Grant List
Represents Grant table in the DB
GET /v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1384&sort=-abstract
{ "links": { "first": "https://cic-apps.datascience.columbia.edu/v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1&sort=-abstract", "last": "https://cic-apps.datascience.columbia.edu/v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1442&sort=-abstract", "next": "https://cic-apps.datascience.columbia.edu/v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1385&sort=-abstract", "prev": "https://cic-apps.datascience.columbia.edu/v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1383&sort=-abstract" }, "data": [ { "type": "Grant", "id": "12227", "attributes": { "award_id": "1RF1MH134638-01", "title": "International evaluation of modifiable social determinants of health on COVID-related mental health outcomes", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 25615, "first_name": "Leonardo", "last_name": "Cubillos", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2023-08-02", "end_date": "2026-07-31", "award_amount": 3155102, "principal_investigator": { "id": 28097, "first_name": "Sarah Diana", "last_name": "Bauermeister", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [ { "id": 22910, "first_name": "JORDAN W", "last_name": "SMOLLER", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, { "id": 28098, "first_name": "André Russowsky", "last_name": "Brunoni", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "awardee_organization": { "id": 736, "ror": "https://ror.org/002pd6e78", "name": "Massachusetts General Hospital", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "MA", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "A substantial body of research suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to a rising incidence of mental health issues, irrespective of prior history of psychiatric diagnosis. One important driver of this phenomenon appears to be social isolation and loneliness induced by governmental policy responses such as social distancing recommendations, stay-at-home orders, and restrictions on travel. However, results thus far have been mixed across cohorts and geographic regions, and the social and individual factors underlying these differences remain poorly understood. Moreover, existing efforts have largely focused on high-income countries (HIC), which may not generalize to understudied low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), regions most impacted by the pandemic and where 85% of the world population lives. A key opportunity for mitigating future mental health impacts and increasing representation of marginalized groups in COVID-19 mental health research is to leverage individual-level longitudinal data harmonized across existing cohorts to develop a well-powered, large, global evaluation of pandemic-related mental health outcomes. Our proposal capitalizes on existing large international cohorts, establishing a COVID Global Mental Health Consortium (CGMHC) to increase our understanding of the modifiable social and individual risk factors predicting poor mental health in response to the pandemic, and to build an infrastructure to answer broader questions about the local and global determinants of COVID-19 related psychiatric outcomes, ultimately informing public policy, intervention, and prevention strategies. To accomplish this, we will integrate: (1) data from 23 international cohorts comprising mental health, sociodemographic, and social determinants of health (SDoH) from nearly 2.8 million individuals with pre- and post-pandemic assessments; (2) a novel target trial emulation framework to facilitate causal inference about the impact of specific pandemic policy strategies on mental health outcomes; and (3) recent advances in time-series modeling and novel risk prediction methods to understand the heterogeneity of mental health outcomes in response to social restrictions across a diverse range of countries. Our specific aims are to: (1) assemble longitudinal data across global cohorts, harmonizing data for downstream analyses and develop a data visualization platform for the scientific community; (2) characterize pandemic mental health trajectories along with their moderators and evaluate the evidence for a causal impact of social containment policies on psychiatric outcomes. (3) establish and formalize the CGMHC for continued research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global mental health and SDoH. Successful completion of these aims would provide a unique large-scale global cohort resource for the investigation of COVID-related mental health outcomes, inform intervention and policy strategies to mitigate future adverse impacts, and create an ongoing engine (the CGMHC) for collaborative research that can be sustained through future funding.", "keywords": [ "Address", "Anxiety", "Attention", "COVID-19", "COVID-19 pandemic", "COVID-19 pandemic effects", "Cohort Analysis", "Communities", "Containment", "Country", "Data", "Data Set", "Dementia", "Directories", "Evaluation", "Funding", "Future", "Geographic Locations", "Health", "Heterogeneity", "Impaired cognition", "Incidence", "Income", "Individual", "Infrastructure", "International", "Interruption", "Intervention", "Investigation", "Joints", "Knowledge", "Loneliness", "Measures", "Mental Depression", "Mental Health", "Mental disorders", "Methods", "Modeling", "National Institute of Mental Health", "Ontology", "Outcome", "Participant", "Policies", "Population", "Predictive Factor", "Prevention strategy", "Psychiatric Diagnosis", "Psychological Factors", "Public Health", "Public Policy", "Recommendation", "Recording of previous events", "Research", "Research Personnel", "Research Project Grants", "Resources", "Risk", "Risk Factors", "Role", "Series", "Social Distance", "Social isolation", "Time", "Time trend", "Travel", "Unemployment", "Variant", "Visualization software", "cohort", "coronavirus disease", "data harmonization", "data resource", "data standards", "data visualization", "experience", "global health", "health care availability", "health data", "health disparity", "low and middle-income countries", "marginalized population", "mortality", "novel", "pandemic disease", "pandemic impact", "post-pandemic", "pre-pandemic", "psychiatric symptom", "randomized trial", "resilience", "resilience factor", "response", "risk prediction", "social", "social factors", "social health determinants", "social influence", "sociodemographics", "stay-at-home order", "substance use", "suicidal", "tool", "trend", "working group" ], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "9402", "attributes": { "award_id": "1R42DE030832-01", "title": "A SARS-CoV-2 Breathalyzer for Direct Virus Detection", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "NIH Office of the Director" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 6931, "first_name": "Orlando", "last_name": "Lopez", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2020-12-21", "end_date": "2022-10-31", "award_amount": 254027, "principal_investigator": { "id": 