U-M researchers, led by MCIRCC member James Grotberg, MD, PhD, have built the first computer model that predicts the flow of liquid medication in human lungs.

The model has provided new insight into surfactant replacement therapy which is used to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome and a similar condition in premature babies. The treatment has contributed to a dramatic reduction in mortality rates of premature babies but attempts to use it in adults have been largely unsuccessful.

A 1997 clinical study that administered the treatment to adults showed promise, cutting the mortality rate among those who received the medication from 40 percent to 20 percent. But two larger studies in 2004 and 2011 showed no improvement in mortality.

"Everyone walked away from this therapy after the 2011 study failed," Grotberg said. "Adult surfactant replacement therapy has been a great disappointment and puzzlement to the community ever since. But now, we think we've discovered why the later studies didn't improve mortality."

Grotberg and his team used the model to analyze how surfactant medication flowed through the lungs of patients in all three trials. When the simulations were complete, the team quickly saw one detail that set the successful 1997 study apart: a less concentrated version of the medication.

"The medication used in the 1997 study delivered the same dose of medication as the later studies, but it was dissolved in up to four times more liquid," Grotberg said. "The computer simulations showed that this additional liquid helped the medication reach the tiny air sacs in the lungs. So a possible route for success is to go back to the larger volumes used in the successful 1997 study."

Click here to read the full story at Michigan Engineering.

The U-M Medical School has issued a Request for Proposals for the U-M Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization for Life Sciences Program (U-M MTRAC).

Sponsored by the Medical School in partnership with the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Office of Technology Transfer, and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, MTRAC supports funding for proof-of-concept and other early-stage development studies, regulatory guidance, and consultation and mentoring from industry and investment experts outside the University.

MTRAC is using Medical School Competition Space to manage the proposal submission process, and each proposal must have a Principal Investigator with efforted appointment at the Medical School.

Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of scientific merit, potential health care impact and significance, the potential for commercialization, and likelihood of obtaining further support.
In previous years, funding for 22 different proposals has been awarded in four target markets: devices, diagnostics, therapeutics, and healthcare IT. Click here to view those projects.

Instructions for proposal submission can be found at the U-M MTRAC website.

Proposals must contain a comprehensive research plan with deliverable milestones and are due Tuesday, September 8.

Questions? Contact Bradley Martin, Commercialization Program Director at 734-936-8577 or bradmart@med.umich.edu.

Clockwise from top-left: Belle, Najarian,Soroushmehr and Beard

Participants will exchange drafts of proposal sections and receive peer critique and feedback from senior faculty experienced in NIH study section thinking. The workshop only "works" if participants have drafts to discuss.

Registrants MUST attend all three sessions. Your mentor is expected to attend Session 1 (November 4) or Session 2 (November 18).

Registration is required and closes on October 19.

Click here for more information and to register.