NEW RESEARCH AWARDS
Congratulations to the recipients of F/Y 26 new grant and contract awards. The projects featured below include both prime awards and subawards administered by Veterans Medical Research Foundation. These awards reflect the outstanding efforts of our research community to advance healthcare and improve outcomes for Veterans.
Infectious Diseases
PI: Mary Lewinski, MD
Title: Developing an AI-Guided Triculture Platform to Model NeuroHIV specific Microglial States Under ART Suppression with CellPaint/Morphological and Transcriptomic Readouts
Agency: NIH
Overview: It is hypothesized that the triculture system, enhanced with AI-driven morphological profiling and functional analyses, can effectively model HIV-associated brain injury (HABI) in the context of chronic, antiretroviral therapy (ART)-suppressed HIV infection. The primary objective is to establish a preclinical model that accurately reflects HABI pathophysiology under ART conditions.
PI: Mary Lewinski, MD
Title: Mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in substance use disorder and HIV
Agency: NIH
Overview: The project will execute experiments involving HIV infection of microglia. The titer and infectivity of the prepared virus will be assessed using p24 ELISA, TZM-bl indicator cells, and a luciferase assay. Microglia for HIV-1 infection will be provided by Dr. Lewinski’s laboratory at UC San Diego. The multiplicity of infection (MOI) and viral strain will be optimized, with viral replication evaluated through fixation and staining for p24 expression, followed by analysis using flow cytometry.
Mental Health
PI: James Pittman, PhD
Title: Supported Online Self-Help for Veterans with Depression in Primary Care (SOS-Depression)
Agency: DOD
Overview: Dr. Pittman serves as the site PI overseeing study operations for the VA San Diego site including but not limited to recruitment, implementation efforts, data collection. He provides guidance for PRISM assessment, integration of implementation science models, measures, methods, and analyses as needed. Dr. Pittman provides on-site and remote guidance and expertise for the implementation of RPIW at the study sites.
Nephrology
PI: Elias Ugwu, MD
Title: EASi-KIDNEY, Studies of Heart & Kidney Protection with BI 690517 in combination with empagliflozin: A multicenter, international, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of the aldosterone synthase inhibitor BI 690517 in combination with empagliflozin in patients with chronic kidney disease
Sponsor: Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals/Duke Clinical Research Institute
Sponsor: Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Overview: A clinical trial to assess whether in addition to standard care, a new drug reduces serious adverse events in chronic kidney disease.
Title: Novel role of urinary urate in renal cystogenesis and water regulation
Agency: NIH
Overview: This study proposes a novel hypothesis in the collecting duct whereby the interplay between apical uptake of urate via URAT1 and the apical exit of urate via ABCG2 determine cytosolic concentrations of urate, which stimulates water reabsorption via aquaporin-2 by a vasopressin-independent mechanism. This hypothesis, if confirmed, critically expands our understanding of the physiology of collecting duct water transport. Moreover, it provides new strategies in patients with polycystic kidney disease to attenuate the polyuria induced by vasopressin V2 receptor blockers, which otherwise limits drug compliance and worsens kidney outcome due to stimulating vasopressin.
Title: Role of SLC6A19 in Amino Acid-Induced Glomerular Hyperfiltration
Sponsor: Jnana Therapeutics, Inc
Overview: The goal of this collaboration is to define the role of SLC6A19 in the kidney hemodynamic response to changes in plasma amino acid levels and compare the response with an SGLT2 inhibitor. To achieve this, a specific inhibitor of SLC6A19 from Jnana Therapeutics will be utilized in rat studies.
Radiology
PI: James Chen, MD
Title: Quantitative imaging and molecular data modeling for brain tumor recurrence and progression analysis
Agency: NIH
Overview: The goal of this project is to create/obtain consensus masks for tumor recurrence (TR), radiation necrosis (RN) and rapid early progression (REP) masks for pre-existing anonymized datasets. Dr. Chen will analyze and interpret the molecular data for patients with TR, REP and RN, and provide clinical perspectives in developing explainable AI methods for this study.