11309, "first_name": "Patricia Bea", "last_name": "Keady", "orcid": null, "emails": "[email protected]", "private_emails": null, "keywords": "[]", "approved": true, "websites": "[]", "desired_collaboration": "", "comments": "", "affiliations": [ { "id": 1123, "ror": "", "name": "AEROSOL DEVICES, INC.", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "CO", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true } ] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 1123, "ror": "", "name": "AEROSOL DEVICES, INC.", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "CO", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "A substantial and growing body of evidence has demonstrated that COVID-19 is transmitted by human-emitted airborne particles; therefore, it is critical to rapidly screen individuals to determine whether they are at risk of transmitting the disease to others before they enter large venues (e.g., airports, schools) and smaller ones where extended exposure or close proximity is expected (e.g., dental offices, hair salons). Given the large number of asymptomatic cases of the disease, the infrared thermometers and health questionnaires frequently used to screen individuals are plainly inadequate. Existing SARS-CoV-2 detection technology is time consum- ing and complicated to use, expensive and not portable and therefore ill-suited to use as point of care (POC) screening tools. Tests recently approved by the FDA under the Emergency Use Authorization face some of the same challenges. The goal of this project is to develop and test a novel breathalyzer for detecting aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 di- rectly from exhaled breath in near real-time by marrying a proven, cutting-edge aerosol sampling technology with a novel and inexpensive virus detector. The innovation is directly detecting virus in the breath, while other breathalyzers depend on indirect detection (VOCs and AI algorithms) to infer the presence of the virus. In this Fast-track STTR project, Aersol Devices Inc (ADev) will modify its commercial bioaerosol collector, which is used to sample from the ambient environment, to enable it to collect viruses from breath samples into a concentrated liquid sample. The University of Minnesota (UMN) will modify its Magnetic Particle Spectrome- ter (MPS), a version of which has previously been used to detect Influenza A H1N1 virus, so that the liquid samples from the collector can be analyzed to detect SARS-CoV-2. Specific aims include developing the hardware for transforming an ambient sampler into a breath sampler, de- signing a rapid means of decontaminating the collector between tests, integrating the collector and the detector into a robust package, functionalizing magnetic nanoparticles with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, increasing the sig- nal/noise ratio of the MPS electronics, reducing the assay time, improving the analytical sensitivity/specificity, measuring the clinical sensitivity/specificity and comparing to RT-qPCR in pre-clinical testing. The technology platform proposed is flexible and extensible and could be tailored to detect other pathogens (e.g., rhinoviruses, respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza virus other coronaviruses, etc.). This flexibility is valuable since (1) this will not be the last pandemic (new pathogens in the future) and (2) development could pivot to a different pathogen if a vaccine or other control measures bring the current COVID-19 pandemic un- der control before this SARS-CoV-2 breathalyzer is commercially available.", "keywords": [ "2019-nCoV", "Aerosols", "Air", "Algorithms", "Antibodies", "Antibody Specificity", "Assisted Living Facilities", "Biological Assay", "Breath Tests", "Breathalyzer Tests", "COVID-19", "COVID-19 detection", "COVID-19 pandemic", "Clinical Sensitivity", "Collection", "Coronavirus", "Decontamination", "Dental Offices", "Detection", "Development", "Devices", "Diagnostic", "Diagnostic Sensitivity", "Disease", "Electronics", "Ensure", "Environment", "Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay", "Exhalation", "FDA Emergency Use Authorization", "FDA approved", "Face", "Future", "Goals", "Hair", "Health", "Hospitals", "Human", "Individual", "Influenza A Virus H1N1 Subtype", "Influenza A virus", "Liquid substance", "Lung diseases", "Magnetic nanoparticles", "Magnetism", "Measures", "Mechanics", "Military Personnel", "Minnesota", "Noise", "Nucleocapsid Proteins", "Performance", "Phase", "Preclinical Testing", "Questionnaires", "Rapid screening", "Readiness", "Respiratory syncytial virus", "Rhinovirus", "Risk", "SARS-CoV-2 antibody", "SARS-CoV-2 transmission", "Saliva", "Sampling", "Schools", "Screening procedure", "Sensitivity and Specificity", "Signal Transduction", "Small Business Technology Transfer Research", "Stress Tests", "System", "Technology", "Temperature", "Testing", "Thermometers", "Time", "Universities", "Vaccines", "Viral Antigens", "Virion", "Virus", "Virus Inactivation", "Vulnerable Populations", "aerosolized", "base", "biosafety level 3 facility", "design", "detector", "digital", "emerging pathogen", "experimental study", "flexibility", "improved", "innovation", "instrument", "laboratory equipment", "manufacturability", "novel", "pandemic disease", "parainfluenza virus", "particle", "particle detector", "particle spectroscopy", "pathogen", "performance tests", "point of care", "pre-clinical", "response", "screening", "software systems", "tool", "viral detection" ], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "11409", "attributes": { "award_id": "1RF1MH133411-01", "title": "Blood brain barrier integrity and immune dynamics contributing to neuropsychiatric sequela in COVID long-haulers", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 27469, "first_name": "Andrea", "last_name": "Wijtenburg", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2023-05-01", "end_date": "2026-04-30", "award_amount": 2906437, "principal_investigator": { "id": 27470, "first_name": "Leah Helane", "last_name": "Rubin", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [ { "id": 27471, "first_name": "Rebecca Terilli", "last_name": "Veenhuis", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "awardee_organization": { "id": 344, "ror": "https://ror.org/00za53h95", "name": "Johns Hopkins University", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "MD", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "A substantial (>35%) proportion of patients acutely infected with SARS-CoV-2 demonstrate neurological symptoms ranging from serious headaches to encephalopathy, stroke, seizure, and acute neuropathies. However, some patients experience lingering or emergent neuropsychiatric symptoms within weeks to months following acute infection. The neuropsychiatric burden among COVID long-haulers is a major issue; and yet the underlying pathophysiology of these conditions remains elusive. SARS-Cov-2 infection results in increased levels of circulating proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines and elevation of intermediate monocyte (CD14+CD16+) subsets in blood. Trafficking of these proinflammatory monocytes into the brain of individuals with other chronic viral infections (eg. HIV) has emerged a putative contributor to neuroinflammation, blood brain barrier (BBB) disruption and may explain the ongoing neurological sequalae in COVID long-haulers. We propose to test our hypothesis that COVID long-haulers will have BBB disruption mechanistically linked to targeted, circulating proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines and elevation of intermediate monocytes that traffic to the brain. Monocyte infiltration in response to infection is a hallmark of CNS inflammation and occurs consistently in chronic conditions. Thus, we further hypothesize that disruption in BBB integrity by intermediate monocyte activation and diapedesis promotes persistent neuroinflammation and altered neuronal activity, contributing to neuropsychiatric sequela COVID-19 long-haulers. To this end, we propose cross-sectional imaging to assess BBB integrity, with neuropsychiatric assessments, and immunophenotyping in 100 COVID long-haulers and 100 individuals who have recovered from acute COVID (control group). First, we aim to assess BBB integrity in COVID long-haulers (vs. control) and its contribution to neuropsychiatric conditions. We will assess BBB integrity using a novel, non-contrast magnetic resonance imaging technique that uses water-extraction-with-phase- contrast-arterial-spin-tagging (WEPCAST), to determine BBB permeability to small molecules. We have shown this to be sensitive to BBB change in mild cognitive impairment, a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease, and are currently using this technique in other neuro-infectious diseases. Second, we aim to assess the link between circulating soluble markers, PBMC-associated markers, and BBB permeability to small molecules, which collectively may promote diapedesis into brain. We target factors implicated in transmigration of activated PBMCs across the BBB into brain, where they may contribute to neuronal damage and neuropsychiatric burden in COVID long-haulers. After 3 years of funding, this R01 will advance our understanding of BBB integrity and related PBMC migration into the brains of COVID long-haulers, which may contribute to neuroinflammation and related neuropsychiatric burden. Findings will inform next steps in the development of therapeutic approaches to minimize PBMC contribution to neuroinflammation in COVID long-haulers.", "keywords": [ "Acute", "Address", "Alzheimer&apos", "s Disease", "Anhedonia", "Anxiety", "Area", "Attention", "Biological Markers", "Blood", "Blood - brain barrier anatomy", "Brain", "Brain imaging", "Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor", "CCL2 gene", "CD14 gene", "COVID-19 long hauler", "CX3CL1 gene", "CXCL10 gene", "CXCR3 gene", "Cell Surface Proteins", "Cells", "Central Nervous System", "Chronic", "Cognition", "Cognitive", "Control Groups", "Data", "Depressed mood", "Disease", "Encephalopathies", "Endothelium", "FCGR3B gene", "Fractalkine", "Functional disorder", "Funding", "HIV", "Headache", "Health", "IL18 gene", "Image", "Imaging Techniques", "Immune", "Immunophenotyping", "Individual", "Infection", "Infiltration", "Inflammation", "Inflammatory", "Infrastructure", "Interleukin-6", "Link", "Long COVID", "Magnetic Resonance Imaging", "Measures", "Memory", "Mental Health", "Moods", "National Institute of Mental Health", "Neuroimmunomodulation", "Neurologic", "Neurologic Symptoms", "Neurons", "Neuropathy", "Patients", "Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell", "Phase", "Research", "Research Personnel", "Role", "SARS-CoV-2 infection", "Seizures", "Stroke", "Surface", "Symptoms", "TNF gene", "Techniques", "Testing", "Therapeutic", "Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors", "Virus", "Virus Diseases", "Water", "acute infection", "arterial spin labeling", "blood-brain barrier disruption", "blood-brain barrier permeabilization", "cell motility", "chemokine", "cognitive neuroscience", "coronavirus disease", "cytokine", "depressive symptoms", "experience", "innovation", "interest", "migration", "mild cognitive impairment", "monocyte", "multidisciplinary", "neuroAIDS", "neuroimmunology", "neuroinflammation", "neuropsychiatric sequelae of COVID-19", "neuropsychiatric symptom", "neuropsychiatry", "novel", "perceived stress", "psychologic", "response", "rumination", "small molecule", "therapeutic development", "trafficking" ], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "5680", "attributes": { "award_id": "3K23AI136579-03S1", "title": "Antibody Profiles and Genetics of Pernio-Like Lesions during the COVID-19 pandemic", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 19620, "first_name": "Melanie C.", "last_name": "Bacon", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2021-01-07", "end_date": "2022-07-31", "award_amount": 53860, "principal_investigator": { "id": 19621, "first_name": "Esther E", "last_name": "Freeman", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 736, "ror": "https://ror.org/002pd6e78", "name": "Massachusetts General Hospital", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "MA", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "A subset of patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) develop cutaneous manifestations of their severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, including pernio of their feet and hands, known as “COVID toes.” These patients tend to have a mild disease course, which may indicate successful viral control by the host. By leveraging an existing patient cohort at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and the extensive laboratory infrastructure at the NIH, this proposal aims to elucidate the complex determinants of a unique phenotype of COVID-19: pernio/ “COVID toes,” with the following Aims. Aim 1: To evaluate genetic determinants of pernio-like lesions (“COVID toes”) in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Aim 2: To characterize the inflammatory and serological response during acute infection and convalescence of patients with SARS-CoV-2 who develop pernio-like lesions as a symptom of COVID-19. Biological samples will be obtained at MGH and sent to collaborating labs at the NIH. In particular, this proposal will help us understand the host immune response to COVID-19 by focusing on patients who have controlled the disease and have had relatively mild clinical courses, as characterized by their skin lesions. Successful completion of our aims will immediately and directly respond to important gaps in our knowledge regarding mild/asymptomatic COVID-19, which in turn can help inform our understanding of how to harness this type of successful control for other patients.", "keywords": [ "2019-nCoV", "Acute", "Africa South of the Sahara", "Antibodies", "Antibody Response", "Area", "Biological", "COVID-19", "COVID-19 patient", "Caring", "Cellular Immunity", "Cessation of