Recovery Tracker
How We Compiled Our Data. Visit our Eye on the Stimulus blog. Data current as of Sept. 30, 2009 (the latest available data as of Dec. 2009).
Los Angeles County
Funding Breakdown
| U.S. | California | Los Angeles | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 304,059,724 | 36,756,666 | 9,862,049 | |
| Total recovery funding | $260,908,876,834 | $30,370,171,990 | $3,146,795,904 | |
| Direct to County | $188,787,799,322 | $21,262,466,616 | $3,146,795,904 | |
| County Funds per Capita | $621 | $578 | $319 | |
| Unemployment (10/09) |
10.2 | 12.5 | 12.6 | |
| Median Household Income | $50,007 | $58,361 | $52,628 | |
| Poverty Rate | 13.3% | 13.0% | 15.4% |
Stimulus contracts, grants and loans as of Dec. 7, 2009.
County Projects
Stimulus contracts, grants and loans in Los Angeles County, California. Data last updated on Sept. 30, 2009 (the latest available data as of Dec. 2009).
Note: There still may be overrepresentation of money going to counties where state capitals are because of funding going to state agencies but where the data did not designate that it was to be used statewide.
Amount refers to both the amount of stimulus funding going toward the project and the face value of the loan.
| Recipient | Amount | Type | Description | Agency | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE | $107,504.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The goal of this proposal is to train talented students from underrepresented groups to become field ecologists engaging in international collaboration. To accomplish this goal, the PIs will provide a comprehensive year-round research experience, including a summer of research in Costa Rica under the mentorship of Costa Rican scientists. Each year, at least four undergraduates and one graduate student will be competitively selected for the program from CSU Dominguez Hills and Occidental College. They will be joined by an inner-city high school biology teacher and short-term research recruits and citizen scientists. The participants will develop their research projects collaboratively with the PIs and their mentors in the spring, and will continue with their projects in the fall after returning to their home institution. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 5/29/2009 |
| LOS ANGELES BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE AT HARBOR-UCLA MEDICAL CENTER | $70,460.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that is able to survive as a commensal organism in several anatomically distinct sites. In compromised hosts, the manifestations of invasive infection caused by C. albicans vary based upon the particular anatomical origin of the causative strain. Phagocytes are the central effectors in host defense against hematogenously disseminated candidiasis. Using a new function-based approach, we have successfully identified a Candida albicans putative gene, HYR1, which encodes resistance to neutrophil-killing activity in vitro. In addition, we found that Bcr1p, a transcription factor positively regulating HYR1 expression, is also required for full resistance to neutrophil-killing. Based on these data, we hypothesize that Bcr1p, through the activation of its downstream effector, Hyr1p, contributes to survivability of C. albicans during hematogenous dissemination, increasing severity of infection. Our objective is to determine the impact of BCR1 during hematogenously disseminated candidiasis in mice, and to determine the relationship between BCR1 and HYR1 in regulating these processes. In this application, we will 1) determine the impact of BCR1 disruption on tissue fungal burden, inflammatory response and survivability during hematogenously disseminated murine candidiasis; and 2) determine if HYR1 autonomous expression complements the bcr1 null mutation in vitro and in vivo. While neutrophil-resistance mechanisms are well described for bacteria, the proposed studies will elucidate the first genetic relationship between an upstream regulator and a downstream effector for fungal resistance to neutrophil killing in vitro. Furthermore, the results of the proposed aims will define the in vivo effects of genes which control candidal resistance to phagocytic-killing in vitro. These studies will enable submission of a follow up R01 to identify additional members of the signal transduction pathway and to elucidate the mechanisms by which these genes mediate resistance to neutrophil killing in vitro and in vivo. As well, these putative virulence gene products will become potential targets for development of novel prophylactic and therapeutic strategies. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Candida is a cause of lethal infections in hospitalized patients. It is critical to understand how Candida causes such infections in order to create new ways to prevent and treat these infections. We have identified two genes that help the fungus to resist neutrophil killing in test tube. We will determine how these genes help the fungus to cause disease in mice, which will enable development of treatment strategies targeting these genes. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/15/2009 |
| PEN CENTER USA | $50,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/01/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $130,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The investigator will develop designs for statistical experiments that adapt over time to incoming data -- so-called 'adaptive designs' -- and plans for analyzing data coming out of such experiments for two general classes of problems: (I) optimal parameter estimation, control, and design in multiperiod regression problems with nonlinear models (e.g., generalized linear models), and (II) time-sequential tests of multiple hypotheses. In Part I, recent computational advances known as approximate dynamic programming will be harnessed that hold promise for developing optimal or nearly-optimal estimation and control procedures in nonlinear regression models. In Part II, recent methodological advances will be used and extended to develop a unified approach to testing multiple hypotheses over time or in stages in a statistically optimal way, with either strong (FWER) or weak (FDR) error control. For both parts, the performance of the resulting procedures will be studied analytically, assessed through extensive numerical simulations, and applied to real data. Applications in economics, DNA microarray data, psychometric testing, biomedical trials, and engineering control problems will be addressed, and practical algorithms will be developed for real, on-line implementation in these areas. Many statistical challenges of great societal importance require adapting one's actions quickly and intelligently as new information arrives over time. Some of these areas include solar energy, robotics, automobile emissions, homeland security, and health care. In this project the investigator will develop the statistical procedures and algorithms that underlie some of the most challenging problems in these areas. Part I of this project concerns regression problems, where the observer can influence the settings under which statistical information is generated, and how to design and change these settings over time in order to most efficiently learn about unknown parameters and control the effects of the chosen settings. Recent computational advances known as approximate dynamic programming hold the potential to solve previously intractable problems of this form. Part II concerns how to most efficiently combine statistical information from many disparate sources over time in order to reach justified conclusions, and how to avoid the multiple testing fallacy of false discoveries. The theory underlying these problems will be studied to develop data analysis and computational algorithms for real, on-line implementation, and software packages will be developed to facilitate applications. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/04/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $85,270.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Dr. Andrew F. Boden of the California Institute of Technology will undertake a study of the properties of binary stars at various stages of their lives. Binary stars are fundamental calibrators of stellar evolution, since the masses of the stars and the distance to each system can be accurately determined. This in turn yields the stellar luminosity, which measures the rate of nuclear energy generation. This award will support an established program of interferometric, astrometric, and radial velocities of binaries, including recently formed binaries and those with a high abundance of iron-peak elements. The project is expected to improve physical models of stars and to provide important information on the process of star formation. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/03/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $585,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The ARRA award will be used to hire a postdoc and | National Science Foundation | 6/08/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $533,999.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The productivity of many aquatic ecosystems is often limited by the availability of a key nutrient. In the oceans and in some lakes nitrogen is often that key limiting nutrient. Nitrogen, which is critical for life, occurs in diverse chemical forms including nitrogen gas, ammonium, nitrate and various organic species such as amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) and nucleic acids (the building blocks of DNA). Nitrogen can be converted among these species by various microbes which thereby affect the relative availability of forms of nitrogen useful to plants (e.g. nitrate and ammonium) and higher organisms. Nitrogen cycle processes may themselves be limited by other nutrient factors. For instance, many of the key enzyme reactions in the biological nitrogen cycle require metals for their activity. In particular, molybdenum, is a required component of the enzymes of the nitrogen cycle pathways involved in the uptake of nitrate (nitrate assimilation) and nitrogen gas (nitrogen fixation). In lake ecosystems, a major unknown is how nutrient trace metals that generally exist at very low concentrations control the cycling of nitrogen. The main objective of this study is to determine how the chemical form of nutrient trace metals, such as molybdenum (as well as iron and copper), affect the capacity of organisms to take them up. Studies will be undertaken in three lakes in California and Nevada with contrasting productivity and trace metal concentration. Whereas the uptake of nitrate and nitrogen gas is often controlled by iron availability in marine systems, it is hypothesized that in lakes the limiting trace element for these processes is molybdenum. To test this hypothesis, the PI's have developed new analytical techniques that measure the different chemical species of molybdenum in these lakes. This project will provide considerable new information on the importance of metal availability and form in controlling key nitrogen cycle processes. High quality data on metal abundance in lakes is scarce. These studies will therefore provide information on how metal loading has changed and affected these systems over time. Extensive development and subsequent human perturbations have occurred since the earlier intensive studies were conducted in the watersheds of some of these lakes. The project will provide employment and training in state of the art techniques and approaches for undergraduate, graduate students and postdoctoral associates. The PIs teach at both the graduate and undergraduate levels and are active in K-grey education and outreach programs. Both are activists in increasing gender and ethnic diversity in the environmental sciences. The results will be widely disseminated through presentations and publications. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/11/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $120,421.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Investigation of the evolution of leaf form in Vib | National Science Foundation | 6/06/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $400,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Scheduling policies are at the heart of all computer systems and are a key determinant of system performance. The goal of this project is to provide a rigorous foundation for modern scheduling design issues. The project includes two main directions that correspond to two important modern design paradigms. The first direction is understanding the impact of prioritization. Prioritization is now a fundamental part of system design, and it is applied for many reasons, e.g., to provide QoS guarantees, to provide differentiated service, or simply to provide improved performance. The second direction is understanding scheduling in distributed/parallel architectures. Distributed/parallel designs are now the norm rather than the exception, and they present a wide variety of important scheduling and resource allocation issues. Across these two directions there are two themes that play a prominent role in the research. The first theme is the importance of power management in modern designs. As energy costs soar, power management is increasingly being treated as a first-class design metric, and must be considered when designing scheduling policies. The second theme is the benefit of applying economic tools, such as game theoretic techniques, to approach scheduling questions. Economic tools are increasingly being exploited with great success by computer scientists, and the domain of scheduling is no exception. Because scheduling is important to a wide variety of scientific, engineering, computing, and business applications, this project will have a broad impact beyond computer science. However, because of the interdisciplinary nature of scheduling, there are a wide variety of approaches across very distinct communities. One goal of this project is to provide courses and educational tools that help to bring these communities together. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/25/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $449,571.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support There has been an abundance of research in recent years on polymeric amphiphiles as drug carriers. These materials, formulated as micelles, vesicles and emulsion droplets, can exhibit greater stability and improved control over release compared to conventional lipids or surfactant based carriers, and thus show great promise for encapsulation and delivery applications. While much has been accomplished in micelle forming carriers, there has been much less progress in the incorporation of multiple levels of functionality into polymer vesicles and emulsion systems for stimuli responsiveness, controlled release, and targeting to specific cells, as well as tuning of amphiphile components for controlled assembly or degradability. For these reasons, there is a need for amphiphilic polymers that can be prepared using a versatile method that allows fine tuning of chemical composition and structure, and uses building blocks that are biocompatible and easily functionalized. Our group has been working on polypeptide amphiphiles since these materials are reproducibly prepared they are metal and pyrogen free in large quantities, chain lengths and compositions are easily modified, they allow facile incorporation of bioactive functionality in amino acid monomers, and, most importantly, their chain conformations can be used to guide assembly into vesicles and emulsions independent of many other parameters. Here, we will develop and prepare polypeptide amphiphiles that contain an unprecendented amount of structural and functional programming to guide assembly into vesicle and novel double emulsion structures, as well as features for intracellular drug delivery. Our iterative process involving polypeptide development, assembly and in vitro testing will provide valuable information and potential carriers for encapsulation and delivery of both polar and non-polar therapeutic molecules. In this project, the PIs will continue their successful training of graduate and undergraduate bioengineering students, taking advantage of the scientifically rich, multi-disciplinary environment at UCLA. Students trained under this program will be valuable in the industrial job force (both pharmaceutical and materials science areas) since they will learn fundamentals of polymer synthesis using catalysis and self-assembly, cell culture and drug trafficking, as well as more applied areas of materials characterization and property evaluation. The PIs will also continue their work in development and teaching of bioengineering curricula, for both graduates and undergraduates, that involves concepts and lab methods used in this proposal. This proposal aims to develop polypeptide amphiphiles able to form vesicles and emulsions that incorporate a wide range of chemical functionality to improve intracellular drug delivery. This research is relevant to pharmaceutical and polymer science fields and will provide materials with combinations of features presently unobtainable and useful for cancer therapies. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/06/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $285,147.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support In this project, Dr. Ben Oppenheimer of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and Dr. Lynne Hillenbrand of the California Institute of Technology will conduct a survey of nearby stars to detect planetary companions. They have previously developed a new instrument which has unprecedented sensitivity in the direct detection of planets near bright stars. The instrumentation is fully functional and initial observations on the Palomar 5-m telescope have already demonstrated a factor of 100 improvement in speckle suppression relative to other coronagraphs. With this project, they will begin a three-year survey with over 120 nights of guaranteed time on the Palomar telescope. There are two main goals: first, they will observe fainter and younger stars than current systems can track utilizing a new type of speckle suppression technique recently demonstrated from Palomar; second, with the implementation of Palomar's 3000 actuator adaptive-optics system in 2010, they will begin a survey of the brightest (youngest) stars in the Northern hemisphere to find exoplanets and measure their spectra. The project should yield a significant sample of exoplanets and other objects (from brown dwarfs to disks) in orbit around nearby stars. The research team will involve undergraduates through programs at AMNH and at Caltech's SURF Program, as well as high-school students from under-represented groups, through the museum's high-school research program. They will also bring the Museum's AstroBulletin program of biweekly news items and twice-yearly documentaries to the Palomar Observatory's Visitor Center, so that current science is continuously presented to that museum's more than 100,000 visitors per year. These AstroBulletins reach over 11 million people through AMNH and 45 partner institutions around the world. Palomar would be the newest partner institution under this program. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/13/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $889,157.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Dr. Djorgovski and his team will use the data stream from the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) to search for transient astronomical objects including flare stars, gamma-ray bursts, and strong microlensing events. That survey uses two wide-field telescopes in Arizona and one in Australia to catalog objects in the Solar System, particularly asteroids on orbits that bring them close to Earth. The team will build an open optical-transient discovery engine to compare image from CSS with earlier images of the same piece of sky and identify sources that have brightened. The team will provide the resulting data stream on a public server accessed by Virtual Observatory protocols, so that it is available to the wider community for immediate followup observations. Graduate and undergraduate students will be trained by participating in the research. The team plans to work with Microsoft's World Wide Telescope project to present the event stream in a form accessible to amateur astronomers and the general public. This project will be the first that allows rapid followup of such a wide range of bright transient sources, and can act as a testbed to develop scientific strategies and procedures. The resulting science is potentially transformative, and will inform decisions on building and operating future facilities such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/31/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $88,885.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The goal of the proposed work is to understand the dynamics of the Earth?s interior and the long-term evolution of our planet. The motion of tectonic plates and the attendant earthquakes are surface expressions of a large-scale flow in the interior, which is driven by a combination of thermal and compositional buoyancy as the planet cools. Most of the geological processes we observe at the surface are related in one way or another to this large-scale flow. However, our understanding of the flow from a dynamical perspective is far from complete. What is the origin of the buoyancy that drives the flow? How does this flow interact with tectonic plates at the surface? How and why does the flow reorganize and cause (relatively) abruptly changes in plate motions. We propose to address these questions developing a new theoretical model for the large-scale flow and by introducing several new observations to test and refine the model. We propose several important advances over previous studies. First, we plan to develop a more complete treatment of subduction zones in global models of flow. The dynamics of subduction is described by a new viscous sheet model that explicitly includes the effects of plate bending as well as the tensile stresses inside the plate due to the weight of the cold and dense subducted plate. Observations of deep earthquakes in subducted plates provide valuable information about the stress state inside the plates. We plan to make use of this information for the first time in global flow models. Second, we propose to develop a self-consistent description of lateral variations in viscosity. Thermal buoyancy is expected to cause large variations in viscosity due to the strong temperature dependence of important transport properties (like viscosity). We propose to use this self-consistent model to predict flow when the buoyancy forces are inferred from tomographic models of seismic heterogeneity. The conversion from seismic anomaly to density anomaly is a controversial issue, particularly in the lower part of the mantle. The relative importance of thermal and composition buoyancy is not well known. We plan to use a recently detected free oscillation of the Earth to constrain the gravity field in the interior. Different conversions from seismic anomaly to density anomaly have different consequences for the global gravity field, which can be tested using gravity measurements at the surface and our new constraint on the gravity field in the interior. We hope to gain a better understanding of the buoyancy forces that drive the flow and provide new insights into the role of plates in organizing the flow. The proposed work supports two young female investigators (Dr. Kayla Lewis and Ms. Melanie Gerault) and fosters a new collaboration between USC and UC Berkeley. The proposed work will also use, adapt and improve an existing computer code in the CIG repository (an NSF-funded initiative). We intend to contribute the new code back to CIG when the project is completed. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/23/2009 |
| TRANSPORTATION, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF | $13,651,950.00 | Grant | Highway Planning In Sun Valley and Sylmar, from Hollywood Way to no | Federal Highway Administration | 7/08/2009 |
| LONG BEACH, CITY OF | $4,008,250.00 | Grant |
NATIONAL CLEAN DIESEL FUNDING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (B) The Port of Long Beach was awarded a National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program Grant to fund retrofit, replacement and repower projects or programs targeting cargo-handling equipment and harbor crafts on behalf of five terminal operators within the Port of Long Beach. The terminal operators (or subrecipients) include: 1) International Transportation Service, Inc., 2) Foss Maritime Company, 3) SA Recycling, LLC, 4) California United Terminals, Inc., and 5) Metro Ports. The general purpose of the grant is to reduce diesel emissions and improve air quality. Show more...
