AHW invests in six projects | REP welcomes new director | Responsive RFP submissions due June 15

RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PROGRAM

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment to invest in six new research projects

The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment is pleased to announce that, as of November 20, 2015, funding of approximately $1.2 million is being awarded to six research projects.

The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment will provide recipients with approximately $200,000 of support over two years. The Endowment selected the funded projects through the Research and Education Program's competitive Responsive funding opportunity, which was developed during implementation of the 2014-2018 AHW Five-Year Plan.

The investigators on these awards will build basic and clinical science collaborations while working on topics aligned with the Medical College of Wisconsin's research focus areas, such as diabetes and obesity, neurodegenerative disease and population health:

William B. Campbell, PhD, and team will identify new approaches to regulate inflammation and cardiovascular disease via odorant receptors, which are predicted to help blood vessels dilate and improve blood flow.
Bryon Johnson, PhD, and team will test therapies that alter the tumor microenvironment in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) enabling tumor-killing immune cells to reach and destroy cancer cells.
Srividya Kidambi, MD, MS, and team will identify how peripheral adipose tissue (SAT) protects against metabolic diseases compared to visceral adipose tissue (VA) in healthy obese persons, resulting in lower rates of metabolic diseases.
Nita H. Salzman, MD, PhD, aims to eradicate multi-drug resistant strains of enterococci bacteria from the gastrointestinal tract without disrupting host microbiota in order to prevent systemic infection from, and spread of, drug-resistant organisms.
Michael E. Widlansky, MD, MPH, and team will identify and validate a new class of pharmacological inhibitors that could be used therapeutically to significantly reduce diabetic vascular morbidity.
Rodney E. Willoughby, MD, and team seek to develop new non-antibiotic treatments that limit damage and accelerate recovery from deep tissue infections.

These funded teams include more than 20 collaborating researchers from MCW basic science departments, clinical departments, and from partnering academic institutions.

MCW faculty members submitted more than 40 letters of intent in June 2015. The Endowment and the Research and Education Program thank the MCW Research Council, MCW Research and Education Advisory Committee and the individual reviewers who supported the rigorous merit review process used to select the final recipients.

$1M awarded to new research program for stroke survivor rehabilitation

The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment awarded $1 million to develop a new research program dedicated to increasing knowledge of rehabilitation for stroke survivors in Southeast Wisconsin. Much remains unknown regarding the brain's ability to heal and develop altered circuitry to restore function and lessen disability. The new AHW-funded program, led by Diane Braza, MD, Chair and Professor of MCW's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, will lead to new therapies that can improve the health outcomes for stroke survivors and increase our understanding of rehabilitation.