life", "Chilblains", "Clinical", "Clinical Trials", "Collaborations", "Communities", "Complex", "Convalescence", "Cutaneous", "Databases", "Dermatologic", "Dermatology", "Development", "Disease", "Enrollment", "Family", "Future", "General Hospitals", "Genetic", "Genetic Determinism", "Genetic Polymorphism", "HIV", "Hand", "Hospitalization", "Immune response", "Individual", "Infection", "Inflammation", "Inflammatory", "Inflammatory Response", "Information Systems", "Infrastructure", "Institution", "International", "Intramural Research", "Investigation", "Kaposi Sarcoma", "Knowledge", "Laboratories", "Lesion", "Massachusetts", "Molecular", "Patients", "Phenotype", "Proteomics", "Protocols documentation", "Reporting", "Research", "Resources", "Role", "SARS-CoV-2 infection", "Sampling", "Serology", "Skin", "Specimen", "Symptoms", "Testing", "Therapeutic", "Time", "Toes", "United States National Institutes of Health", "Vaccines", "Viral", "Virus", "Virus Diseases", "acute infection", "adaptive immune response", "antibody detection", "asymptomatic COVID-19", "clinical phenotype", "cohort", "coronavirus disease", "foot", "improved", "pandemic disease", "patient population", "patient response", "patient subsets", "recruit", "response", "sample collection", "skin disorder", "skin lesion" ], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "7694", "attributes": { "award_id": "1ZIAEY000306-26", "title": "Role of Protein Interactions in Retina Development and Function", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Eye Institute (NEI)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [], "start_date": null, "end_date": null, "award_amount": 728296, "principal_investigator": { "id": 23489, "first_name": "SOFIA P", "last_name": "BECERRA", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [ { "id": 1611, "ror": "https://ror.org/03wkg3b53", "name": "National Eye Institute", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "MD", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true } ] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 1611, "ror": "https://ror.org/03wkg3b53", "name": "National Eye Institute", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "MD", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "A study on the role of the PNPLA2 gene in the regulation of oxidative stress damage of RPE was completed. Oxidative stress-mediated injury of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) can precede progressive retinal degeneration and ultimately lead to blindness (e.g., age-related macular degeneration). The RPE expresses the PNPLA2 gene and produces its protein product PEDF-R. We showed that transient PNPLA2 overexpression decreases dead-cell proteolytic activity and that synthetic peptides derived from a central region of PEDF-R efficiently protect ARPE-19 and pig primary RPE cells from oxidative stress. We evaluated the effect of loss of PNPLA2 in RPE cells undergoing oxidative stress and found that loss of PNPLA2 conferred increased resistance to cells when subjected to oxidative stress. The molecular pathways triggered by PEDF that are involved in retinal survival activity was reviewed. PEDF is involved in signal transduction cascades necessary for protection of the retina. The interaction between PEDF and retinal cells elicits neuroprotective effects in vitro and in vivo. The direct substrates and signaling mechanisms involved in the survival response derived from such interaction were summarized. Three semi-automated cell-based protocols to identify retinoprotective factors with two retinal cell lines, rat R28 cells and mouse 661W cells were described in detail. In these protocols, cells are induced to undergo death by photo-oxidation stress, growth factor depletion or cytotoxicity with sodium iodate. PEDF, an established neurotrophic factor for retinal cells, was used as a positive control. These protocols will prove useful in high-throughput quantitative screening of potential retinoprotective factors. The polarized RPE releases PEDF in an apicolateral fashion. We determined the levels of PEDF released by polarized iPSC-derived RPE attached to porous membranes in transwells (in collaboration with the laboratory of V. Canto-Soler). The media from the basal and apical compartments were subjected to western blotting and ELISA using specific antibodies to human PEDF. Photoreceptor outer segments were isolated from bovine retina. Cells exposed to photoreceptor outer segments were assayed for phagocytosis, by following ingestion and degradation of the outer segments. Western blots of cell lysates using specific antibodies to rhodopsin were performed to determine ingestion of outer segments by the cells. The levels of a byproduct of POS degradation, beta-hydroxybutyrate, were measured in the media of the cells. The role of PEDF-R in the phagocytosis of photoreceptor outer segments continued to be investigated. The PNPLA2 gene was transiently silenced in the ARPE-19 cell line using siScramble and siPNPLA2 oligonucleotide duplexes. mRNA and protein levels of fatty acid metabolism related genes ACAD9 (acyl-CoA dehydrogenase family member 9), CPT1C (carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1C), and FASN (fatty acid synthase) were measured in PEDF-R-deficient cells challenged with photoreceptor outer segments. Cell viability of ARPE-19 cells incubated with bromoenol lactone, a phospholipase inhibitor was measured. The effects of bromoenol lactone on the degradation of photoreceptor outer segments, as well as the secretion of the ketone body beta-hydroxybutyrate were determined. PEDF-R protein levels following photoreceptor outer segments addition were measured. Total phospholipids and fatty acids were determined from cell lysates of transiently transfected cells challenged with photoreceptor outer segments (collaboration with the laboratory of MP Agdaba). An in vitro model of cultured primary retinal neurons was used to examine intracellular signaling stimulated by exogenous additions of PEDF peptide fragments. The newborn rat retinal cells in culture die spontaneously in the absence of trophic factors. CRX immunostaining was performed to identify photoreceptor cells. We performed mitochondrial assays using Mitotracker, and quantification of the changes in mitochondrial membrane potential in live cells by flow cytometry, microplate spectrophotometry and fluorescent microscopy using tetramethylrhodamine, ethyl ester (TMRE). Results show that PEDF peptides protected photoreceptor precursors from apoptosis, preserved mitochondrial function and promoted polarization of opsin enhancing their developmental process, as well as induced neurite outgrowth in amacrine neurons. These effects were abolished by an enzymatic inhibitor of the PEDF-R, or receptor-derived peptides that block ligand/receptor interactions. While all the activities were specifically conferred by short peptide fragments (17 amino acid residues) derived from the PEDF neurotrophic domain, no effects were triggered by peptides from the PEDF antiangiogenic region. The mRNA levels of