There were 5 sub-recipients, vendors, and/or sub-vendors associated with this. See details |
Environmental Protection Agency | 7/10/2009 |
| MT SAN ANTONIO COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT | $90,715.00 | Grant | FEDERAL WORK-STUDY PROGRAM Federal Work-Study provides need-based financial a | Department of Education | 7/01/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $600,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Development of design and management techniques for minimizing energy consumed by the heterogeneous networking and computing devices and appliances that are at the edges of the Internet, i.e. at homes and workplace, and which are subject to highly dynamic workloads. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/26/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $600,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This project focuses on understanding the principles and methods for the design of green networks at the edge of the Internet. The total power consumption of edge networks is estimated to be quite significant, so even moderate improvements in energy-usage in an individual device can result in non-trivial savings overall. Obtaining these moderate improvements in the energy-efficiency of edge networks is challenging for two reasons: the diversity of edge networks and the dynamics in their workload. Intellectual Merit. Leveraging the researchers' combined expertise in low-power electronics, link-layer technologies, and energy-efficient network subsystem design and architecture, the project will: a) devise a deep energy-inspection architecture that encompasses a broad range of edge devices and networking technologies, and incorporates innovative hardware designs for subsystem-level monitoring and control of energy usage; b) explore run-time energy adaptation at various levels of the network, enabled by this inspection architecture; c) examine coordination mechanisms for controlling edge network energy usage which will allow coordinated energy management across components and devices, enabling more aggressive energy savings. Broad Impacts. The project can have significant societal benefit, targeted as it is on sustainable technologies. Moreover, the techniques it develops for energy efficiency can be broadly applied to other areas of computing: large server systems, mobile devices, and consumer appliances. Beyond its impact on technology, the project will also contribute to workforce development by training EE and CS students in sustainability. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/26/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $670,401.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Both in individuals living with cancer and in the general population, the experience of clinical depression exacts a profound psychological, physical, and economic toll. Little research has examined the unfolding risk for depressive symptoms and episodes after a breast cancer diagnosis with careful assessments repeated over time. Moreover, theory and research in depression and in emotion science have not been integrated and tested in sophisticated biopsychosocial models to advance understanding of risk and protective factors/processes for depression in cancer patients. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/04/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $645,565.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Adolescent Health Literacy: Improving Use of Preventive Health Services in order to to enhance adolescent health literacy, increasing teens 'capacity to access and use their insurance and the current health care system, so they can become empowered health consumers as they transition into adulthood. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/17/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $321,923.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Geodetic deformation across the Himalaya reflects primarily locking of the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT) fault from the surface to a depth of about 15-20km. Local seismic monitoring has revealed clustered seismicity that is probably driven by stress accumulation near the downdip edge of the locked fault zone. The pattern of geodetic strain and the distribution of seismicity show however lateral variations which could reveal heterogeneous stress build up on the Also both geodetic strain and seismicity show strong seasonal variations. These may be induced by landwater storage variations, mostly in the Gangetic plain, but other causes may also be advocated. We therefore offer to analyze the spatial pattern and temporal evolution of geodetic strain and seismicity in the Nepal Himalaya using data from Continuous GPS (CGPS) from Nepal and southern Tibet, and seismicity recorded by the National Seismic Network of Nepal. The main objectives of this project are to (1) determine the pattern of locking on the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT), (2) assess the relationship between interseismic strain build up and seismicity, (3) determine the cause of temporal changes of strain, (4) analyze the relationship between seismicity and strain rates and derive implications for earthquake nucleation. The project will help constrain the spatio-temporal pattern of stress build up that is preparing future earthquakes in the Nepal Himalaya. It will advance our understanding of the physical parameters that determine whether a fault creeps steadily or has a stick-slip motion producing repeating seismic slip events. It will also advance our understanding of earthquake nucleation. The project will contribute important information regarding seismic hazard in Nepal and northern India. Indeed, the frequency of large earthquakes in the Himalaya depends critically on the rate at which deficit of slip accumulates in the interseismic period. Also the spatial pattern of deficit of slip is probably heterogeneous and might influence large earthquake ruptures as has been inferred for a number of subduction zones.This project will address most challenging questions in seismotectonics: why does a particular fault portion creeps or produces earthquakes? How does seismicity rate relates to interseismic strain buildup and to other sources of stress fluctuations (earth tides, snow loading, landwater storage.) Finally, the project will foster international scientific collaboration and will constitute the core of a PhD research project. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/06/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $2,475,347.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The Research and Training Grant 'Analysis and Applications' has as its aim the increase of the numbers of US students interested in mathematics and, more specifically, in fields related to mathematical analysis. The grant provides training funds to undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral scholars at UCLA who pursue their studies in a field related to mathematical analysis. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/15/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $469,164.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support With support from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities: Multiuser program (CRIF:MU), the Departments of Chemistry at the University of Southern California (USC) and California State University - Fullerton (CSUF) will collaborate on the acquisition and remote control cyber enabling of a 400 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer to be housed at USC. It will be employed in a wide variety of research projects, supporting structural, reaction, and analytical studies such as 1) new synthetic routes to inorganic nanocrystals; 2) the development of new synthetic methods in organic and organometallic chemistry; 3) studies of biologically important organophosphorus compounds; 4) new synthetic methods and synthesis of bioactive molecules; and 5) the design of novel RNA binding peptides. Multinuclear NMR spectroscopy is a key analysis and characterization tool in chemistry today. The spectra enable researchers to track the progress of chemical reactions, identify unknown substances and provide information on the atomic arrangement and structures in species ranging from small molecules to large proteins by detecting transitions between energy levels arising from the nuclear spin properties of atoms. This instrument will support the education of future scientists at levels from undergraduate, to graduate student, to postdoctoral research associate. It will be used in lab courses for both chemistry and biochemistry students at USC and CSUF. Cyber infrastructure will be developed for both the remote control of the autosampler enabled instrument, as well as remote access for data collection/analysis from the instrument with a web based system. A practical NMR methods course will be developed jointly at USC and CSUF to train students in the use of the NMR spectrometer. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 9/10/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $556,647.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The goal of this project is to develop a computational theory of biological motion perception by integrating modeling with psychophysical experiments. The theory addresses the underlying representation of biological motion and the use of visual information at different processing levels: identifying specific actions, recognizing a variety of action types, and understanding action interactions. The relative contributions of image-based, structure-based and motion-based information will be quantified by measuring how efficiently human observers can process such information in the context of action identification. The formation of flexible representations of action categories will be studied in the context of recognition of biological movements. The ability to infer action interactions will be assessed by linking perception with higher-level cognitive processes, particularly causal reasoning. A series of psychophysical experiments will be conducted in the computational vision and learning laboratory led by Dr. Lu. Computational models will be developed to make a comparison with human performance and thereby develop deeper understanding of biological motion perception. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/23/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $478,830.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Investigation of current and future urban-climate | National Science Foundation | 6/05/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $145,543.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Although earthquakes are commonly modeled as frictional instabilities on planar fault surfaces, most natural faults have a more complex structure. Most displacement appears to be concentrated in one or more relatively narrow (mm to cm scale) ?cores? of highly strained granular rock which are bordered by wide layers (meters to tens of meters) of fragmented and shattered rock. Termed gouge, breccia, or pulverized rock, these layers share one important characteristic: they appear to have accommodated little or no macroscopic shear strain. Such low-strain layers of shattered rock raise two important questions: how were they formed and do they affect the dynamics of individual earthquakes? It has long been hypothesized that the gouge and breccia layers were formed to accommodate geometrical barriers (bends and jogs) as total displacement accumulated on an evolving fault, and were then abandoned when slip localized in the core. However, recent theoretical, laboratory and seismological field studies have found that the stress concentration at the tip of an earthquake rupture can shatter rock to distances of tens of meters from the fault core. These studies raise the possibility that gouge, breccia, and pulverized rock might form, primarily, in the dynamic stress fields of a sequence of earthquakes, and that the structure of a fault zone might therefore contain useful information about past events. Laboratory based high-speed photographic observations of rupture propagation in fracture damaged materials have also found that off-fault damage can strongly affect the rupture velocity, even in cases where the damage is not increased by the formation of new fractures. These results are supported by 2D numerical models of dynamic rupture propagation where the effects of the off-fault damage have been approximated by Mohr-Coulomb plasticity. These models, however, do not take into account either the size or density of fractures that constitute pre-existing damage surrounding the fault-core. The investigators propose to develop a new generation of numerical dynamic earthquake models in which the generation of off-fault damage and its effect on rupture propagation are modeled using a micromechanical damage mechanics model expanded and made suitable for numerical modeling by Deshpande and Evans [2008]. This model represents a significant improvement on previous models that use Mohr-Coulomb plasticity or even continuum damage mechanics in that it takes into account pre-existing damage in the medium, frictional loss on fractures in the fault zone, as well as the nucleation and propagation of new fractures. Because it specifically accounts for the evolution of the size and density of fractures, it makes predictions that can be tested in the field, and verified in the laboratory. Moreover, dynamic changes in fracture density at the tip of an earthquake rupture may have a significant effect on thermal pressurization models currently used to rationalize the low value of the coefficient of dynamic friction required to satisfy heat flow and other petrological constraints on the mechanics of earthquakes. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/02/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $2,469,746.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Title: Research Training in Algebra and related fi | National Science Foundation | 6/15/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $338,226.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Central American Magmatic Volatile Histories as Re | National Science Foundation | 7/04/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $428,461.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Over the past two decades, the fundamental importance of iron and other bioactive trace metals in structuring marine food webs and biogeochemical cycles has been realized. Even more recently, over the past several years, the international ocean science community has begun to mobilize in an urgent effort to understand the ecosystem-level consequences of rising anthropogenic CO2 and acidification of the global ocean. This project examines the intersection of these two major research themes, by asking the question: How will the trace element requirements of marine phytoplankton change in response to future increases in atmospheric pCO2? Preliminary data generated by the investigators suggests that changing pCO2 can indeed profoundly affect the cellular quotas of Fe, Mo, Zn, Cd, Co and Mn in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic phytoplankton. Trace metals play critical roles as enzymatic co-factors for processes that are closely linked to the availability of CO2 such as carbon and nitrogen fixation, photosynthetic electron transport, and nutrient acquisition. Therefore, it is important to develop methods to quantitatively predict how algal metal requirements will change in tomorrow's rapidly changing ocean. The investigators will take a three-pronged approach to addressing this overarching question. Laboratory experiments will measure the trace metal quotas of steady-state cultures of key phytoplankton functional groups like diatoms, coccolithophores, Phaeocystis, and diazotrophic and pico-cyanobacteria while varying pCO2 both alone, and together with other limiting factors such as iron, temperature, and light. Field work in the Southern California bight will provide measurements in trace metal stoichiometry of natural phytoplankton communities over a seasonal cycle in relation to pCO2 and other environmental variables -- this region is already experiencing some of the largest increases in acidic upwelled water along the entire West Coast. This observational and correlative study will be coupled with manipulative experiments at the USC Catalina Island facility in which trace metal quotas of the same natural phytoplankton communities can be measured in relation to pCO2 shifts under controlled incubation conditions. Together, these three complementary approaches will enable the investigators to determine over a variety of temporal and spatial scales how phytoplankton-driven trace element biogeochemistry is likely to change in a future high-CO2 ocean. The broader impacts include providing an opportunity for a major career milestone for young lead investigator Fu, a female minority investigator at USC, as well as opportunities for under-represented students through the summer NSF-REU programs, senior research thesis programs at USC, and a new initiative for student recruitment with the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science. The societal and scientific impacts of this project include offering a novel perspective on the integrated responses of ocean biology and biogeochemistry to ongoing anthropogenic change, with the ultimate goal of better predicting future shifts in basic ocean resources and potential feedbacks to global climate. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/07/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $300,001.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support In this project we propose the study of SiC membranes which show the potential to overcome some of the difficulties other membranes face, which have proven unstable in the presence of O2 and steam at temperatures higher than 300C; these are the conditions typically encountered in reactive separations for H2 production, and in fuel-cell applications. SiC is a promising material that has high fracture toughness, good thermal shock resistance, and is capable of withstanding high temperatures and corrosive environments. Our current research with these materials focuses on the preparation of appropriate SiC membrane supports, and the deposition on these substrates of thin nanoporous films by the pyrolysis of pre-ceramic polymeric precursors. Our preliminary studies have shown that using new types of PCS materials leads to the preparation of hydrogen-permselective membranes. However, significant progress must still be made before these SiC membranes become appropriate for practical applications. In this project we will, therefore, systematically investigate and further improve the technique of pre-ceramic polymer pyrolysis to produce nanoporous SiC membranes and films, which are both cost-efficient and industrially viable. Our emphasis will be on understanding the factors determining the ability of these SiC materials to separate gas mixtures, based on differences in molecular mobility and molecule-pore surface interactions. We will proceed along two paths: (1) the preparation and characterization of SiC membranes, and the computational modeling of their molecular structure; and (2) the measurement and simultaneous computer simulation of sorption and transport of mixtures through these membranes. Coupling experiments and simulations will facilitate efforts to relate the membrane's molecular structure with its transport properties, and separation efficacy. This, in turn, will enable progress toward the long-term goal of first-principle molecular engineering and design of improved materials for adsorption and separation. This research project will provide a valuable educational experience and training for the graduate and undergraduate students involved, in that it will provide them with the opportunity to prepare and characterize a novel class of new materials, and to learn a host of state-of-the-art computational and experimental techniques. The urban setting of USC affords the opportunity to work with a variety of 2-4 year colleges in the area. Our plan is to recruit qualified undergraduates as summer interns, and potentially as incoming graduate students. We plan to disseminate the results of our work through peer reviewed publications, presentations at technical meetings, and by makings all reports available on the Web. We will also take advantage of the ever evolving undergraduate curriculum program at USC, which emphasizes vertically- and horizontally-integrated degree projects consisting of emphasis-specific experimental/laboratory modules associated with each core Chemical Engineering course. The PI?s envision integrating research findings and aspects of their work as the degree projects in the Reactor Analysis, Transport Phenomena, and Separation courses. The proposed novel SiC membranes show good potential for reactive applications for the production of hydrogen and for fuel-cell applications. In addition to focusing attention on an important class of materials, this project will also generate fundamental insight, which will impact the knowledge-base of the broader field of transport and reaction in nanoporous media, and is likely to catalyze new thinking and rapid new advances in the area. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/16/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $500,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This award is for support of a project working to demonstrate a novel method for producing and trapping ultracold molecular ions. The impact of this method for producing ground-state, ultracold molecular ions will be profound. The availability of such samples would allow the study and possible control of chemistry in the quantum regime; understanding the formation of interstellar clouds; precision measurement of molecular transitions for test of fundamental physics; and the implementation of scalable quantum computation architecture. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/15/2009 |
