-associated bacteria in papillomavirus persistence and cancers
Investigators: Jiafen Hu, PhD, MSc, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine
Grant amount: $186,993 ($397,427 anticipated through February 2024)
Awarded by: National Cancer Institute
Goal: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases worldwide and causes about 5% of all human cancers. Most cases of cervical cancer are associated with HPV infections. Hu will bring two international teams together to study how vaginal bacteria and their metabolites affect the immune responses that are linked with the development and progression of cervical cancers in humans. Read more.
Aron Lukacher, MD, PhD
Defining early stages of polyomavirus CNS pathogenesis and immunity
Investigators: Aron Lukacher, MD, PhD, professor and chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology; professor of pathology and laboratory medicine
Grant amount: $430,944 ($1,681,963 anticipated through January 2027)
Awarded by: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Goal: JC polyomavirus (JCPyV), a prevalent human-only pathogen, causes life-threatening brain diseases in immune-compromised people. The list of immunotherapeutic and chemotherapeutic agents linked to the development of the JCPyV central nervous system disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy is quickly expanding. No anti-JCPyV agents are available. The Lukacher lab will continue to use a mouse model of JCPyV to explore and better understand the early stages in the development of irreversible lesions caused by polyomavirus brain infections. Read more.
Inan Olmez, MD
Developing an image-guided therapeutic strategy to effectively target metabolic reprogramming in glioblastoma
Investigators: Inan Olmez, MD, associate professor of neurosurgery
Grant amount: $243,540 ($490,446 anticipated through February 2024)
Awarded by: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Goal: Glioblastoma (brain cancer) cells have the ability to modify themselves to adapt to changes in their microenvironment so they can continue to grow. As a result, targeting single metabolic pathways can be an ineffective approach to cancer treatment. Olmez will establish a novel, image-guided therapeutic strategy that targets glioblastoma cells’ energy metabolism. Read more.
Spencer Szczesny, PhD
Pak King Wong, PhD
Colocalization of gene expression and microscale tissue strains in live tendon explants using barcoded biosensors
Investigators: Spencer Szczesny, PhD, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and orthopaedics and rehabilitation, and Pak King Wong, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering and surgery
Grant amount: $199,139 ($363,303 anticipated through November 2023)
Awarded by: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
Goal: Tendons, cords of tissue that connect muscles to bone, degrade over time due to repeated pressure, but the exact causes of this degeneration are unknown. Szczesny and Wong aim to develop a live tendon model using gold nanorod biosensors that can measure gene expression and local mechanical stimuli in tendon tissues when they experience strain. This will not only identify the biophysical stimuli responsible for tendon degeneration but also provide a breakthrough more broadly in the study of musculoskeletal tissue and disease. Read more.
Shengyu Yang, PhD
Mitochondrial calcium signaling in pancreatic cancer metastasis and progression
Investigators: Shengyu Yang, PhD, associate professor of cellular and molecular physiology
Grant amount:: $655,433 ($3,217,641 anticipated through August 2026)
Awarded by: National Cancer Institute
Goal: This project investigates the basic mechanisms by which the dysregulated mitochondrial calcium signaling promotes pancreatic cancer metastasis, or spread, which accounts for more than 90% of pancreatic cancer-related death. In this study, Yang will explore how pancreatic cancer metastasis is affected by the dysregulation of a specific cellular signaling pathway and a possible therapeutic approach to correcting this. The anticipated results could advance understanding of pancreatic cancer spread and potentially provide a novel therapeutic strategy. Read more.
Christopher Yengo, PhD, MS
Penn State College of Medicine undergraduate student fellow program in cardiovascular disease
Investigators: Christopher Yengo, PhD, MS, professor of cellular and molecular physiology
Grant amount: $55,000 ($165,000 anticipated through December 2024)
Awarded by: American Heart Association
Goal: Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center will use the funds to mentor outstanding undergraduate students in cardiovascular research through a 10-week summer program, which has been continuously funded since 2010. The program has a strong track record of exceptional student training, as evidenced by student performance, presentations and awards at national conferences and authoring of publications. Five outstanding cardiovascular researchers will serve as sponsors and mentors. Students will have individualized mentoring plans with scientific and professional development opportunities and course work in responsible research conduct.
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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