Bcl2 gene were determined in cells treated with and without effectors. Protein extracts from cells treated with and without PEDF were obtained for large-scale study of proteins. The effects of PEDF and derived peptides on regulation of Bcl2, Bax and RAC1 proteins were examined by western blotting of the rat primary cultures treated with and without the effectors. We continued to purify large amounts of recombinant human PEDF protein versions from conditioned media of stably transfected Hek.Ebna 293 cells with PEDF expression plasmids. Cells expressing for full length human PEDF and versions with single point alterations at H105A were cultured at large scale and secreted proteins in their serum free media were collected, concentrated and dialyzed (collaboration with Y. Shiloachs laboratory). The proteins were purified using a two-step ion-exchange chromatography. The purified PEDF protein combined with a peptide fragment of the ectodomain of PEDF-R was used in high-throughput crystallization screening (collaboration with V Sagar in G. Wistows laboratory). Recombinant PEDF-R versions were produced in E. coli cells induced with isopropyl - d-1-thiogalactopyranoside. The recombinant PEDF-R versions overproduced in bacteria were insoluble and solubilization studies were performed using urea. Conditions for overproduction, solubilization with urea and purification by ion exchange column chromatography were optimized. PEDF-R variants retained the ability to bind PEDF. Mammalian-derived recombinant PEDF and bacterially derived recombinant PEDF-R can be produced and purified in large amounts for use in structural and biological studies. A proposal to investigate the effects of PEDF and its derived peptides to inhibit the hallmark of COVID-19 cytokine storm, in particular regulation of the IL-6 gene and the IL-6 protein levels and its consequences in the context of COVID-19, was prepared and submitted to ITAC. Another proposal in collaboration with R Star, NIDDK, to study PEDF as biomarker for intervention in COVID-16 during cytokine storm was also prepared and submitted to ITAC.", "keywords": [ "Age related macular degeneration", "Amino Acids", "Angiogenesis Inhibitors", "Animal Model", "Antibodies", "Apical", "Apoptosis", "BCL-2 Protein", "BCL2 gene", "Bacteria", "Bax protein", "Binding", "Biological", "Biological Assay", "Biological Markers", "Blindness", "COVID-19", "Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase I", "Cattle", "Cell Extracts", "Cell Line", "Cell Survival", "Cells", "Cessation of life", "Choroidal Neovascularization", "Collaborations", "Column Chromatography", "Corneal Neovascularization", "Crystallization", "Development", "Developmental Process", "Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay", "Escherichia coli", "Esters", "Exposure to", "Eye", "FASN gene", "Family", "Family member", "Family suidae", "Fatty Acids", "Fatty-acid synthase", "Flow Cytometry", "Genes", "Growth Factor", "Human", "Hydrolysis", "IL6 gene", "In Vitro", "Incubated", "Ingestion", "Inherited", "Injury", "Interest Group", "Interleukin-6", "Intervention", "Ion Exchange", "Ion-Exchange Chromatography Procedure", "Ketone Bodies", "Laboratories", "Lactones", "Lead", "Length", "Ligands", "Light", "Link", "Lipase", "Longevity", "Maintenance", "Mammals", "Measures", "Mediating", "Membrane", "Membrane Potentials", "Messenger RNA", "Microscopy", "Mitochondria", "Molecular", "Mus", "National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases", "Neoplasm Metastasis", "Neurites", "Neuronal Differentiation", "Neurons", "Newborn Infant", "Oligonucleotides", "Opsin", "Oxidative Regulation", "Oxidative Stress", "Pathway interactions", "Peptide Fragments", "Peptides", "Phagocytosis", "Phospholipase", "Phospholipases A", "Phospholipids", "Photoreceptors", "Plasmids", "Proteins", "Protocols documentation", "Rattus", "Recombinants", "Regulation", "Research", "Resistance", "Retina", "Retinal Degeneration", "Retinal Neovascularization", "Rhodopsin", "Role", "Serpin Superfamily", "Serum-Free Culture Media", "Signal Transduction", "Spectrophotometry", "Stress", "Structure", "Structure of retinal pigment epithelium", "Triglycerides", "Urea", "Variant", "Western Blotting", "Work", "acyl-CoA dehydrogenase", "base", "beta-Hydroxybutyrate", "coronavirus disease", "cytokine release syndrome", "cytotoxicity", "fatty acid metabolism", "in vitro Model", "in vivo", "induced pluripotent stem cell", "inhibitor/antagonist", "member", "mitochondrial membrane", "neuronal survival", "neurotrophic factor", "overexpression", "oxidatio" ], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "12885", "attributes": { "award_id": "2225972", "title": "GEM: Resolving the Unique Characteristics of Substorms that Precede Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE) Events", "funder": { "id": 3, "ror": "https://ror.org/021nxhr62", "name": "National Science Foundation", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "Geosciences (GEO)", "MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 28789, "first_name": "Chia-Lin", "last_name": "Huang", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2022-08-01", "end_date": null, "award_amount": 392140, "principal_investigator": { "id": 28832, "first_name": "Gareth", "last_name": "Perry", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [ { "id": 28832, "first_name": "Gareth", "last_name": "Perry", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "awardee_organization": { "id": 228, "ror": "https://ror.org/05e74xb87", "name": "New Jersey Institute of Technology", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "NJ", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "A Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE) is a latitudinally narrow and longitudinally elongated optical emission that appears in the night sky before midnight, equatorward of the auroral oval. Importantly, STEVE is not an aurora in the classic sense - as far as we can tell STEVE's emissions are not generated by charged particles streaming down magnetic field lines and colliding with the neutral atmosphere to produce optical emissions. In fact, the exact mechanism for STEVE's optical emissions have yet to be identified. However, STEVEs are correlated with events called substorms which involve energy releases in the Earth's nightside magnetic field, which often manifest as dynamic auroral displays. This research focuses on the observation that most substorms do not result in a STEVE event (approximately only 3% do), indicating that substorms that occur with STEVE events are unique. To better understand STEVE associated substorms and the conditions under which STEVEs occur, we will use data from all-sky imagers, spacecraft, radars, magnetometers, and citizen scientists – who were the ones who initially discovered STEVE. Using these datasets, the evolution from substorm to STEVE (or no STEVE) will be monitored. Additionally, we will investigate and specify the geomagnetic conditions unique to STEVE events. This work will strengthen our understanding of the upper atmosphere and the near-Earth geospace environment, allowing us to better mitigate space weather effects. Furthermore, given the team and collaborations this project will support, this research will promote education and diversity, and strengthen collaborations within the solar-terrestrial science community.