| SANTA MONICA SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION | $25,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/23/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $175,374.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Intellectual merit: Zircon is a widespread component of siliceous igneous rocks and hosts a wide range of trace elements (e.g., REE) and isotopic species (e.g., O, Hf, Pb and U) that are useful for geochronologic, petrogenetic and geochemical studies of the crust. Zircon can provide unique constraints on early earth history because its refractory nature allows it to be preserved in sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks when other vestiges of its parent rock have been destroyed. However, zircons are typically small (tens to hundreds of microns) and often preserve complex, micron-scale compositional zonation that cannot be resolved by conventional microanalytical techniques (e.g., laser ablation or most secondary ion mass spectrometers). Therefore it is critical to develop analytical approaches to studying zircon geochemistry at the small spatial scales characteristic of its compositional zonation, and to understand the processes that control zircon compositions on such scales. In this study, micron-scale trace-element distributions will be determined in natural zircons and in synthetic zircons grown under controlled conditions. Particular goals include: o Develop and standardize methods for quantitative analysis of trace elements in zircons at ??m and sub-??m scales using the nanoSIMS high-resolution ion microprobe o Examine trace element distributions within natural zircons, in an effort to identify element/element ratios and/or spatial patterns of zonation that are typical of equilibrium vs. non-equilibrium growth processes o Experimentally extend calibrations of equilibrium partitioning of trace elements between zircon and melt, particularly at temperatures comparable to natural granitic melts o Experimentally examine kinetic controls of trace element incorporation in magmatic zircons grown during controlled cooling. Analytical will be obtained using the Cameca nanoSIMS ion microprobe, which is the only existing instrument capable of sensitive (ppm-level) and precise (% level relative precision) measurements at scales less than 1 micron. Such instruments have existed for more than a decade, but have only recently become available to the earthscience community. This project represents the first substantive study to use the nanoSIMS to examine trace element distributions in terrestrial igneous minerals. Broader impacts: This study will support one Ph.D student at Caltech and indirectly support high school and undergraduate student summer internships, which depend on the existence of a cadre of funded graduate students working in active labs. This study will also demonstrate a method for measuring trace element abundances in zircons at sub-micron scales, with sensitivity and precision suitable for petrogenetic studies of natural materials; thus it will contribute to the development of instruments and methods for geochemistry. Finally, this study will provide insight into the physical controls of ??m-scale variations in trace element variations of zircons, facilitating their use in a wide range of geologic, petrologic and geochronologic applications. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/05/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $595,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The Analytical and Surface Chemistry (ASC) Program of the Division of Chemistry will support the research project of Prof. Nathan Lewis of California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Prof. Lewis and his students will develop a detailed understanding of the chemical reactivity of well-defined, planar Si surfaces and thereby form the basis for transferring this chemistry to more complex structures; explore and characterize mixed-alkyl monolayers on Si(111) to optimize their electrical properties while retaining the ability to perform further, desirable functionalization reactions; make well-defined, transparent Si/conductive polymer junctions having a variety of barrier heights; and study the fundamental aspects of self-assembly, thus developing methodologies that will enable the spontaneous organization of isotropic semiconductor rod suspensions into oriented electrode arrays. This research project involves manipulating the properties of Si and it is therefore of importance in technologies such as photovoltaics, photoelectrochemical cells, and to processes such as etching and lithography in which the chemistry of Si surfaces is heavily exploited. The project will provide excellent training opportunities to undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who wish to specialize in a cutting edge research area of great relevance to national competitiveness in the renewable energy, information, and optical communications industries. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/23/2009 |
| SYNTOUCH | $100,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This Small Business Innovative Research Phase I project is to develop a novel biomimetic technology for tactile sensing in which all sensors, connections and circuitry are protected from hostile environments. This project will refine existing designs into commercializable products and it will test the transduction properties of the sensors and integrate them with signal processing electronics into self-contained modules. The TAC? arrays are initially anticipated to be sold to academic and industrial researchers engaged in integrating tactile sensing into algorithms for the identification and manipulation of objects and tools specific to individual industries. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/04/2009 |
| BIOTIC LABORATORIES, INC. | $98,328.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on enhancing combinatorial and timed release of drugs for the localized treatment of cancer. Currently there are few solutions for localized elimination of tumor cells following surgical removal of breast cancer (lumpectomy). There is a real unmet need for minimally invasive devices that locally deliver a cocktail of drugs in a sustained and safe fashion. We propose to develop an implantable polymer-based microfilm device for the release of Paclitaxel and Gemcitabine that is non-toxic, comfortable and cosmetically acceptable to the patient. The broader Impacts of this research are: - Establishment of a multidisciplinary initiative that integrates expertise in biology, materials science/engineering and nanotechnology to address an unmet medical need. - Enhancements in breast cancer treatment, coupled with downstream opportunities to treat a broader array of other diseases that are expected to improve patient outcomes globally. - Economic value through new market creation, product development and clinical applications - Biotic Laboratories has a strong relationship with educational institutions (high schools and universities) in the LA and Chicago area and has engaged intern activity as part of its start-up activities. In general, new entrepreneurial companies such as Biotic serve as both economic growth engines and inspiration to a future generation of scientists and engineers. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on enhancing combinatorial and timed release of drugs for the localized treatment of cancer. Currently there are few solutions for localized elimination of tumor cells following surgical removal of breast cancer (lumpectomy). There is a real unmet need for minimally invasive devices that locally deliver a cocktail of drugs in a sustained and safe fashion. We propose to develop an implantable polymer-based microfilm device for the release of Paclitaxel and Gemcitabine that is non-toxic, comfortable and cosmetically acceptable to the patient. The broader Impacts of this research are: - Establishment of a multidisciplinary initiative that integrates expertise in biology, materials science/engineering and nanotechnology to address an unmet medical need. - Enhancements in breast cancer treatment, coupled with downstream opportunities to treat a broader array of other diseases that are expected to improve patient outcomes globally. - Economic value through new market creation, product development and clinical applications - Biotic Laboratories has a strong relationship with educational institutions (high schools and universities) in the LA and Chicago area and has engaged intern activity as part of its start-up activities. In general, new entrepreneurial companies such as Biotic serve as both economic growth engines and inspiration to a future generation of scientists and engineers. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/09/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $303,500.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The objective of the research will be to advance the science and technology of visible LEDs fabricated from columnar nanostructures that emit at visible wavelengths and with high efficiencies. Intellectual Merit of the Program A program of research is proposed to explore nanostructure visible light emitting diodes (LEDs). The objective of the research will be to advance the science and technology of visible LEDs fabricated from columnar nanostructures that emit at visible wavelengths and with high efficiencies. Single and multiple wavelength emission nanowire LEDs in the InGaN materials system will be investigated for eventual fabrication on low cost substrates. Modeling of the physical structures involving new heterojunction designs enabled by the nanoscale columnar geometry will be undertaken. Reduced strain and use of non-polar and semi-polar facets in such structures will improve efficiency compared to planar designs. Understanding carrier transport and recombination in the nanowires and mitigation of processes that limit the efficiency of nanowires are the goals. Nanopatterning will be used to control the emission wavelength through control of physical dimensions and material compositions. Broader Impact of the Program To the extent possible, the program will be carried out by under-represented minorities. Graduate students and two undergraduate assistants from the USC Merit research program will learn the inherent interdisciplinary nature of device research. The Center for Energy Nanoscience and Technology for which the PI is Director will be exploited to induce interest in LEDs and in energy conservation among young students (K - 12) and teachers. The results will be included in two courses on photonics at USC. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/31/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $375,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Number theory has seen many significant advances in the past few years. Results from arithmetic geometry and the theories of modular forms and Galois representations have yielded a proof Fermat's Last Theorem, a proof of Serre's modularity conjecture and fundamental advances towards the p-adic Birch-Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture (BSD), to name a few. The research proposed in this project aims to continue this progress. The PI's propose to investigate many aspects of the connections between automorphic forms, Galois representations, and values of their L-functions, with the particular aim of making advances towards BSD, Bloch-Kato and p-adic Beilinson conjectures, and the Iwasawa Theory of automorphic Galois representations, as well as answering fundamental questions about the Galois representations associated to automorphic forms. The PIs propose research activities centered around some fundamental problems in algebraic number theory, particularly problems related to the deep links between Galois representations and special values of L-functions (as conjectured in the Birch-Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture and the Bloch-Kato Conjectures). Their project focuses on p-adic methods in the theory of automorphic forms and Galois representations. By combining their various expertise, they propose to consider a number of specific problems that fall under the following headings. (1) Mod p Galois representations and mod p modular forms. (2) Constructing Galois representations and motives associated to automorphic forms. (3) The Iwasawa Main Conjecture. (4) p-adic families of automorphic forms and applications. (5) Algebraic cycles, p-adic L-functions and Euler systems. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/18/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $3,585,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This project covers a program of research in 'Fundamental Studies in Nuclear Physics' at the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology. It includes primarily experimental research addressing key issues in nuclear physics and related areas of particle physics and particle astrophysics. Research topics include precision studies of neutrons that could reveal the necessity of modifying the fundamental theory of particle interactions. In addition, we will study the properties of neutrinos emitted by nuclear reactors to provide crucial information towards the theory that new heavy neutrinos could be responsible for generating the excess of matter over antimatter in the early universe. Participation by postdoctoral scholars, graduate students and undergraduate students is integrated throughout the program, affording young researchers exceptional opportunities to advance their training and education in these frontier areas of nuclear physics and related areas. We will continue the California HIgh school Cosmic ray ObServatory (CHICOS) program. The CHICOS program provides a unique window on cosmic ray research and educational activities for the high school teacher and student population of Los Angeles. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 9/15/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $253,324.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Collaborative Research: A 3D Seismic Study of the | National Science Foundation | 9/10/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $381,880.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Seminal insights towards establishing contribution | National Science Foundation | 9/14/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $96,333.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The proposed project concerns perturbation theory of almost periodic Jacobi and CMV matrices with finite or infinite gap spectrum as well as asymptotic analysis of the associated orthogonal polynomials on the real line and the unit circle, respectively. The goal is to understand the relations between three fundamental objects: spectral measures (or measures of orthogonality), recursion coefficients, and orthogonal polynomials. The project investigates the interplay between regularity properties of the measures, asymptotic behavior of the coefficients, and asymptotics of the orthogonal polynomials. In particular, it extends what is known for the case of measures supported by a single interval to the case of measures supported by a union of several intervals. Problems raised in this project bring together several areas of mathematics, most notably spectral theory and the theory of orthogonal polynomials. There are also important connections to harmonic analysis and the theory of Fuchsian groups. The proposed research will enhance our understanding of periodic and almost periodic structures with and without impurities. Potential areas of application span from random matrix theory to inverse problems in computer tomography and material science. The theory of orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle has also applications in geophysical scattering and electronic circuit filter design. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/28/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $623,063.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This project is focused on implementing novel methods for uncertainty quantification in the context of modeling carbon sequestration. Significant advances in both the basic methodology and computational implementation are proposed. Advances in numerical methodology and computational implementation are planned to result in a tool that will be very effective at the petascale. The project will have a significant impact on a problem of great importance to society. The project will also integrate research and education. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/26/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $250,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This project determines the fundamental limits of network secrecy from a network coding perspective, and then applies this theory to improve security guarantees in peer-to-peer and wireless networks. As network coding gains prominence as an important strategy for both wired and wireless networks, the project identifies both the advantages and vulnerabilities from using network coding. Subsequently, the effort develops a design methodology that exploits the advantages while carefully compensating for the vulnerabilities. This project analyzes networks under both outsider and insider attacks. Specifically, coding mechanisms are developed to combat an external eavesdropper. Also, a combination of cryptographic and information-theoretic tools are used to combat internal modification attacks on the network. The results are then used in two case studies: eavesdropper attacks on wireless mesh networks and pollution attacks on P2P content distribution systems. Secure network coded systems, once well understood, can greatly impact how networks are designed and deployed. Nearly every network setting (wireless, wired or heterogeneous) can benefit in terms of improved resilience (in addition to other performance benefits such as throughput) in its design. Case studies in this effort are designed to help transition the theoretical principles developed into practical algorithms. The research team includes an industry member which will aid in transitioning our research ideas from theory to practice. The team will disseminate its findings through traditional scholarly venues, through the web and to the local community at each partner institution. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/24/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $22,175.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Investigation of the temporal and spatial evolutio | National Science Foundation | 6/04/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $400,633.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Description: The semiconductor industry is likely to see several radical changes in the fabrication and device technologies in the next decade. Conventional after-the-fact changes to design methodologies and tools to technology leads to wasted effort and under-utilization of technology. Successful research outcomes from this proposal will change several aspects of design methodologies as well as technology development. A future impact of this work is nothing less than to inform both the design technology and process technology roadmaps, so as to enable the electronics industry to derive maximum product benefit from underlying technology. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/10/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY LONG BEACH FOUNDATION | $295,226.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support A team of archaeologists and geologists at the Institute for Integrated Research in Materials, Environments, and Societies (IIRMES), California State University ? Long Beach (CSULB) will use NSF funding to support research on ancient technology, economic interaction, ancient diets, and past environments. These investigations will be implemented through an outreach program that makes IIRMES instruments and expertise available on a collaborative basis to researchers from the US and abroad. IIRMES instruments used to study the human past include a scanning-electron microscope, three inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometers (ICP-MS), a laser ablation system for solid sample analysis via ICP-MS, a stable-isotope ratio mass spectrometer, and luminescence dating equipment. The current grant will fund purchase of a portable x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer and an elemental analyzer for carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur. The latter instrument will serve as a front-end for the stable-isotope ratio mass spectrometer, so that stable-isotope ratios can be determined in a variety of organic materials. Collaborating researchers participate in the IIRMES Archaeometry Program in two ways. First, submission and acceptance of a short proposal gains eligibility for subsidized analyses on one or more of IIRMES analytical instruments. The NSF subsidy pays for most of the costs of analysis, and the collaborating researchers pay a small per-sample cost for consumable supplies. For researchers who desire or need a more hands-on role in the analytical work, a fully subsidized short-term visiting researcher program is available. Participants in this program spend one to three weeks in Long Beach, during which they work closely with the project PIs in the generation and interpretation of analytical results. In the past, the visiting researcher program has been especially valuable for graduate students working on MA and Ph.D. theses, since they gain practical experience that they can take with them into their future professional careers. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/30/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $294,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Synthetic Approaches to Endohedral Complexes and H | National Science Foundation | 7/26/2009 |
| RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN | $540,505.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Broad to fine scale phylogenetic pattern and chara | National Science Foundation | 8/20/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $163,173.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The ability of an animal to maneuver can determine its success at avoiding predators, catching food, and other fundamental behaviors that define the margin between life and death. Most research on the biomechanics of animal motion has concerned the initiation or maintenance of ballistic, brief, or steady state movements because these can be studied most readily in the laboratory. Maneuverability is therefore one of the most important but least understood aspects of animal locomotion. Previous research has progressed along two independent tracks: 1) Studies of animal morphology have explained how the size and shape of the body and the limbs influence the efficiency and dynamics of maneuvering. 2) Studies of neuromuscular physiology have revealed the mechanisms that animals use to power particular maneuvers. However, animals with the ability to generate substantial muscle power, such as those that hover or fly slowly, may be able to overcome efficiency costs imposed by suboptimal morphology to generate rapid but inefficient maneuvers. The proposed work will test the hypothesis that the limitations imposed by morphology are strongest when muscle power-generating capacity is low. Research will focus on the remarkable maneuvering flight of hummingbirds because these animals inhabit broad elevational ranges, which provide natural experiments for varying muscle power capacity. Experiments with Anna?s hummingbirds (Calypte anna) in California will determine the effects of elevation and the independent influences of mechanical and metabolic constraints on maneuvering performance. Measurements from the diverse Andean hummingbird fauna will allow for determination of how vastly different morphologies influence maneuvering performance across elevations. A common requirement of diverse disciplines of biology is to have a means of quantitatively describing behavior. This project utilizes a custom-designed, automated analysis of movement to identify the fundamental building blocks of maneuverability. Developing this approach will provide tools that are broadly applicable for studying complex movement in animals. The educational training will foster the scientific development of a postdoctoral scholar, graduate students, and undergraduate students from under-represented groups. These participants will receive integrative training in computational biology and comparative biomechanics. The results of the research will be used to develop a teaching module for use in upper division undergraduate courses. In addition, results produced by the students and the PIs will be presented via scientific conferences, scholarly publications, and public lectures. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/03/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $311,706.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The proposal seeks funding to continue astronomical site-testing investigations at the South Pole Station using the Gattini-UV camera that will provide data on sky brightness in the Astronomical U and B bands for the very first time. The objectives of this research effort are the following: (a) characterize the South Pole winter sky in the Astronomical U and B bands to provide a foundation for future larger-scale experiments such as direct detection of Lyman-alpha emission of the Intergalactic Medium; (b) provide fundamental data for other leading-edge science cases that require virtually no instrument-induced noise, exquisite background subtraction, and are invariant to image quality at these precise wavelengths; (c) measure the atmospheric extinction in the U and B bands from a zenith angle of 0 to 45 degrees; (d) obtain frequent and wide field observations of two of the brightest airglow lines occurring in the U and B bands, and (e) produce frequent and wide field observations of two of the brightest auroral lines in the U and B bands. This experimental dataset will be unique, and its potential significance will have relevance across several disciplines, including astronomers, aeronomers, and auroral scientists. The camera design will be based on the successful Gattini instruments currently operating at Dome A and Dome C, with the added adaptation of a collimator to incorporate narrow band filters at the pupil image. The camera is transit in nature (i.e., the sky moves relative to the CCD) and uses stars within the field to calibrate the sky background flux. Continued reliance on students provides a broader impact of this proposed research and firmly grounds this effort in its educational mission. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 5/21/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $299,012.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EXPLORING THE CHEMICAL REA | National Science Foundation | 5/28/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $160,094.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support During the Cenozoic, southwestern North America underwent a shift from Farallon subduction to the present Pacific - North American strike-slip plate boundary, the San Andreas fault system (SAF). As a result, much of the southwestern U.S. experienced extension, in part the result of orogenic collapse prior to and during the transition from convergence to the current transform boundary. Yet deformation and volcanism still occur at great distances from the plate boundary, through the Basin and Range, around the edges of the Colorado Plateau, and in the Rocky Mountains. The structure of the continental lithosphere is linked to structures deeper in the upper mantle beneath each of the tectonic provinces, and details of the lithosphere and deeper structure and overall response to the change in tectonic regime are not clearly understood. As the USArray Transportable Array (TA) rolls across the continent, it is uniformly covering the Western U.S., recording teleseismic earthquakes. These data, plus data integrated from previous PASSCAL experiments and from the COARSE array in Arizona, will provide a wealth of information on the lithosphere and upper mantle structure. This project is examining, in 3D, the Earth's discontinuity structure from the crust thru the 660 km discontinuity to systematically look for important tectonic/geodynamic indicators: sources of isostatic support, regions of thermal disequilibrium, partial melt, and rheological heterogeneity, slab fragments and slab interactions with the transition zone. The resulting images will be used to interpret the 4D tectonic and geodynamic evolution of the Colorado Plateau in relation to the evolution of its surrounding tectonic provinces: southern Basin and Range, southern Rocky Mountains, and the Rio Grande Rift. The research uses a combination of surface wave tomography and P- and S-wave receiver functions to clearly image the base of the crust, the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB), and the upper mantle structure through the transition zone. Teleseismic data from the TA and previous broadband array studies have been used to make common conversion point (CCP) stacked PdS and SdP receiver function and surface wave tomography image volumes. The receiver functions have been made with two types of scattered waves: P converted to S and S converted to P. The use of both PdS and SdP allows for independent models of the same area, and provides different frequency bands of investigation and different raypaths to image lithospheric and upper mantle structure. Since receiver functions and surface wave dispersion have different sensitivities to velocity structure, jointly inverting the receiver functions and the shear velocity values provides independent estimates of structure. Receiver functions image velocity-density discontinuities, not the absolute velocity structure. Phase velocities of surface waves, on the other hand, are most sensitive to the absolute shear velocity structure. The two can be inverted jointly to overcome the non-uniqueness of the receiver-function inversion and the lower vertical resolution of surface-wave tomography. Mapping 3D variations in the Moho, the LAB, and the transition zone with multiple methods will provide a consistent framework for interpreting 4D Cenozoic extension, compression, and local convection features beneath the southwestern U.S. Results of this study will be useful to non-seismologists interested in continental evolution, extensional dynamics, geodynamics, volcanology, and structural geology, both in the western U.S. and elsewhere. The methodology will be applicable to other regional array data, including future USArray data. In addition to the research objectives of this project, the award will support a new investigator at the University of Southern California and the education and training of two graduate students. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/24/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $299,995.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This project will use high-resolution neuroimaging to investigate how different parts of the human medial temporal lobe contribute to different memory functions. We will identify those regions that are active during learning which are associated with durable episodic memory in contrast to those regions in which encoding activity is associated with memory that fades to feelings of familiarity over the course of a delay. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/12/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $850,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support A three year old infant can recognize visual objects better than any machine. Despite decades of work on the problem of complex object recognition, the principles used by the brain to solve this problem are still unknown. One major experimental difficulty has been the diversity of feature preferences exhibited by visual neurons: For any given cell, it is unknown which set of visual features will result in a robust neural response. Over the past three decades, evidence has gradually accumulated for a system in the temporal lobe that may allow researchers to overcome this difficulty, consisting of a specialized set of areas dedicated to detecting and recognizing faces. The face patch system creates unprecedented possibilities for dissecting the principles of information flow in inferotemporal cortex, by giving direct access to anatomically distinct components of a unified object processing network. The stunning selectivity of this system for faces suggests that face detection is one of its major functions. Understanding in detail the strategies for face detection used by this system should illuminate the most difficult problem in object recognition: how to recognize a visual form despite substantial changes in appearance. With the support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Doris Tsao and colleagues at the California Institute of Technology will tackle the problem of how cells in face-selective areas of the brain are able to detect faces. The work will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to first identify these areas. Then, the feature selectivity of cells in these regions will be characterized. This will be followed by experiments in which subjects perform tasks in which they actively detect faces, while neural activity is recorded. Neural activity in specific face areas will be artifically increased or decreased, and the effect on face detection behavior will be observed. Results from the present project will likely spawn fertile exchange between neuroscience, computer science, and psychology. The results may lead to new insights into the brain circuits that are altered in prosopagnosia, a selective inability to recognize faces that afflicts a surprisingly large percentage of the population. The results may also provide new insights into social disorders such as autism and social anxiety disorder, since faces are by far the most socially significant class of visual stimuli that we perceive. Understanding the design principles used by the world's best face detection system may motivate design of better artificial face recognition algorithms (which have broad applications in security and entertainment). Finally, the research will offer training opportunities for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Pedagogical activities included in Dr. Tsao's CAREER grant include teaching an interdisciplinary course combining computational modeling of object recognition with biological experiments. Face perception is intriguing and accessible to almost everyone--likely because almost everyone has a set of specialized face areas. Thus the results of these investigations will likely be disseminated broadly, to enhance scientific understanding in society. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/16/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $671,995.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Firms, governments, and scientists are constantly striving to figure out what goods and services people want most and quantify their worth. The main technique used to do this in economics is to statistically analyze data on what people have bought before, in order to guess how purchases might change if people have more to spend, if prices rise or fall, or if similar products are introduced. However, this method is of limited use in forecasting the value of brand new products, and goods that are not traded in markets (particularly public goods which benefit everyone, such as clean air.) When people are choosing, a complex cognitive and biological process underlies those choices. The proposed research uses empirical tools from cognitive neuroscience to measure aspects of these processes when experimental subjects make actual choices of consumer goods. Measures will include brain imaging, eyetracking of visual attention, and speed of responses. The goal is to use these measures to infer what people value, in order to understand the neural foundation of choice and to predict actual choices more accurately than other measures can. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/19/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $400,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This proposal is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Prof. Stephen Cronin at the University of Southern California is supported by the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems in the Engineering Directorate (with co-funding from the Division of Chemistry in the Directorate for Mathematics and Physical Sciences) to develop an understanding of the effect of plasmon resonance on catalytic performance. Two main postulates will be explored: (i) the effect of plasmon-induced electric field on chemical activity, and (ii) the effect of plasmon-induced heating on catalysis. Approach: The PI will produce arrays of metal nanostructures on top of and embedded in both active (e.g., TiO2) and non-active supports. Irradiating these plasmonic/catalytic nanostructures with a laser at their plasmon resonance frequency will generate immense plasmonic charge and high temperatures needed to drive the catalytic process. The plasmon-induced charge is orders of magnitude larger than that created by standard optical absorption and therefore has the potential to dramatically improve the efficiency of these catalytic processes. Also, the local heating of the nanoparticles generates large temperature gradients, which in turn create new pathways by allowing different chemical processes to occur side by side. The catalytic activity of these samples will be studied in an automated micro-reactor system that rapidly evaluates catalytic nanostructures and permits thousands of experimental conditions to be tested on a single chip. The system measures in situ diagnostics of the reaction byproducts using mass spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy, allowing direct correlation between structural properties and catalytic performance. High throughput screening of various catalytic and geometric configurations will enable us to investigate several fundamental questions about the enhanced catalytic mechanism. The intellectual merit is to expand the understanding and applicability of plasmonic processes into the field of chemistry. By systematically addressing these fundamental questions, the PI will be able to identify which particular aspects of the plasmon enhancement will be most useful and which chemical reactions will benefit most from it. The area of plasmon assisted catalysis is rich with new and interesting phenomena that remain poorly understood. Plasmonic excitation opens up additional degrees of freedom in the search for new chemical pathways, for example, for the production of tricyclic ozone. The systematic studies put forth in this proposal will likely provide an understanding of unexplored catalytic phenomena and introduce novel concepts that are widely applicable to the larger scientific community. The importance of catalysis in modern industrial chemistry cannot be overstated, impacting nearly every aspect of our economy. The successful completion of this proposed work will lead to a number of future studies with scientific and industrial relevance. The improved catalytic processes investigated herein may be applicable to other fields of science and engineering to enhance various important chemical and electrochemical phenomena. Alternatively, these plasmonic nanoparticles can be incorporated onto a chip to drive endothermic reactions with sunlight for energy storage. The localized nature of plasmonic heating and electric field enhancement is ideal for creating an integrated fuel source for hydrogen and methane fuel cells, without having to heat up the entire device. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/29/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $590,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The present project is focused on reactions of electrophilic metal-carbon bonds with substrates featuring strong Câˆ'N bonds in order to understand the mechanism of intimate reaction steps. The breaking of Câˆ'N bonds in heterocycles is a significant reaction in hydrodenitrogenation processes.  The industrial heterogeneous catalysts for this energy intensive process operate at 300 â€' 500 °C and 200 atm H2.  Understanding the Câˆ'N bond breaking of homogeneous processes in the presence of transition metals offers two advantages: (1) Studies of homogeneous processes can elucidate the mechanism of the heterogeneous systems and (2) They can lead to novel processes under milder conditions where hydrogen usage is no longer required. Our preliminary results show that ring-opening of aromatic N-heterocycles can be initiated by metal-carbon sigma-bonded fragments. These results are different from existing examples, which all involved metal-element multiple bonds. Preliminary DFT calculations indicate that the ligand system employed by us, 1,1’-ferrocene diamide, may be unique in supporting electrophilic metal centers, which can Câˆ'H activate strong Lewis bases. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/02/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $483,056.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This project is to investigate the role of convection on dynamic stability of the three-dimensional incompressible Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. The main objective is to show that convection together with incompressibility plays an essential role in studying the dynamic stability of the incompressible Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. Another objective of this project is to show that there is a close connection between the global regularity of the three-dimensional Euler equations and that of the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. Finally, a new regularity analysis using a Lagrangian approach for the three-dimensional Euler equations is developed to control the dynamic growth of the local curvature of vortex filaments and the maximum vorticity simultaneously. The local nonlinear stability analysis developed in this project can be potentially applied to study a large class of nonlinear dynamic problems arising from other disciplines. The understanding of the dynamic stability and the role of convection has a significant impact on many scientific applications which could affect the quality of people's life in a fundamental way. These applications include weather forecasting, environmental or global climate change, fluid dynamic applications, turbulence modeling and high performance computing. For a long time, many experts considered convection as destabilizing. This project reveals that convection actually has a surprising stabilizing effect which could affect the large time behavior of the three-dimensional incompressible flows in an essential way. An additional impact of this project is the involvement of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. This project provides a solid training in mathematical analysis, physical modeling, and numerical simulation. The interdisciplinary training they receive in this project is very important for their future careers in mathematics and science. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 5/21/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $372,655.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This is one of 50 Physics REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates)programs in the country. The money is aimed at supporting students coming from institutions around the country to be mentored by faculty in the Physics & Astronomy Department for a period of 10 weeks during each summer. The 10-week program runs from the last week of June to the end of August. It offers a different, well-defined science project for each of the 12-14 participants, each overseen by a separate faculty mentor. Each of the participants accepted into this program is matched with a faculty mentor according to the student's stated interests The faculty mentors prepare a project that can be done in that period of time, including time to prepare and present a final presentation. It is a meaningful project which involves 'real' frontier level research. The projects span the various fields represented in the department, such as plasma physics, condensed matter physics, cosmic ray physics, high energy physics, astrophysics, and biophysics. The program culminates with oral presentations at a day-long symposium and with the production of professionally formatted research papers. Some projects culminate in publications in professional journals and some of the student participants are sent to conferences to present oral presentations or posters of their work. This year, 14 students participated in our program. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 5/27/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $527,244.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Self-control problems are at the core of many of the public policy challenges facing the United States. Examples include obesity, addiction, and low levels of savings. Not surprisingly, given its importance, the problem of self-control has been the subject of inquiry for many centuries. However, despite these efforts we still do not have answers to basic questions such as: What aspects of the brain?s decision making circuitry lead to temptation and self-control problems? Why are some brains much better at exercising self-control than others? What can be done to improve the brain?s ability to exercise self-control? In this research, the Principal Investigators plan to use the new tools and techniques of neuroeconomics (especially functional magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, and repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation) to address these questions. The research involves studying the brains of dieters while they make decisions about which food they want to eat. The brain patterns of connectivity exhibited by successful and unsuccessful dieters will be compared to indicate the regions of the brain responsible for temptation and for self-control. The region of the brain thought to be responsible for self control ? the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex -- will also be studied using transcranial magnetic stimulation which may induce improvements in self-control. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/19/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $450,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This project establishes a dedicated computing platform for microsecond simulations to study DNA self-assembly and translocation through solid-state nanopores. The project uses a predictive hierarchical petascale simulation framework to study: Translocation kinetics and dynamics of DNAs through solid state nanopores; electronic properties of translocating DNAs for sequencing nucleotides; ionic screening of surface charges in nanopores; pressure-driven DNA transport in confined silica channels; and shear-induced DNA self-assembly. The computing platform will also support computer science research in techniques for the parallelization of such simulations, and for the integration of multi-scale, multi-phenomena simulation codes for molecular biology and biological materials science. Petascale simulations of DNA translocation through solid-state nanopores and nanofluidic channels underlie 'lab-on-a-chip' technology and solid-state nanopore 'microscopy' for molecular structure and high-speed sequencing. The infrastructure will help in training a new generation of graduate students. Students participate in a dual-degree program in which they do a PhD in physical sciences or engineering and a master's degree in computer science. The infrastructure also strengthens the annual computational science workshops for underrepresented groups, in which undergraduate students and faculty mentors from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions acquire hands-on experience in parallel computing. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/29/2009 |