<br/><br/>Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE) events are bright mauve optical emissions that periodically occur between dusk and midnight in subauroral regions after a substorm onset. It has been established that STEVE is correlated with substorms, and more specifically the recovery phase of a substorm. Importantly, not all substorms are associated with a STEVE event, but all STEVE events are associated with a substorm. The motivation of this work is to determine how the substorms associated with STEVE events are unique compared to other substorms. This will be done by addressing three science questions: 1) What is the temporal response of the magnetosphere-ionosphere system to substorm onset in associated STEVE events? 2) What are the conditions of the magnetosphere-ionosphere system prior to a STEVE event; can preconditioning be identified? and 3) How are the auroral and sub-auroral mesoscale flow patterns associated with STEVE events different from those associated with substorm events in general? We will use all-sky imagers, spacecraft, radars, magnetometers, and citizen science data to address the aforementioned questions. A novel and compelling component of this research effort will be the incorporation of radar data, in particular Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) data. This will allow us to complement existing measurements provided by imagers and spacecraft and also enhance our ability to identify undiscovered STEVE events. The ionospheric signature of a STEVE event in ISR data has recently been identified and will be used to find and characterize additional STEVE events in the work.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "8552", "attributes": { "award_id": "2U60OH009855-11", "title": "Minnesota Occupational Health and Safety Surveillance Program", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 22791, "first_name": "Linda", "last_name": "West", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2021-07-01", "end_date": "2026-06-30", "award_amount": 160000, "principal_investigator": { "id": 24321, "first_name": "Erik", "last_name": "Zabel", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [ { "id": 1722, "ror": "", "name": "MINNESOTA STATE DEPT OF HEALTH", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "MN", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true } ] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 1722, "ror": "", "name": "MINNESOTA STATE DEPT OF HEALTH", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "MN", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "A strategic surveillance goal of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is to strengthen the capacity of state health departments to conduct occupational surveillance and related prevention activities. The purpose of this project is to enhance the capacity of the Minnesota Department of Health to promote occupational health and safety through surveillance of a core set of occupational health indicators and dissemination of the findings to appropriate stakeholders for use in setting priorities for education and prevention activities. The project will expand the use of industry and occupation reporting in established datasets and will explore new sources of data in order to include previously underserved worker populations in surveillance of occupational health and safety. The major aims of this program include: (1) Collect, analyze, disseminate and utilize Minnesota data for 24 occupational health indicators (OHIs) based on criteria established by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE); (2) Collaborate with the MDH Lead and Healthy Homes Program to participate in the Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology and Surveillance (ABLES) program; (3) Advance the inclusion and use of industry and occupation information in health informatics; (4) Disseminate surveillance findings to appropriate audiences; (5) Build and maintain collaborations and partnerships to improve state surveillance activities; (6) Develop and use new data sources to address underserved worker populations, including agricultural workers, gig workers, and salon workers; (7) Evaluate the Minnesota Occupational Health and Safety Surveillance Program using CDC guidelines to continuously improve the program; (8) Assess COVID-19 outcomes and experience by industry and occupation sector by comparing risk of infection, comparing case outcomes, and studying the impact of safety measures and business closures; and (9) Measure the impact of statewide agricultural safety policies and rural mental health interventions by developing consistently trackable indicators of farm injuries and farm community mental health status.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "9920", "attributes": { "award_id": "5U60OH009855-12", "title": "Minnesota Occupational Health and Safety Surveillance Program", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 22791, "first_name": "Linda", "last_name": "West", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2021-07-01", "end_date": "2023-06-30", "award_amount": 160000, "principal_investigator": { "id": 24321, "first_name": "Erik", "last_name": "Zabel", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [ { "id": 1722, "ror": "", "name": "MINNESOTA STATE DEPT OF HEALTH", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "MN", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true } ] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 1722, "ror": "", "name": "MINNESOTA STATE DEPT OF HEALTH", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "MN", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "A strategic surveillance goal of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is to strengthen the capacity of state health departments to conduct occupational surveillance and related prevention activities. The purpose of this project is to enhance the capacity of the Minnesota Department of Health to promote occupational health and safety through surveillance of a core set of occupational health indicators and dissemination of the findings to appropriate stakeholders for use in setting priorities for education and prevention activities. The project will expand the use of industry and occupation reporting in established datasets and will explore new sources of data in order to include previously underserved worker populations in surveillance of occupational health and safety. The major aims of this program include: (1) Collect, analyze, disseminate and utilize Minnesota data for 24 occupational health indicators (OHIs) based on criteria established by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE); (2) Collaborate with the MDH Lead and Healthy Homes Program to participate in the Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology and Surveillance (ABLES) program; (3) Advance the inclusion and use of industry and occupation information in health informatics; (4) Disseminate surveillance findings to appropriate audiences; (5) Build and maintain collaborations and partnerships to improve state surveillance activities; (6) Develop and use new data sources to address underserved worker populations, including agricultural workers, gig workers, and salon workers; (7) Evaluate the Minnesota Occupational Health and Safety Surveillance Program using CDC guidelines to continuously improve the program; (8) Assess COVID-19 outcomes and experience by industry and occupation sector by comparing risk of infection, comparing case outcomes, and studying the impact of safety measures and business closures; and (9) Measure the impact of statewide agricultural safety policies and rural mental health interventions by developing consistently trackable indicators of farm injuries and farm community mental health status.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "8880", "attributes": { "award_id": "1R44HG011897-01", "title": "A scalable kit-based assay for multi-omic analyses of transcriptional protein binding and chromatin interactions from ultra-low input frozen and FFPE samples at single-cell resolution", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 24696, "first_name": "Stephanie A.", "last_name": "Morris", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2021-09-10", "end_date": "2023-08-31", "award_amount": 1085125, "principal_investigator": { "id": 24056, "first_name": "Anthony", "last_name": "Schmitt", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [ { "id": 1690, "ror": "", "name": "ARIMA GENOMICS, INC.", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "CA", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true } ] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 1690, "ror": "", "name": "ARIMA GENOMICS, INC.", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "CA", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "A scalable kit-based assay for multi-omic analyses of transcriptional protein binding and chromatin interactions from ultra-low input frozen and FFPE samples at single-cell resolution Arima Genomics Project Summary/Abstract Precise regulation of gene expression is paramount to establishing cellular identities, and mis-regulation of genes causes human disease. Cells regulate gene expression using regulatory elements (REs), short DNA sequences embedded throughout the genome, who are bound by transcriptional proteins (TBPs) to facilitate their regulatory function. Molecular mapping tools, such as Chromatin immunoprecipitation with sequencing (ChIP-seq), produce “maps” of REs along the genome and have been a ubiquitous approach towards understanding gene regulation. However, REs mapped using ChIP-seq are only understood in context of a linear genome. In reality, REs execute gene control within a three dimensional (3D) genome. Therefore to truly understand gene regulation – gene regulation must be mapped in 3D. Indeed, high throughput chromatin interaction capture (HiC) was developed to produce 3D interaction maps of all 3 billion bases in the human genome, however, HiC does measure transcriptional protein binding, nor whether an interaction is regulatory, thus having limited utility in advancing our understanding of 3D gene regulation. To truly obtain 3D gene regulation maps, a multi-omic assay that concurrently captures the binding of transcriptional proteins and their mediated interactions is necessary. Recently, novel approaches attempt to combine the molecular steps of ChIP-seq and chromatin interaction capture to measure transcriptional protein binding and mediated chromatin interactions in a single, multi-omic assay. However these approaches, termed ChIA-PET and HiChIP, do not efficiently capture chromatin interactions or transcriptional protein binding, respectively. Consequently, there is need for improved assays that produce true multi-omic maps of 3D gene regulation. To satisfy this unmet need, we have developed and commercialized our optimized minimal viable product (MVP) Arima-HiChIP (A-HiChIP) solution. This phase-1 product incorporates innovations designed to meet the needs of early adopter customers, achieving efficient multi-omic mapping of TBP and chromatin interactions in higher input frozen cells and tissues, and a defined subset of transcriptional proteins. We have also developed our phase-1 product for workflow integration, leveraging industry and academic partnerships to reduce barriers in ChIP and bioinformatics components of the workflow, respectively. Our team has deep expertise in the science of chromatin interaction capture, gene regulation, and its commercialization. In 2018, we commercialized Arima- HiC kits for studying general principles of chromatin interactions and within 2 years have accumulated 500+ customers, providing tools to enable published discoveries across a host of basic science and disease research. Based on VOC analytics, we shifted our focus to develop the A-HiChIP kit - a more relatable product to the gene regulation market that customers wanted and that represented a larger market opportunity. Indeed, after our self-funded phase-1 R&D and product developments, we launched our MVP A-HiChIP solution into the market and have seen remarkable success – measured by an increase in our revenue contributions, increased quality of revenue, and traction with key opinion leaders (KOLs), large consortia, and COVID research. However, our phase-1 A-HiChIP has known limitations. In particular, the product falls short of meeting the needs of researchers utilizing common clinical samples types or quantities in their research, or seeking single-cell resolution in their analyses of heterogeneous tissues. As part of this direct-2-phase II program, we propose to further develop our technology to overcome these limitations, meet customer need, and enable broader adoption and application of this powerful multi-omic assay in the form of our second-generation A-HiChIP solution. Specifically, we propose assay developments to enable compatibility with pervasive clinical sample characteristics - ultra-low cell inputs (<100K cells) and FFPE tissues. Further, we propose development of a first-of-its-kind single-cell HiChIP assay and companion bioinformatics tools. We also propose essential product developments, to ensure commercialization of a robust, premium- performance kit-based product that is optimally integrated into the bulk and single-cell sequencing ecosystems. Upon successful completion of these technical and product-oriented aims, we propose to benchmark and validate our phase-2 A-HiChIP solution through collaboration and prototype (beta) kit and bioinformatics evaluations with KOLs across customer segments.", "keywords": [ "3-Dimensional", "Address", "Adoption", "Algorithms", "Area", "Basic Science", "Benchmarking", "Binding", "Binding