| LONG BEACH OPERA | $50,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals to support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/15/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $562,953.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support New revolutionary technologies have been developed enabling scientists with the ability to rapidly determine the sequence of large amounts of DNA. This will allow scientists in nearly all biological disciplines to rapidly move forward on projects that seek to understand the molecular basis of disease and development, to understand how differences at the DNA level leads to differences in individuals in a population, and to understand at a molecular level the different organisms that contribute both positively and negatively to the environment. This type of knowledge will have profound impacts on our understanding of basic biology and how variations in DNA sequence influence whether an individual gets a disease or how differences in ecological niches results in changes to the environment. The acquisition of a next-generation sequencing machine will allow a broad group of scientists at University of Southern California to address all of these types of questions with scientists that span the disciplines of Molecular and Computational Biology, Marine Environmental Biology and Neurobiology. The administration at University of Southern California has fostered an environment of innovation and collaboration, which is critical for success in the use of this next-generation platform, since the generation and analyses of this data requires expertise in very disparate academic discipline. In addition, one of the primary goals of faculty at University of Southern California is training the next generation of scientists and the acquisition of the next-generation sequencing machine will ensure that these students receive the most cutting-edge training. The purchase of the sequencing machine will tie in with the Center for Excellence and Genomics at University of Southern California that has a robust training program that ensures that underrepresented minorities are trained in cutting edge biology using genomic and computational approaches. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/11/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $330,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The project proposes to investigate a new type of amplifying coupled-resonator optical waveguide (CROW). The CROW is to be realized in a waveguide geometry with individual resonators formed by grating 'defects'. The waveguide will be fabricated on a hybrid Si/III-V platform in which the propagating slow mode will be amplified through the partial modal penetration into the amplifying III-V layers. The project aims to fabricate a grating CROW with 100 defect resonators thus enabling signal storage of more than 10 bits in a compact semiconductor geometry. Intellectual Merit Having initially proposed and analyzed CROWs for the purpose of slow-light waveguides the authors have come to the conclusion that the best way to realize them would be grating defect CROWs. Compared to microring CROWs and 2D photonic crystal defect CROWs, grating CROWs over the advantages of small resonator sizes, smaller footprint, and easier control of the coupling coefficients.Since the major weakness of any slow-light device is the optical attenuation due to inherent losses, the amplifying CROW will compensate for the loss inside the structure. The key technology of current-pumped hybrid Si/III-V waveguides will be the amplifying platform of the proposed work. The demonstration of amplifying CROWs with 100 resonators will enable new classes of optical delay lines, buffers, and memory elements. Broader Impacts Another aspect of the project is to educate a diverse group of students to pursue scientific research and to mentor them about the culture of scientific discovery. Programs such as undergraduate thesis research, the Minority and Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (MURF and SURF, respectively), enable a multicultural group of students to participate in scientific research. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/30/2009 |
| SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL LA, INC. | $50,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/21/2009 |
| DEAF WEST THEATRE | $25,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/15/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $385,463.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The design on networked control systems for chemic | National Science Foundation | 9/08/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $508,094.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Many of the future applications of systems and control that will pertain to cyber-physical systems are those related to problems of (possibly) distributed estimation and control of multiple agents (both sensors and actuators) over networks. Examples include areas such as distributed sensor networks, control of distributed autonomous agents, collision avoidance, distributed power systems, etc. Central to the study of such systems is the study of the behavior of random Lyapunov and Riccati recursions (the analogy is to traditional LTI systems where deterministic Lyapunov and Riccati recursions and equations play a prominent role). Unfortunately, to date, the tools for analyzing such systems are woefully lacking, ostensibly because the recursions are both nonlinear and random, and hence intractable if one wants to analyze them exactly. The methodology proposed in this work is to exploit tools from the theory of large random matrices to find the asymptotic eigendistribution of the matrices in the random Riccati recursions when the number of states in the system, n, is large. In many cases, the eigendistribution contains sufficient information about the overall behavior of the system. Stability can be inferred from the eigenanalysis. The mean of the eigenvalues is simply related to the mean of the trace (i.e., the mean-square-error of the system), whereas the support set of the eigendistribution says something about best- and worst-case performances of the system. Furthermore, a general philosophy of this approach is to identify and exhibit the universal behavior of the system, provided such a behavior does exist. Here, 'universal' means behavior that does not depend on the microscopic details of the system (where losses occur, what the exact topology of the network or underlying distributions are), but rather on some simple macroscopic properties. A main idea of the approach is to replace a high-dimensional matrix-valued nonlinear and stochastic recursion by a scalar-valued deterministic functional recursion (involving an appropriate transform of the eigendistribution), which is much more amenable to analysis and computation. The project will include course development and the recruitment of women and minority students to research. It will also make use of undergraduate and underrepresented minority student researchers through Caltech's SURF and MURF programs. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 9/17/2009 |
| INTERNATIONAL CITY THEATRE INC | $50,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/01/2009 |
| EAST WEST PLAYERS | $50,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/16/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $1,500,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Math for America Los Angeles (MfA LA), a non-profit organization formed by the University of Southern California (USC), Claremont Graduate University (CGU) and Harvey Mudd College (HMC), seeks to raise student achievement in the greater Los Angeles area by developing transformational secondary school mathematics teachers. The MfA LA Teaching Fellowship program is designed to attract individuals with talent and passion for mathematics and teaching to the profession, help them receive high-quality training, then provide them with all of the resources that they will need to become effective teachers. The 10 individuals selected to receive a MfA LA Teaching Fellowship under this project commit to a five-year program that includes one year of full-time graduate study and four years of teaching in a public secondary school (middle or high school) in one of the six partnering school districts (Los Angeles USD, Claremont USD, Pomona USD, Hacienda/La Puente USD, Chaffey Joint Union High School District, and Corona-Norco UDSD). Fellows receive a stipend and full tuition scholarship to attend either the Teacher Education Internship Program (TEIP) at the CGU or the Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) and Teaching Credentialing Program at the USC. While fulfilling the four-year teaching requirement, Fellows receive up to $20,000 in additional stipends per year and participate in comprehensive professional development with the goal of becoming National Board Certified by the end of the five-year Fellowship period. Professional development is designed in cooperation with the HMC Professional Development and Outreach Group. MfA LA is part of the network of Math for America sites and cooperates with the umbrella Math for America organization, whose goal is to show how the principles behind this effort to improve the quality of mathematics teaching and student achievement can be replicated across the nation. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/10/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $2,257,731.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support TITLE: 'Student Training Through Research on Plasma-Based Accelerators.' This project seeks to provide a coordinated learning and research experience for Ph.D. students from seven universities that have developed different experimental and theoretical/simulations capabilities and have established a reputation as a leading research group in the area of plasma-based accelerators. The funding will support the Ph.D. level research of 16.5 graduate students, as well as collaborative activities. The topics proposed for their theses span fundamental science yet to be uncovered in the plasma-acceleration field, the development of novel diagnostic techniques, advancing the underlying theory, and advancing the use of computational techniques to model both fundamental phenomenology and ongoing experiments. Examples of basic science topics that will be experimentally investigated include ionization induced trapping, generation of He2+ ion beams, acceleration of electrons and generation of radiation in spatially modulated plasma waveguides, control of plasma wakefield using a beat-wave or two color scheme and the development of a high repetition rate wakefield accelerator. While most of the experiments will be done using high power lasers, the 75 MeV electron beam facility (ATF) at Brookhaven will be used to investigate high-gradient, high-efficiency acceleration of electrons in a beam driven wakefield. Much effort will be devoted to the development of diagnostic techniques. For instance a Faraday rotation technique will be explored as a means to identify the self-trapping of particles in the wake whereas tomographic imaging technique will be developed to enable visualization of the evolving wakes. Theoretical/computational effort will focus on many fronts including emittance preservation in wakefields, self-propagation of laser pulses over pump depletion distances, novel strategies for acceleration of positrons, and physics of electron trapping and injection in plasma-accelerators. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 9/15/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $392,466.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The project supports the design and development of a sensitive, broadband antenna and receiver to observe the evolution with redshift of highly redshifted neutral hydrogen, throughout the epoch of reionization. The system, operating in the 45 - 200 MHz range, will offer extremely high dynamic range for observing relatively weak hydrogen signatures within the strong natural and human-generated radio environment. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 9/03/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $262,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Study of the vortex-mediated superfluid transition | National Science Foundation | 9/07/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $345,001.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The goal of this research program is to develop rational synthetic methods for the low temperature, solution phase synthesis of functional inorganic nanocrystals for energy applications. Lower temperature reactions are energy efficient and offer the added benefit of providing kinetic pathways to novel nanocrystal morphologies, compositions, and crystal structures. In the first low temperature method, a new type of chalcogen source (i.e., dialkyl dichalcogenides) is being explored for the synthesis of well-defined semiconductor nanocrystals. The key to this method is the thermal instability of dialkyl dichalcogenides, particularly in the presence of Lewis acids and primary amines. This synthetic methodology is being applied to a wide variety of semiconductor nanocrystals using dialkyl peroxides and dialkyl disulfide, diselenide, and ditelluride reagents, and the resulting optoelectronic and electrochemical properties of the nanocrystals are being measured as a function of size and composition. The second synthetic methodology is based on the kinetically controlled vapor phase delivery of water into a bimetallic alkoxide solution to promote the hydrolysis, nucleation and growth of small perovskite nanocrystals at low temperatures. The key to this method is the slow hydrolysis of a bimetallic alkoxide precursor, which circumvents the requirement for high temperature solid-solid diffusion for crystallization. By taking advantage of this synthesis method, a series of perovskite nanocrystals are being synthesized at very low temperatures and the dielectric properties of the nanocrystals are being studied as a function of their size and composition. NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Despite over fifty years of developments in the field of solid-state chemistry, there are still only a limited number of ways to synthesize materials ? the majority of which require high temperature conditions. As such, there is a need to develop rational methodologies for the synthesis of functional materials under low temperature conditions, much in the same way that organic chemists have developed a very extensive and diverse toolbox of bench-top reactions. Because of the functional size and shape dependent properties of nanoscale (10-9 meters) materials, the impetus to design low temperature synthesis methods also applies to the synthesis of nanocrystals. The goal of this research program is to design new routes to functional nanocrystals using these energy-efficient design principles, which will be significant in the ultimate development of solar energy conversion and energy storage technologies based on these nanocrystal platforms. Integrated into this research plan is the educational objective of bringing the core concepts of solid-state chemistry to students at the university, community college, and high school levels. At the university level, integration of solid-state chemistry into the curriculum will be accomplished via a solid-state chemistry component in a course on Inorganic Structure and Bonding, which is taken by graduate students and advanced undergraduates. At the community college and high school levels, students from underrepresented and economically disadvantaged groups in Los Angeles County will be targeted for participation in a summer internship. Using solar energy conversion and energy storage as compelling working examples, a summer internship will be developed that exposes students to cutting edge and interdisciplinary research occurring at the university setting. This program will consist of a combination of discussions and hands-on work, will illustrate how the scientific method is applied to laboratory research in the context of solid-state chemistry and nanotechnology, and will expose the students to opportunities available to them in science and engineering at the university level and beyond. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/07/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $185,310.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Understanding the role of environmental change of | National Science Foundation | 7/24/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $337,007.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This project is studying the early history of the geological boundary zone between the Pacific and North America plates in northwestern Mexico. The peninsula of Baja California lies on the Pacific plate, and the rest of Mexico belongs to the North America plate. Twelve million years ago, before the San Andreas Fault and the Gulf of California formed, the Baja California peninsula and the islands in the Gulf of California were all connected together as a single land mass. A large volcanic eruption in this region produced pyroclastic flows that deposited volcanic rocks up to at least 150 kilometers from the vent in different directions. These rocks have now been faulted and separated into different mountain ranges on the two plates, due to plate boundary faulting. Students and faculty from the California Institute of Technology will work in collaboration with Mexican scientists to map these rocks in a transect from the Central Baja California peninsula to the Coast of the Gulf of California, and from the Sonoran coast a distance 150 kilometers eastward into Mexico, as well as targeted locations on Isla Tiburon and Isla Angel de la Guarda. The objective is to verify the correlation of these 12-million-year-old volcanic rocks, to check whether they originated in one mega-eruption or in several eruptions, and to study the rocks underneath them in order to understand the landscape upon which they were deposited. From these data, the original extent and depositional pattern of these volcanic rocks can be reconstructed. This allows measurement of the amount of offset by faulting and determination if they are only displaced 300 km (the amount of displacement on the San Andreas fault) or as much as 600 km (which is the amount of displacement implied by some models of fault slip in the southern Gulf of California). The techniques to be used include geological mapping and sampling in the field, and magnetic studies (paleomagnetics and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility) of the rocks in the laboratory. This project will give a better understanding of the initiation of a major plate boundary that affects the western side of North America - the boundary between the Pacific and North America plates. The history of motion along this boundary between twelve million years ago and six million years ago and solve a controversy regarding how much plate boundary faulting took place in this region. The results of this study will help understand how new plate boundaries form in continents, and how long it can take for a broad zone of faulting to turn into a mid-ocean ridge system, such as the one that is now present beneath the basins of the Gulf of California. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/04/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $639,694.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Award Description Despite large acoustic differences in the speech of various talkers, humans are generally able to understand each other very quickly. The mechanisms by which we are able to map the great acoustic variability we encounter onto a small set of phonemes has been the subject of research for more than half a century. This 'speaker normalization' problem has been approached in a number of ways, but is generally thought of as a way to appropriately equate the formant frequencies of a particular speaker with a reference set of formants. In the proposed project, we identify a novel and innovative approach to speaker normalization. Recent work by the project's personnel has shown that subglottal resonances (SGRs) form a set of acoustic boundaries in the frequency space of an individual's speech, thereby defining frequency bands within which formants may vary and yet retain the same phonemic vowel quality. Rather than normalize formant frequencies, which are known to vary significantly even for a given vowel produced by a given speaker, we propose to test a theory of speaker normalization in which SGRs are normalized, thereby normalizing the frequency bands within which vowel classes are defined. Our interdisciplinary team of researchers (with expertise in linguistic phonetics, speech production and perception, and automatic speech recognition (ASR)) is uniquely qualified to pursue this project. The proposed project is a transformative one. It will help us better understand and model human speech production, especially aspects pertaining to the subglottal system. Additionally, the work will inform central issues in human speech perception, especially in the area of speaker normalization. From a theoretical perspective, the proposed studies will advance our understanding of human speech perception and production and function to constrain models of these two processes by highlighting the need to account for SGRs. From an applied perspective, the work will lead to improved performance of speaker normalization and identification systems especially when the training and test data are mismatched (for example, when training the acoustic models on adult speech while recognizing children's speech in quiet and/or in noise). Thus, the resulting robust systems should be able to deal effectively with speech variability, a major challenge for ASR systems. Broader Impact. The interdisciplinary collaboration in Engineering, Linguistics, Speech & Hearing, and Psychology will facilitate a multidisciplinary learning environment for the participating faculty, research scientist, graduate and undergraduate students and will result in the broader impact of enhanced training in speech production and perception modeling and algorithm development. We will encourage participation of undergraduate students. We intend to extensively publish the results of our work in high-quality journals and present them at relevant conferences. The proposed work will result in a set of databases and tools that will be disseminated to the research and education community. The project can have a profound impact on improving noise-robust ASR for adults and children, and for those who are English Language Learners, and providing the first evidence-based approach to incorporating normalization algorithms into speech processors for sensory aids (e.g., hearing aids and cochlear implants). The results would also generalize to other languages beyond Spanish and English. The proposed work can be applied to the area of speaker identification, which is important in both commercial and military applications. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/14/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $5,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Generalized Radon Transforms and Harmonic Analysis | National Science Foundation | 6/29/2009 |
| PASADENA PLAYHOUSE STATE THEATRE OF CALIFORNIA, INC. THE | $50,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/15/2009 |
| GEOSPACE RESEARCH INC | $48,253.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The investigator will utilize satellite altimetry data to identify the specific ocean source responsible for thermospheric Acoustic Gravity Wave observations made at the Arecibo observatory. The Arecibo Observatory is the largest atmospheric radar in the world and the research will make full use of its high atmospheric resolving capabilities. The investigator and colleagues have previously discovered that a continuum of waves is present in the upper atmosphere above Arecibo Observatory (AO), Puerto Rico. It has been determined that these fluctuations are the result of the propagation of neutral atmospheric waves through the ionized portion of the upper atmosphere from 120 km altitude to heights greater than 650 km. The research effort will investigate whether the thermospheric wave production process is unique to the ocean near Arecibo (e.g., related to the Puerto Rican Trench), or whether it can be found at other global locations. A better understanding of these processes will greatly improve our understanding of gravity wave propagation. Attention will be focused on identifying ocean structures capable of producing a broad spectrum of horizontal AGW wavelengths and periods in the range of 5-90 min. Satellite altimetry measurements from repeat orbits will be used to search for far infragravity ocean waves and determine surface wavelength and direction of wave motion. In addition other ocean features created by the presence of the Antilles current will be examined as well as the nature of the mesoscale eddies. In addition, signs of Ekman upwelling, seiches, edge waves, or Kelvin waves will be investigated in detail to determine their impact on Acoustic Gravity Wave propagation and thermospheric signatures observed by Arecibo. The investigator is involving young undergraduates students, who will participate in the data analysis as well as receive a valuable learning experience. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/15/2009 |
| HUC-SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER | $50,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/23/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $50,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/15/2009 |
| KHMER ARTS ACADEMY | $50,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/06/2009 |
| PASADENA ARTS COUNCIL | $25,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/08/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY LONG BEACH FOUNDATION | $179,982.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The Near East, which includes Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and the Arabian peninsula, straddles three major climatic zones: Mediterranean, mixed continental, and monsoonal. The primary objective of this project is to reconstruct two records (ca. 200 kyr in length) of moisture balance (precipitation minus evapotranspiration) in western Iran based on the stable-isotopic and trace element composition of endogenic lake carbonates. The project aims to answer two fundamental questions: 1) what are the climatic factors that control the timing and amount of precipitation in western Iran and 2) do these factors change under different climatic boundary conditions (e.g. green-house gas concentrations, ice sheet size, insolation and ocean circulation). Four hypotheses will be tested: 1) Millennial to multi-millennial fluctuations in moisture will mirror changes in Atlantic sea-surface temperatures, 2) The Indian Ocean Monsoon affected moisture availability in southwestern Iran during the first 5000 years of the Last Interglacial, 3) The hydroclimatic evolution of the Last Interglacial in Urmia will mirror that of the Holocene, with low d18O values concomitant with the expansion of Mediterranean taxa. Lake Maharlou will not show the same evolution due to the influence of the monsoon, 4) During both the last glacial and penultimate glacial, insterstadials will have higher moisture balance (precipitation minus evaporation) marked by decreases in the d18O values. This study is part of a larger effort that includes scientists from France, Iran, and Germany and focuses on understanding the climatic evolution of western Iran and its impacts on regional vegetation zones. This proposal is designed to address issues of moisture availability in this sensitive region, with the ultimate goal of determining what climatic conditions control the amount and seasonality of precipitation in western Iran. Several undergraduate research projects and one Master?s thesis is anticipated from this proposal. A minimum of 4 peer-reviewed papers are expected from this research. Given that Iran is a politically sensitive region in which to conduct research, this project represents a unique opportunity to forge collaborative ties with both the University of Tehran and the Geological Survey of Iran. It is expected that the synergy and exchange of ideas will lead to future cooperation and additional scientific studies. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/31/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $684,683.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Investigation of nonlinear wave-particle interacti | National Science Foundation | 6/25/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $740,999.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Collaborative Proposal: Continuation of the XENON Dark Matter Project: Construction and Underground Operation of an Upgraded XENON100 Detector A continuation fund to support the operation of XENON100 dark matter detection project and to support the construction of the XENON100 upgrade. An improved version of the current project. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/24/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $987,032.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The investigators, with their students and postdocs, pursue an interdisciplinary project with three primary aims. The first aim is the development, optimization, and dissemination of novel computational methods based on arbitrary-order Hermite approximations that efficiently utilize petascale facilities to solve complex, multiple-scale, time-dependent systems of partial differential equations. Secondly, Hermite methods are applied to the direct simulation of turbulent jet noise at Reynolds numbers more than an order of magnitude beyond those currently available, paving the way for future simulations under flow conditions relevant to engineering design. The final goal is the development and application of post-processing techniques to use the simulation data to discover the basic physical mechanisms responsible for the jet noise, improve the inputs to engineering models, and inform strategies for noise reduction. The unique properties of Hermite methods make them ideal for high-resolution simulations on high-performance computing platforms. This is the first instance where they are fully exercised to attack a difficult problem. The methods themselves can be profitably used in any application requiring high accuracy, and a library of optimized building blocks along with templates for their application is created and made freely available to the scientific community. To understand jet noise is an immense scientific challenge. The radiated sound, which carries only a minuscule fraction of the flow energy, results from both small-scale turbulence and the complex dynamics of larger-scale coherent structures. The efficient utilization of the next generation of high-performance computing systems is hindered by the heterogeneous nature of the hardware. This project is focused on new methods that are both flexible enough for complex architectures, and powerful enough to deliver high-resolution approximations. Jet noise is an environmental problem subject to increasingly severe regulation throughout the world. To meet the ambitious noise reduction goals under discussion, a greatly enhanced understanding of the basic physics is needed. The simulations and follow-up analysis to be completed by the investigators bring us much closer to the goal of discovering the subtle physical mechanisms responsible for the acoustic radiation and to the rational design of methods to suppress it. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 9/09/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $367,415.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The goals of this research are to (1) develop new proton conducting materials for fuel cell applications and (2) understand fuel cell reaction pathways so as to ultimately eliminate precious metals from fuel cell designs. The significance of successful disovery of electrolyte materials with the characteristics targetted in this work on energy technologies cannot be overstated. Solid acid fuel cells (SAFCs) operate in a temperature regime (150-300??C) that is unexplored and as such create opportunities for new modes of fuel cell operation. Ultimately, Pt-free fuel cell systems without the extreme temperatures of solid oxide fuel cells may be possible. Commercial development of SAFCs is moving rapidly (under the auspices of the spin-off Superprotonic, Inc.), however, next-generation, truly robust materials are required in order to fully realize the potential benefits of solid acid electrolytes. In addition to new materials development, these comprehensive studies will help to clarify the chemical and structural bases for superprotonic transitions and the overall role of hydrogen bonds in stabilizing compounds. The breadth of tools to be utilized, the relative ease with which the materials can be synthesized, and the high level of public interest in energy technologies, renders this an ideal system for training future leaders in materials chemistry and its application to societally relevant problems. Such training will be specifically achieved through participation in this research by undegraduate, graduate and post-doctoral researchers, as well as through outreach activities for K-12 students. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 9/01/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $1,200,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This project takes on two problems: (1) deciphering ancient texts using computers, and (2) training automated language translation systems without using parallel texts. Statistical language processing software has played little role to date in the analysis of ancient texts, where data is limited and human intuition has so far ruled. Data for automated language translation is more plentiful, and research has made great strides in the 21st century. However, researchers are addicted to training on large parallel texts, which are limited for the diversity of languages and domains for which people need automated translation. The project develops unsupervised methods that compensate for the lack of parallel data, using alternative sources of linguistic knowledge. For ancient languages, these sources include known languages as decipherment targets, capitalizing on tight connections within a language family. In translation, large quantities of untranslated data are exploited to induce strong bilingual connections. Formulating these tasks in a decipherment framework brings powerful cryptographic theory and algorithms to bear. Such theory also helps estimate expected translation accuracy given fixed data resources, and gauge whether a lost language is decipherable, given a fixed amount of script. Computational analysis of ancient scripts offers a better understanding of ancient cultures, and unsupervised techniques construct language connections of great interest to historical linguists. Applying such techniques to automated language translation offers the chance to bring many more language pairs and domains to the population at large. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/10/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $1,600,000.00 | Grant |
Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The goal of this project is to take physics-based seismic hazard analysis (SHA) to a new level using petascale computational resources. Building on the scientific and technical successes under their current PetaApps award the PIs will incorporate better theory and data into their earthquake simulations through their continued development of Earthquake system science. Earthquake system science presents some of the most challenging computational pathways in geoscience. Taken from end to end, the earthquake problem comprises the loading and failure of tectonic faults, the generation and propagation of seismic waves, the response of surface sites, and in its application to seismic risk the damage caused by earthquakes to the built environment. These pathways involve a wide variety of interactions, some highly nonlinear and multiscale. Show more...
There were 1 sub-recipients, vendors, and/or sub-vendors associated with this. See details |
National Science Foundation | 7/24/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $317,291.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This project will provide the necessary photo-excitation and emission data required to understand the important molecular physics and role in planetary atmospheres of molecular nitrogen (N2) by investigating the strong interactions among the Rydberg and valence states of N2 and the atmospheric N2, neutral atomic (NI) and ionized (NII) nitrogen emissions. Measurement of high-resolution fluorescence excitation spectra will determine the absolute predissociation yields when the experiments are conducted under optically thin conditions. The second part of this study will measure specific absolute branching ratios. The third significant activity will measure absolute fluorescence production cross-sections for the NI and NII emissions through photodissociative excitation and dissociative photoionization excitation of N2. The last task, similar work with isotopes of nitrogen, may be too ambitious for the scope of the current project, but would help to understand the nitrogen isotope anomaly observed in planetary atmospheres. The work will use an existing experimental apparatus that provides a rapid, efficient, and cost-effective means for observing fluorescence spectra and determining the absolute fluorescence production cross-sections. The experimental procedures have been developed by the PI's group, and will be conducted over a temperature range appropriate to the atmospheres of outer giant planets and satellites. These data are required for accurate quantitative analysis and evaluation of the nitrogen airglow models of Saturn, Titan, Triton, and Pluto. The results will benefit atomic and molecular theorists, atmospheric modelers, and optical astronomers. Several of the spectral features are of considerable interest as remote global sensing alternatives or as complementary measurements to existing bands. The study will continue successful efforts in training and research experiences for postdoctoral associates, graduate and undergraduate students. This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/02/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $306,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This award supports theoretical and computational research that will develop new computational algorithms and tools for determining the relationship between the structure of a specific, possibly candidate, material and its properties. The PI will extend an existing approach to enable inclusion of a larger set of materials properties that enhance the power and utility of the method. The research effort contributes to the effort to discover new materials with desired properties using computation and starting only with the identity of the constituent atoms. This research may lead to the discovery of new materials with desired properties for technological applications, or optimizing the properties of existing materials or materials structures. New materials for optoelectronic devices are a specific focus of this project. Software tools developed in this project will be made available to the broader materials research community and will contribute to its cyberinfrastructure. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 9/14/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $349,547.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Most of the rivers in hilly and mountainous landscapes have small, steep channels, which are typically mantled by boulders that rarely move. In these channels, boulders moderate the rate of river incision, roughen the flow creating local patches of gravel , and provide crucial habitat for a variety of organisms such as salmon and steelhead spawning. Coarse sediment can also become entrained by river floods, which rush down slope with considerable destructive consequences. No current theory or empirical model exists that successfully predicts the threshold of movement of boulders or their organization by river processes. This research project addresses this fundamental gap in basic knowledge through a combined theoretical, experimental and field-based approach. A semi-empirical theory for boulder mobility and step-pool formation will be developed and tested using a newly constructed state-of-the-art laboratory flume at the California Institute of Technology. The flume experiments will allow exploration of channel slopes (up to 30%) and grain sizes (up to 10 cm) that have been severely limited in past studies. Experiments will be designed to investigate the conditions under which boulders move and the mechanisms responsible for boulder organization into steps and pools. Data from these experiments will be used to test and validate predictive models for boulder transport and step-pool formation. The experimental and theoretical findings will be compared to observed flow conditions during boulder movement events in tributaries of the South Fork Eel River in the University of California Angelo Coast Range Reserve. The result will be a robust method for calculating boulder transport dynamics in steep mountain streams, with implications for predicting landscape evolution, the rate of movement of sediment through steep channels, critical habitat conditions, and the beneficial use of boulders in restoration projects. The results from this research project will have significant implications for basic science and a number of practical concerns of societal relevance. Results from this project will aid in restoration and hazard mitigation efforts where assessing boulder mobility is needed for restoring stream habitat (e.g., salmon spawning) and functionality, as well as mitigating flood and debris flow hazards in steep urban areas. This research project includes mentoring undergraduates, a PhD student, and a post-doctoral researcher in experimental, field and theoretical science. Research from this study will be uswd to design a 1-day workshop for area high-school teachers. The goal will be to give teachers the necessary skills to teach their students simple ways to assess flood and debris flow hazards that can result in loss of life and property in the Los Angeles area. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/23/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $450,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Analysis of the Cell Biological Mechanisms of Lear | National Science Foundation | 7/15/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $275,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The recently released Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast by the Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities concludes that there is a high probability that an earthquake of magnitude 6 or larger will occur on the southern section of the San Andreas fault in the next 30 years. The research objective of this award is to do a region-wide quantitative risk analysis of six steel buildings in the 20-story class for the hazard posed by the San Andreas fault. For this, end-to-end computer simulations of ground motion from 36 earthquakes and damage to the six buildings will be carried out. The earthquakes vary in magnitudes from 6.0 to 8.0 and originate at three hypocenter locations on the fault. Two rupture propagation directions will be considered. The Los Angeles metropolitan region will be divided into 636 analysis sites on a uniform grid of about 3.5km spacing. Three steel moment frame and three steel braced frame building models will be analyzed at each site for damage caused by the 3-component motion of the 36 scenario earthquakes. The results will be probabilistically analyzed to quantify the expected annualized economic loss for each building at each of the sites. Remedial measures that prevent collapse of the buildings will be investigated. The study will resolve long-standing questions related to failure modes, degradation characteristics, and collapse mechanisms of steel moment frame and braced frame buildings. This will also provide a quantitative measure of the economic risk due to the seismic activity on the San Andreas fault to the hundreds of high-rise buildings that exist in Southern California. The proposed research will lead to fundamental understanding of tall steel building response and performance under strong ground motion. It will provide necessary data needed for formulating seismic hazard mitigation strategies and for better land-use planning to keep the impending San Andreas earthquakes from becoming catastrophic. The proposed Caltech Virtual Shaker e-analysis facility, established for wider dissemination of the methodology developed in the project, will allow practicing structural engineers to evaluate the performance of various innovative structural systems. The project will educate and train graduate and undergraduate students in earthquake engineering to advance the profession. Demonstrations about the application of high-performance computing for solving some of the most challenging earthquake engineering problems faced by society will be made to motivate K-12 students. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/09/2009 |
| LOS ANGELES COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS | $12,386,126.00 | Grant |
ARRA - Head Start The purpose of Los Angeles County Office of Education, Head Start-State Preschool Division’s (LACOE) cost of living (COLA) and quality improvement (QI) funds for 2009-2010 is to provide enhanced support to our agencies. The basic cost of living (COLA) funds will be used to increase salaries or to off-set higher operating costs and fringe benefits. In addition, the quality improvement (QI) funds will enhance the quality services offered to children and families by providing grantee and agency staff with professional development opportunities. Outcomes/results: As a result of COLA funding, LACOE Head Start and Early Head Start programs have additional support to pay for the higher operating costs including increases in the cost of office supplies, rent, and utilities, as well as statutory, retirement, health, and welfare benefits expenses. Quality improvement (QI) funding will allow LACOE to implement eight trainings. These trainings will enhance the delivery of quality services to children and families in the spirit of LACOE’s mission to achieve excellence in child and family development services. In addition, QI will be used to improve facilities to ensure the physical environments are safe and conducive to learning. Deliverables/measures of progress: LACOE’s Fiscal Operations Support Unit will track expenditures according to the project budget details to measure project progress with COLA and QI funding. The internal Research and Evaluation team will evaluate the progress of the trainings developed through QI funding. Show more...