Proteins", "Bioinformatics", "Biological", "Biological Assay", "Biopsy", "Cell physiology", "Cells", "ChIP-seq", "Characteristics", "Chromatin", "Chromatin Interaction Analysis by Paired-End Tag Sequencing", "Clinical", "Collaborations", "Companions", "DNA Sequence", "Data Analyses", "Development", "Diagnosis", "Disease", "Ecosystem", "Ensure", "Evaluation", "Freezing", "Funding", "Gene Expression", "Gene Expression Regulation", "Generations", "Genes", "Genetic Code", "Genetic Transcription", "Genome", "Genome Mappings", "Genomics", "Human", "Human Genome", "Human body", "Industry", "Maps", "Marketing", "Measures", "Mediating", "Methods", "Molecular", "Performance", "Phase", "Play", "Program Development", "Proteins", "Publishing", "Reagent", "Regulation", "Regulator Genes", "Regulatory Element", "Research", "Research Personnel", "Resolution", "Role", "Sales", "Sampling", "Science", "Shipping", "Specific qualifier value", "Technology", "Testing", "Time", "Tissues", "Traction", "assay development", "base", "bioinformatics tool", "cell type", "chromatin immunoprecipitation", "clinically relevant", "commercialization", "coronavirus disease", "design", "falls", "human disease", "improved", "innovation", "lens", "meetings", "multiple omics", "next generation sequencing", "novel strategies", "preservation", "product development", "programs", "prototype", "research and development", "single cell sequencing", "success", "tool" ], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "11359", "attributes": { "award_id": "1R01MH132401-01", "title": "Inoculating and boosting against HIV vaccine misinformation among adolescent girls and young women in South Africa", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)", "NIH Office of the Director" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 21190, "first_name": "Michael J", "last_name": "Stirratt", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2023-05-22", "end_date": "2028-02-29", "award_amount": 645496, "principal_investigator": { "id": 27415, "first_name": "Alison Meredith", "last_name": "Buttenheim", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [ { "id": 27416, "first_name": "Brendan Geoffrey", "last_name": "Maughan-Brown", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, { "id": 27417, "first_name": "HARSHA", "last_name": "THIRUMURTHY", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "awardee_organization": { "id": 232, "ror": "https://ror.org/00b30xv10", "name": "University of Pennsylvania", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "PA", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "A safe, effective, affordable and acceptable vaccine against HIV has been an epidemic-ending goal for decades, and recent years have seen substantial progress towards developing and testing promising candidate vaccines. For highly vulnerable groups like adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in sub-Saharan Africa, access and uptake of vaccines will be essential for reducing the exceptionally high HIV incidence observed in recent years. This is particularly true in South Africa, which has the world's largest HIV epidemic and several active HIV vaccine trial programs. While an HIV vaccine has the potential to substantially reduce HIV risk, realizing this potential will require widespread vaccine uptake. Unfortunately, the lived experiences of both the HIV epidemic and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have laid the groundwork for an infodemic of misinformation about the HIV vaccine. Likely attributes of the HIV vaccine (e.g., partial protection against HIV), low trust in governmental and medical research institutions, and poor understanding of how vaccines work will leave an HIV vaccine program vulnerable to misinformation among the populations who would most benefit from vaccine-induced protection. To realize the benefits of future HIV vaccines, novel communication strategies are needed to “inoculate” individuals at highest risk of HIV infection against contagious vaccine misinformation. In this study, we bring together two promising approaches – psychological inoculation theory and behavioral economics – to fight HIV vaccine misinformation. Psychological inoculation theory offers a compelling approach to building “resistance” to vaccine misinformation through explicit exposure to a “weakened” version (via direct refutation) of false arguments underlying misinformation, before stronger versions of misinformation are encountered. Importantly, by posits debunking prebunking (or pre-emptively warning individuals about) emerging misinformation, inoculation theory also that t hey will be better able to r esist future misinformation. Prebunking avoids the greater challenge of once misinformation has lodged. In addition, behavioral economics provides a complementary framework that recognize the cognitive and attentional constraints faced by individuals and can inform more effective inoculation messages. We propose a randomized controlled trial of inoculation messages with a behavioral economics “boost” with AGYW in South Africa, a population highly vulnerable to both HIV infection and to vaccine misinformation. Mirroring a vaccine trial, our behavioral trial will evaluate the efficacy, safety, durability, and generalized immunity effects of inoculation messages that are boosted with behavioral economics insights. We will also evaluate differential responses to the messages by important subgroups of AGYW. This proof--of-concept project has the potential to identify innovative communication strategies to build resistance to emerging and evolving HIV vaccine misinformation. Results from the study will advance the science of HIV vaccine demand creation and inoculation-theory based approaches to vaccine communication.", "keywords": [ "Africa South of the Sahara", "Attention", "Behavioral", "Behavioral trial", "COVID-19 pandemic", "COVID-19 vaccine", "Characteristics", "Cognitive", "Communication", "Complement", "Contracts", "Decision Making", "Epidemic", "Exposure to", "Female Adolescents", "Future", "Goals", "HIV", "HIV Infections", "HIV risk", "HIV vaccine", "Hearing", "Immunity", "Incidence", "Individual", "Medical Research", "Misinformation", "Pattern", "Population", "Province", "Randomized Controlled Trials", "Recording of previous events", "Reporting", "Research Institute", "Resistance", "Safety", "Science", "South Africa", "Subgroup", "Surveys", "Testing", "Time", "Trust", "Vaccination", "Vaccines", "Visit", "Vulnerable Populations", "Work", "aged", "arm", "behavioral economics", "design", "efficacy evaluation", "experience", "fighting", "follow-up", "heuristics", "high risk", "innovation", "insight", "interest", "lifetime risk", "novel", "pre-exposure prophylaxis", "programs", "psychologic", "recruit", "response", "theories", "vaccine acceptance", "vaccine candidate", "vaccine hesitancy", "vaccine trial", "vaccine-induced immunity", "willingness", "young woman" ], "approved": true } } ], "meta": { "pagination": { "page": 1384, "pages": 1442, "count": 14420 } } }