There were 29 sub-recipients, vendors, and/or sub-vendors associated with this. See details |
Administration for Children and Families | 7/02/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $245,590.00 | Grant | ARRA - Head Start ARRA – COLA- To be used to pay for higher operating costs and to increases staff salaries and fringe benefits. The portion of the COLA under the ARRA will be available for only a 12 month period effective July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010 to provide a temporary increase of 1.84% for each employee. ARRA- Quality Improvement Funds - Not less than 50 percent of the QI funds are to be used to improve the compensation of educational personnel, family service workers, and child counselors, improve qualifications and assist with the implementation of career development programs for staff, assist teachers to be fully competent to meet the professional standards. The remaining funds are to be used for any of the following: staff training, physical environments reduce child-teacher ratios, reduce family services workers, promoting language and literacy growth of children, Increasing operating hours, strategic planning, transportation, compensation. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/01/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $108,558.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The Longmen-Shan Fault (LSF) located at the east margin of the Tibetan Plateau in western China is featured by active tectonics. It was broken in total length of 300 km with the maximum slip larger than 9 m in the devastating M8 Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008. Its rupture length, slip and magnitude are comparable with those of the 1857 and 1906 big earthquakes in California. The PI and student will study the co-seismic rock damage and post-mainshock healing on the LSF associated with this M8 earthquake using the data recorded at the Sichuan Seismic Network (SSN) stations and portable seismographs deployed at the ruptures after the Wenchuan earthquake. We shall identify clusters of repeated earthquakes among more than ten thousands of Wenchuan aftershocks and use the waveform data from them to measure temporal changes in seismic velocity caused by the Wenchuan earthquake. They will also delineate the subsurface structure of the low-velocity damage zone on the LSF using fault-zone trapped waves generated by aftershocks recorded at near-fault stations. The results from the Longmen-Shan Fault will be compare to those obtained from our previous studies for the process of rock damage and heal at the Parkfield San Andreas Fault and rupture zones of the 1992 M7.4 Lands and 1999 M7.2 Hector Mine earthquakes. Because of the density of the data recorded at the Sichuan Seismic Network for the pre-shock and aftershock sequence of the 2008 M8 Wenchuan earthquake, this study will be one of a few cases to illuminate the in-situ fault-zone rock damage and healing at seismogenic depths associated with a big M8 earthquake. The wealth of unexpected data from the M8 Wenchuan earthquake will improve the resolution in our study of the spatio-temporal variations in properties of the active faults and the depth extent of the damage zone. The spatial extent of fault-zone damage and the loss and recouping of strength across the earthquake cycle are critical ingredients in understanding of fault mechanics and physics. With a comparison of big earthquakes in China with those in US, the most basic information on the in-situ state of the fault zone aids the understanding of earthquake processes and hazards globally. The proposed work will allow us to determine the evolution of fault-zone physical properties with a big earthquake, document characteristics of damaging earthquakes and help us to evaluate potential earthquake risk in seismogenic regions in USA and China. This research project on the M8 Wenchuan earthquake will be carried out under the Sino-US Earthquake Study Protocol. The project will involve post-doctoral and graduate researcher. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/07/2009 |
| VISTA DEL MAR | $46,497.00 | Grant | ARRA - Head Start ARRA Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), and Qulaity | Administration for Children and Families | 6/25/2009 |
| FIBRON TECHNOLOGIES, INC. | $150,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project seeks to develop polyaniline nanofibers into a biologically responsive multi-functional material for use as a tool for the rapid and inexpensive diagnosis of urinary tract infections (UTIs) through a novel precipitation based smart biosensor platform. The bulk synthesis of conducting polymer nanofibers is green and highly scalable yielding a product which forms water stable colloidal suspensions. Conducting polymers have multiple responses that can be utilized for sensing, including colorometric, conductivity and oxidation state changes. This project will add an additional functionality to polyaniline nanofibers which causes them to form a gel precipitate in the presence of specific sequences of DNA or RNA giving a rapid visual indication of the presence of a target such as from UTI bacteria for the detection of a UTI in a patient. This will be accomplished through a novel functionalization of polyaniline nanofibers with single stranded DNA (ssDNA) probes. Since this process is aimed at direct analysis of patient samples without additional sample handling, or equipment, this technology promises to be a real-time test with accuracy competitive with more expensive current clinical standards. the complete abstract for this award is available in Reearch.gov at: www.Research.gov Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/18/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $77,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Cloning and Characterization of Zebrafish Endocrin | National Institutes of Health | 9/15/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $569,538.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Vascular cognitive impairment is highly prevalent, yet its biological basis has not been well studied, the goal of this proposal is to elucidate the molecular and cellular pathological processes underlying retinal vasculopathy with cerebral leukodystrophy (RVCL; OMIM 192315), an autosomal dominant stroke syndrome of adult onset due to a systemic microvasculopathy that is clinically, pathologically, and genetically distinct from cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL; OMIM125310). Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/08/2009 |
| ALTAMED HEALTH SERVICES CORPORATION | $746,250.00 | Grant | ARRA-Health Center Integrated Services development Initiative AltaMed Health Services Corporation (AltaMed) received $746,250 from HRSA to support EDR Implementation and Integration with our CCHIT-certified EMR across our dental clinic sites and portable dental exam and treatment units in poorly-served urban areas of Los Angeles County and Orange County. AltaMed has long planned for this EDR Implementation and Integration project to maximize both the quality and quantity of excellent dental care access it can offer low-income and underserved residents of Los Angeles and Orange counties. Return on investment in our EMR and other related HIT innovations will be greatly increased by introducing an integrated electronic dental health record (EDR) system to expedite service delivery and ensure high quality oral health care at all of our dental clinic sites. EDR Implementation and Integration will provide the means to more efficiently serve our dental patients and ensure closer clinical linkages of our medical and dental providers. In 2008, AltaMed provided 19,880 dental service visits to patients. The quality improvement potential offered by EDR/EMR integration is the primary reason that AltaMed has pursued this HIT innovation. AltaMed?s EDR project will link its four LA County and Orange County dental clinic provider sites and its two mobile units in a total service area of more than 150 zip codes. These neighborhoods and communities share the problems of very limited medical and dental access and high concentrations of uninsured and low-income residents. In year one we propose to measure practice efficiency as well as oral health indicators for pregnant women and children recommended by HRSA?s Oral Health Disparities Collaborative initiative. In years two and three we will also collect oral health indicators for patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This advanced HIT innovation will positively effect our patients? health, have a community-wide impact by raising the general level of dental service delivery in our service area, and raise the service delivery expectations of residents. As one of very few dental providers in our service area we pride ourselves on our continual focus on quality service in traditionally underserved areas plagued with extreme examples of health disparity. The communities we serve are among the poorest in Southern California and have high concentrations of non-White, foreign born residents who struggle with cultural and linguistic isolation, and who are less likely than other county residents to have dental and medical insurance. AltaMed has learned from its extensive prior HIT experiences and has a strong track record of successful ?early adopter? implementation of major technical innovations. We will have implemented our CCHIT-certified EMR across all 36 clinic sites in LA and Orange County by August 2009 in a carefully staged process. AltaMed?s success in technical innovation is due to the passion and guidance of our clinical leadership and clinician ?champions? as well as our careful, multi-year, strategic planning process. Show more... | Health Resources and Services Administration | 9/19/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $265,450.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Title: Cntnap2 in a Behavioral Model of Autism Impairments in language, social interaction and behavioral flexibility that together occur in young children comprise the hallmarks of autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Geschwind & Levitt, 2007, Curr Op Neurobio.). Language, and thus autism, is a uniquely human phenotype, however, other species possess subcomponents of language. Such a comparative view opens the door to controlled experimental investigation into the neural basis of vocal learning, a key subcomponent of language. Understanding the neural basis of language deficits in ASD, currently lacking, would enable therapeutic interventions to target this hallmark symptom and potentially improve the communication abilities, and thus the quality of life, of autistic individuals. Traditional laboratory animals are not vocal learners, but songbirds are. Thus I propose to develop the zebra finch songbird as a novel animal model for investigating the physiological and neuroanatomical effects of autism susceptibility genes on vocal learning, in addition to other social and repetitive behaviors. Our research under this award will develop a songbird model of ASD using the recently identified autism-susceptibility gene, contactin associated protein-like 2 (Cntnap2). CNTNAP2 is a member of the neurexin super-family. Polymorphisms of other neurexins and their synaptic binding partners, neuroligins, are implicated in ASD and hypothesized to contribute to cognitive disorders by compromising synaptic development (Sudhof, 2008, Nature). In line with this, Old Order Amish children who exhibited seizures, ASD, and language regression were found to harbor a loss-of-function mutation in CNTNAP2 (Strauss et al., 2006, NEJM). In 2008, three groups identified CNTNAP2 as an autism-susceptiblity gene in the general population (Stephan, 2008, Am J Hum Gen), and certain CNTNAP2 variants in autistic children are associated with the age at first word (Alarcon et al., 2008, Am J Hum Gen). Among mammals, the brain distribution of CNTNAP2 differs between vocal learners and non-learners: it is enriched in language-related cortico-basal ganglia circuitry in human embryos, in contrast to an even distribution in mouse and rat embryos; animals who do not learn vocalizations. These data raise the hypothesis that CNTNAP2 contributes to the regional and functional patterning of the developing human brain that underlies learned vocal communication (Abrahams et al., 2007, PNAS). We have created probes that specifically detect expression patterns of zebra finch Cntnap2 (zfCntnap2) in developing and mature finches. Strikingly, these probes mark the song circuit (Panaitof et al., J Comp Neurol, in revision), similar to the punctuated expression pattern in humans and in contrast with rodents. These findings suggest that we can learn a great deal by studying Cntnap2 in the zebra finch, a well-characterized experimental model, and by applying these findings to the human. In collaboration with Dr. Daniel Geschwind, we are developing short hairpin RNA (shRNA) constructs to knock down Cntnap2 in the zebra finch. We will test these constructs, first in vitro, and then in vivo. For the latter, we will target zfCntnap2 in ovo so as to mimic the generalized effects of human CNTNAP2 mutations which begin at conception. Not only will this work illuminate Cntnap2's role in ASD, it will additionally provide a proof-of-principle for use of songbirds in understanding the role of other autism susceptibility genes. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/22/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $269,500.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Therapeutic approach to Autism Spectrum Disorders | National Institutes of Health | 9/29/2009 |
| VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA OF LOS ANGELES | $388,146.00 | Grant | ARRA - Head Start The purpose and expected outcomes of this contract are to recruit and maintain qualified staff, provide support staff in classrooms to lower the teacher/child ratio to provide more individualization for children, and provide additional consultant services, and T & TA, to staff to stregthen the quality of services provided. Show more... | Administration for Children and Families | 6/29/2009 |
| CHILD CARE RESOURCE CENTER, INC. | $359,578.00 | Grant | ARRA - Head Start ARRA Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), and Quality | Administration for Children and Families | 6/26/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $50,054.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This project focuses on characterization of a protein translocase in the pathogen Trichomonas vaginalis. T. vaginalis is the most widespread non-viral sexually transmitted human parasite in the world. Direct effects of trichomoniasis vary from an asymptomatic carrier state to severe vaginitis, with secondary effects of increased HIV infection and development of cervical and prostate cancers. Rising rates of resistance to the two approved drugs makes finding new drug targets a priority. T. vaginalis lacks a mitochondrion, instead harboring a unique ATP-producing organelle called the hydrogenosome that is the site of action of current approved drugs. The eventual goal is identification of proteins that could serve as new drug targets. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/22/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY MUSLIM MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, INC. | $134,595.00 | Grant | ARRA-Health Center Integrated Services development Initiative For more than 10 years, UMMA has served as a quality provider of low- and no-cost health care to some of the most medically indigent areas of South Los Angeles. Our community is designated as both a Medically Underserved Area and a Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Area. In addition to these challenges, UMMA has experienced a recent spike in visits by uninsured patients due to the economic crisis. We recently extended our clinic hours to include Mondays, adding an additional nine hours of patient care each week, and as a result our rate of appointments has increased by approximately 15 percent. The majority of new appointments have been made by uninsured patients. IDS funds will help us respond to this increasing need for service by hiring a new Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) and a new outreach coordinator, expanding our clinical capacity while improving our outreach efforts. Show more... | Health Resources and Services Administration | 3/27/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $1,275,602.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Descriptive Title: 'Understanding the mechanisms to correct the development of the immune system using stem cell therapy in children with inherited immune deficiency.' The central hypothesis of the Program is that the age of the hematopoietic graft and the host environment influences the ultimate reconstitution of the immune system in the patient with SCID. Project 1 (Crooks) will delineate the role of the thymic vascular niche in the regulation of homing to the neonatal thymus after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Project 2 (Dorshkind) will provide new information regarding fetal B cell development and the development of the humoral immune response, with a specific focus on the ontogeny of B-1 B cells. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/17/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $389,465.00 | Grant |
Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Identification of Genetic Modifiers of Anthrax Lethal Toxin Induced Pathophysiology Virulence of Bacillus anthracis is associated with production of a bipartite protein exotoxin called lethal toxin (LT). While our understanding of the in vitro interactions between LT and different host cells is growing rapidly, the mechanism by which LT contributes to morbidity and mortality in animals is still unclear. Here we propose to address this gap in knowledge by mapping gene(s) that influence whole-animal sensitivity to LT. To achieve this goal, we will utilize a congenic mouse strain identified in our lab that exhibits a rapid response to LT and resistance to spore challenge. In a second, complementary aim, we will determine the cellular and molecular events that give rise to the early LT-response phenotype seen in this congenic strain. The following aims are proposed. Show more...
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National Institutes of Health | 7/17/2009 |
| LONG BEACH UNIFIED SCHOOL DIST | $1,169,362.00 | Grant | ARRA - Head Start ARRA Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), and Quality | Administration for Children and Families | 7/01/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $32,702.00 | Grant | The ARRA funds for Quality Improvement are intended to be used to support various activities to improve the quality of the UCLA Early Head Start Program. These activities are to include implementation of staff training to support staff in providing quality services to enrolled infants, toddlers, pregnant women and families. Staff training will involve support of related post-secondary education courses, training sessions on health and mental health, and further training on implementation of the curriculum. Show more... | Department of Health and Human Services | 7/01/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $2,500,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Teachers are Key addresses a central aspect of the crisis in computer science (CS) education: the need for quality high school CS teachers and how to build effective supports and professional development system at a local and national level for these teachers. Teachers are Key builds upon a long-time collaboration between university Education reform researchers and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). We will design and implement an intensive CS teachers' professional development program that will offer continuous in-classroom teacher professional development supported by a district-wide CS coaching /peer-to-peer mentoring system, the development of a CS teachers learning community and teacher leaders. The programs we design and what we learn will be disseminated nationwide as a guide and assistance for other school districts and universities. The PIs of this grant are university researchers and K-12 District leaders uniquely positioned to create a model for institutionalized change. The Teachers are Key focus is to develop successful coaching and peer-to-peer mentoring and leadership development programs for computer science high school teachers, to help deepen their capacity in content knowledge and pedagogical skills, all for the purpose of increasing and enriching student computer science learning. Teachers are Key's initiatives will build upon the expertise of our partners: 1) UCLA and University of Oregon Education researchers including UCLA Center X, a leading urban teacher professional development center with a long history of reform efforts and working with teachers within LAUSD; 2) UCLA Computer Science department Center for Embedded Network Sensing; 3) LAUSD (a minority-serving institution and the second largest school district in the country); and 4) the Computer Science Teachers Association, the national professional organization of computer science teachers. Improving STEM education and guaranteeing equal access to quality education for all students is one of our country's most pressing challenges. Teachers are Key sits right at the crux of this national challenge. Teachers are Key will provide a model of what has to be done both on the school, District, state, and national levels to improve quality computer science education for all students. What we will learn about increasing rigorous learning of computer science opportunities in schools, and about professional development for computer science teachers, especially in schools with high numbers of students of color, will shed light on similar challenges in other STEM disciplines in addition to computer science. The models of professional development that we design and implement in the second largest and one of the most diverse school district in the country will contribute to efforts underway to broaden participation in computing: specifically, to recruit and train a very large number of new high school teachers who can impart to students the magic and 'computational thinking' of computer science, to re-position CS at the high school level as an academic subject, and to redesign the high school curriculum so that it is rigorous and engaging for a broad segment of our student population. The Teachers are Key model for training teachers is critical for this endeavor. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/22/2009 |
| LOS ANGELES, COUNTY OF | $250,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn. This grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to provide grants to create/preserve jobs in the nonprofit arts sector Show more... | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/01/2009 |
| 18TH STREET ARTS COMPLEX INC | $50,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To Support the Preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/01/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $460,089.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This project is entitled Biomarkers for Outcomes i | National Institutes of Health | 9/29/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $545,057.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Neural and Phenotypic Correlates of Autism Risk Ge | National Institutes of Health | 9/22/2009 |
| CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE WEST | $119,447.00 | Grant | ARRA - Head Start This award provides support to the Early Head Start Program at California Hospital Medical Center. Namely, a Cost of Living Increase (COLA) and quality improvement activities to enhance educational staff's ability to efectly support children's early development. | Department of Health and Human Services | 6/29/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $681,108.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Psychosocial Benefits of Ethnic Diversity in Urban | National Science Foundation | 9/01/2009 |
| PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY | $108,587.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Pepperdine University has acquired a Cell Lab Quanta SC Flow Cytometer system. The flow cytometer instrument will be utilized in our summer undergraduate research programs and Honor's research program in original, student generated research projects. This instrument will be utilized in a variety of undergraduate research projects carried out in the context of the biology department's current summer program funded in part through a NSF-REU site grant. Acquisition of a flow cytometer will allow us to introduce new concepts into the laboratories of our core cell biology, biochemistry and molecular biology courses, several of our upper-division biology elective courses, and related courses in sports medicine and psychology. Each faculty member associated with this grant is tasked to develop a new undergraduate laboratory teaching module that explores an application of flow cytometry in cell structure or function. The grant will provide undergraduate students with access to the latest equipment for research in molecular and cellular biology. Funds will foster undergraduate research in cell and molecular biology to facilitate interest in graduate studies in cell and molecular biology and also provide training to students interested in employment in biotechnology industries. Specific research programs that will be aided through acquisition of this instrument are: (1) detection of stress signal molecules in pre- and post-apoptotic cells; (2) examining downstream targets in Notch signaling of a mixed population of 7F2 cells; (3) examining changes in levels of phosphorylated and total CaMKII in the hippocampus following neural injury; (4) examining cellular signaling in mammalian vascular smooth muscle under normal and short term exercise training regimes; and (5) examining ploidy and hybridization in chaparral plants. In addition, we will be able to connect undergraduate research and teaching in biology with research and teaching conducted in psychology and sports medicine, thus broadening the interest base and student interconnections between these disciplines within Seaver College at Pepperdine University. Results of the research efforts accomplished from this grant will be available on each investigator's web pages and in peer reviewed publications. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/07/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $142,017.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Granted funds will support acquisition of an electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) camera and an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) for a recently acquired variable pressure field emission source scanning electron microscope (SEM) in the Earth Sciences Department at the University of Southern California. The EBSD camera will permit determination of the crystallographic preferred orientation patterns (CPOs) in mantle and crustal rocks that record lattice dislocations caused by physical conditions under which deformation occurred (e.g., flow stress, strain-rate, vorticity, and temperature). The EDS will permit simultaneous characterization of phase composition in the sample. PI and student research with a focus on the determination of the tectonic history of exhumed rocks will immediately benefit from the EBSD as will materials research on synthetically produced ultrafine grained nanostructured materials that have emerging commercial applications where extremely high strength materials are required. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/26/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $598,814.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Ultra high-throughput holographic on-chip cytometr | National Science Foundation | 8/25/2009 |
| MAXWELL SENSORS INC. | $500,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The goal of the project is to develop a smart sensor network integrated with Zero-Power Radio Frequency Identification-Sensing Tags (FRID-ST) that combines the technology of a digital MEMS sensor and a reconfigurable RF antenna for blood bag application. The current issues for blood bag tracking systems are: 1. Each blood bag has four to seven barcode lables, for collection date, collection place, blood type, blood cell number, donor information, and expiration date. It is extremely labor intensive and time consuming to handle blood bags and scane seven barcodes one at a time. 2. No temperature monitoring of the cooling chain. Some blood donations, about 5%, have to be destroyed due to inadequate or even lack of temperature monitoring. 3. Too many cases of blood confusion and the number is increasing at the rate of 6% per year, which is costly and very dangerous for patients who need blood. RFID-ST will improve transfusion safety by providing blood bad identification, virtually eliminating the possibility of mix-ups. The advantages of the FRID-ST in the blood transfusion chain are: Replace all barcode lables with a single RFID-ST; Replace optical barcode reader with a wireless FR reader; Improve product quality by temperature monitoring; Increase the speed of processing without opening entire blood container. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/18/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $555,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Professor Michael R. Hoffmann of California Institute of Technology is supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry to conduct research in an international collaboration with Professor John T. Irvine of St. Andrews University and Professor Peter K.J. Robertson of the Robert Gordon University of Aberdeen. The aim of the project is to investigate the photoelectrochemical catalysis of multicomponent systems comprising CO2, as an electron acceptor, and organic electron donors. Initial studies will be performed utilizing both narrow and wide band gap metal sulfides as semiconductor photoelectrochemical catalysts and organic amines as electron donors. Alternate oxide semiconductor catalysts and simulated waste streams will also be explored in parallel. The ultimate goal of this research is to develop efficient catalytic transformations that are potentially useful for conversion of CO2 to useful alternative fuel and chemical feedstock, and for the remediation of petroleum and bio wastes. This project will expose students to an international research experience and will provide them with opportunities to network with researchers in the United Kingdom. The project is supported jointly by the NSF and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the United Kingdom (EPSRC). Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/23/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $270,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support As novel applications for nanocrystalline materials continue to emerge, there is an increasing need for new approaches to manufacture these materials efficiently, at high yield, and with minimal damage to the environment. In this project, two green chemistry technologies?ionic liquid solvents and microfluidic reactors?are combined to engineer new approaches to nanocrystal synthesis. Ionic liquids are ideal for nanofabrication reactions because they can act both as solvents and as surface passivation ligands. Microfluidic systems are ideal because nanocrystal nucleation and growth processes are exquisitely sensitive to local conditions that can be engineered and controlled in microfluidic flows. Beyond the immediate advantages of green manufacture of nanomaterials, this work promises to provide novel insights to the role that mixing plays in controlling nanofabrication reactions. This system will allow for precise control of the timing of the nucleation and growth phases of nanocrystal formation, allowing for improved crystal homogeneity and better control over final morphology. Metal oxide nanocrystals are used as photocatalysts, piezoelectric and photovoltaic materials, and pigments. The green principles developed in this proposal are broadly applicable to manufacturing these materials, and will have correspondingly broad impacts. The proposed work includes an education and outreach program. At the high school level, the PI will work with the USC Center for Engineering Diversity to provide laboratory experiences for high school teachers from local schools. The co-PI will undertake an experimental outreach program to local community colleges. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/23/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $489,006.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Explanations for why CO2 varies on glacial timescales and why the ice core records are out of sync on millennial-centennial timescales most likely reside in the deep ocean. To learn how we must first know how this reservoir changes under different climate states and across rapid climate transitions. Toward this objective the PIs outline a plan for using deep-sea corals to measure the past deep ocean temperatures and D14C. They will measure past D14C using combined U-series and 14C ages in a now well-established deep-sea coral technique. They hope to measure past temperatures to 1 C or better using the newly established 'clumpy isotope' thermometer. As this technique depends on the relative ordering of 13C and 18O atoms in CaCO3 bonds, it is independent of the water d18O value. Samples are already in hand. Broader impacts include the support of the PhD work of an Indian-American scientist at Caltech. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 6/29/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $20,865.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support GEOTRACES is a newly initiated international oceanographic program to identify processes and quantify fluxes that control the distributions of key trace elements and isotopes in the oceans and to establish an understanding of the sensitivity of these distributions to changing environmental conditions. Dissolved iron (Fe) is an element that has a profound impact on phytoplankton growth, ecosystem productivity, and carbon sequestration in the ocean. Atmospheric dust deposition, dissolved Fe flux from continental margin sediments, and hydrothermal venting of Fe-rich fluids have all been identified as important sources of biologically utilized Fe to the oceans. However, the relative importance of these sources in supplying Fe to the dissolved phase is not well understood. To address this issue, a scientist from the California Institute of Technology in collaboration with researchers at LEGOS (France) will make Fe stable isotopic measurement on samples collected during the 2010 GEOTRACES cruise along the North Atlantic Ocean basin. Samples will be taken from all physical and biogeochemical processes that influence trace metals and their isotopes, namely strong meridional advection, ocean margin exchange, atmospheric inputs, and hydrothermal sources and sinks. The resultant dataset should help constrain global Fe fluxes to the ocean. As regards broader impacts, the study will yield new insights into the biogeochemical cycle of Fe, an important component needed to resolve the carbon cycle. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/24/2009 |
| INTERVAL HOUSE | $252,000.00 | Grant | AmeriCorps The purpose of the Interval House AmeriCorps Recov | Corporation for National and Community Service | 6/01/2009 |
| L A THEATRE WORKS (A NON-PROFIT CORPORATION) | $50,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/06/2009 |
| ARMORY CENTER FOR THE ARTS | $50,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/13/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $1,611,038.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The goal of the project ?STCI: Integrated Resource Provisioning Across the National Cyberinfrastructure in Support of Scientific Workloads? is to develop a resource provisioning system that will provide a common job interface to the two national cyberinfrastructures in the US (OSG and the TeraGrid). The system will provide both a priori and dynamic provisioning capabilities, where resources can be reserved explicitly before application execution as well as implicitly as the application jobs enter the job management system. The effects of such provisioning strategies will be tracked via monitoring solutions integrated with the system. This work will also extend the provisioning capabilities to virtual environments such as those delivered by commercial and science clouds. Service administration capabilities will also be provided as part of this work. Intellectual Merit The proposed system will provide a robust and scalable resource provisioning capability that will bridge heterogeneous, distributed cyberinfrastructures, making it easier for scientists with diverse computational requirements to efficiently leverage the available computing power and improve their overall productivity. Efficient use of computational resources is also achieved by the integrated system by occupying resources as they become available and releasing those resources when they are no longer needed. Broader Impact The integrated and extended system will support a broad spectrum of applications in the scientific domain ranging from workflows composed of interdependent tasks to applications composed of a large number of independent jobs to loosely coupled parallel applications. In addition to the current users, the proposed system can be leveraged by applications in astronomy, gravitational-wave physics, fusion, and many others. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/19/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $222,788.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Alcohol intoxication is the greatest contributing factor to transportation fatalities in the United States. Alcohol's (EtOH) major pharmacological target is GABAA receptors (GABAAR). The goal of our research is to develop novel anti-alcohol drugs, which may reduce alcohol-related transportation fatalities. Alcohol consumption enhances GABAAR function and induces GABAAR plasticity. Hovenia, an herbal medicine, has been used in Asia to treat alcohol dependence safely and effectively for more than a millennium. We have demonstrated in pilot studies that Hovenia can reduce EtOH intoxication and block the changes in GABAAR subunit a4 and a1 peptide levels after EtOH intoxication in rats. We showed that Hovenia enhances GABAAR-mediated inhibitory synaptic and extrasynaptic currents in hippocampal neurons in brain slices in vitro. We have identified the active constituents in Hovenia and their chemical structures. Hovenia-dihydromyricetin (H-DHM) is the major component (pilot studies) of the active constituents. The purpose of this application is to study the cellular mechanisms of H-DHM interactions with EtOH and GABAARs. We will pursue these specific aims: Specific aim 1) To determine H-DHM effects on synaptic and extrasynaptic GABAAR function, whole cell-patch recording of hippocampal neurons in brain slices will be performed in vitro. Dose-response studies of H-DHM interactions with GABAARs and EtOH will be conducted using our standard electrophysiological and pharmacological techniques. Specific aim 2) To determine H-DHM effects on acute EtOH intoxication, selected behavioral measurements will be performed in vivo. Rotarod performance will provide a measurement of coordinated movement. Elevate plus maze will be used to evaluate anxiolytic effects. The LORR assay will be able to evaluate sedative/anesthetic effects. Specific aim 3) To determine H-DHM effects on EtOH pharmacokinetics. These studies are necessary because literature suggests that herbal medicines for alcohol intoxication act to reduce alcohol absorption on the gut, or increase metabolism, thus lowering blood alcohol levels. The novelty of this application is testing H-DHM from Hovenia as a potential treatment for alcohol intoxication and alcohol dependence as well as to elucidate the cellular mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of H-DHM. By the end of this grant period, we will understand how H-DHM interacts with GABAARs and EtOH to block EtOH intoxication-induced plasticity, and the resultant EtOH-induced behavioral changes. Understanding the effects of H-DHM in acute alcohol intoxication will provide a pharmacological basis for developing a novel anti-alcoholic therapy that might decrease alcohol-related transportation fatalities. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of transportation fatalities in the nation and alcohol is the primary factor contributing to the fatalities. The goal of our project is to understand the cellular mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of the active in gradient H-DHM on acute alcohol intoxication and alcohol dependence so as to develop a novel anti- alcohol intoxication drug that can prevent alcohol-related transportation fatalities. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/18/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $220,930.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Development of novel experimental strategies and their use for the identification of chemicals capable of modulating the production of proteins that regulate inflammatory responses associated with microbial infection, inflammatory autoimmune disorders, and cancer. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/14/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $454,999.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support We seek to build a molecular classifier based on genetic, genomic, and imaging data from patients with neurodegenerative dementia. Genetic data will consist of SNP data collected across the genome; genomic data will consist of gene expression data in peripheral blood; imaging data will be brain structural magnetic resonance imaging. Novel bioinformatic methods will be used to build a classification algorithm taking into account these diverse phenotypic dimensions. These data will be compared to a growing body of clinical, psychological, neuropsychological, and pathological data that is being collected in the same patient cohort. The overall purpose of this project is to identify surrogate biomarkers in order to build a diagnostic classifier, that would be invaluable in early and accurate diagnosis, as well as for sample stratification for clinical trials. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/24/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $474,580.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support We will use state-of-the-art metagenomic approaches to study the microbiome of the widespread human disease, chronic periodontitis. There is almost no information about the microbial community of this disease at the metagenomic level. The Human Microbiome Project (HMP) is addressing the metagenome of periodontal health, and the studies proposed here will complement and leverage the HMP by investigating the subgingival microbiome of chronic periodontitis prior to and after treatment. Our goal is to identify functional metagenomic signatures of the microbial community that differentiate periodontal health and disease. We define metagenomic signatures as genes, DNA regulatory motifs, pathogenic elements, and functional pathways or interactions. In this study, we plan to first determine whether there are metagenomic signatures that differentiate periodontal health and disease, and whether they are related to the pathogenesis of the disease, by comparing the metagenomes from sites of chronic periodontitis before and after treatment. Once we identify such metagenomic signatures, we will validate them in a different sample set by assessing the relative abundance of selected metagenomic signature DNA in the microbiomes of health and disease states. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/22/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $500,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The Challenge and Potential Impact Approximately one in ten women undergoes surgery for prolapse or incontinence in her lifetime. Of these, up to thirty percent require a re-operation for recurrence of their prolapse or incontinence symptoms2. It has been estimated one in nine women will undergo a hysterectomy in her lifetime, and up to 10% of these women will require surgery for symptomatic vaginal vault prolapse2, 3. The search for the ideal repair for vaginal vault prolapse has led to the invention of several approaches to this problem4. The transabdominal sacrocolpopexy is considered the gold standard in the surgical management of vaginal vault prolapse, with long-term success rates of up to 100%5. Randomized comparative effectiveness trials and systematic literature reviews have demonstrated the anatomic superiority of sacrocolpopexy to vaginal vault suspension6, 7. In an effort to develop minimally invasive alternatives to open sacrocolpopexy, vaginal approaches that utilize synthetic mesh have been developed. However, vaginal approaches to prolapse have a lower cure rate than sacrocolpopexy6 and are associated with significant complications. The frequency and severity of such complications led to the publication by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of a warning to healthcare providers on October 20, 2008. The high complication rate of vaginally placed mesh has led many pelvic surgeons to return to the gold standard technique for vaginal vault prolapse- the abdominal sacrocolpopexy. Fortunately, for the skilled surgeon, laparoscopy offers a minimally invasive alternative to open sacrocolpopexy. However, suturing the mesh to the vagina laparoscopically is tedious, and access to the deep pelvis is often difficult. The sacrocolpopexy is an operation that benefits greatly from robotic assistance. The use of robotic technology has made laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy a more feasible procedure for many pelvic surgeons, not just expert laparoscopists. The improved dexterity of the robot and precision of instruments allow suturing of mesh to the vagina to be accomplished with ease. Like many techniques in pelvic surgery, trends in the management of vaginal vault prolapse have continued to evolve. Unfortunately, such trends are not supported by level I data, specifically that provided by randomized clinical trials. Although robotic technology is new and rapidly spreading throughout the urologic and gynecologic communities, there have been no randomized trials comparing outcomes of robotic versus open sacrocolpopexy. Several questions must be answered before conclusions can be drawn about which technique is superior. The use of the robot in laparoscopic surgery is costly. The costs of purchasing a robot has been estimated at $1.5 million dollars with annual maintenance costs of $112,0009. It is arguable that the maintenance and operative equipment costs may overshadow any potential savings in length of hospital stay and patient convalescence10. However, if robotic sacrocolpopexy can provide better immediate quality of life, less pain, and faster recovery compared to open techniques, the investment in robotic techniques may very well be cost effective when a societal perspective is taken. The primary aim of this study is to compare short-term outcomes of robotic versus open sacrocolpopexy with respect to patient convalescence. Secondary aims will include a direct comparison of patient safety, costs though a cost-effectiveness analysis, and post-operative pain. Intermediate-term efficacy of each surgical technique with respect to cure of prolapse will also be compared. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/25/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $498,872.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Award Description: We have recently developed a high-speed microscope to record the activity of neurons in the intact brain non-invasively. The goal of the proposed challenge grant is to optimize this instrument and then use it to investigate how brain circuits are assembled during development in areas important to emotion, cognition, and creativity, as well as for learning and memory. This innovative tool will allow neuroscientists to design experiments that can generate new ideas regarding how subtle alterations in brain wiring could result in devasting neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, autism, mental retardation, or biopolar disorder. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/25/2009 |
| ST. FRANCIS MEDICAL CENTER | $596,224.00 | Grant | ARRA - Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students Scholarships For Disadvantaged Students to ST. FRA | Health Resources and Services Administration | 9/03/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $259,569.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support X-ray protein crystallography is currently the primary methodology used for determining the 3D structure of protein molecules at near-atomic or atomic resolution. However, many biological specimens such as whole cells, cellular organelles, viruses and many important protein molecules are difficult or impossible to crystallize and hence their structures are not accessible by crystallography. Overcoming these limitations requires the employment of different techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance and cryo-electron microscopy. A very promising approach currently under rapid development is X-ray diffraction microscopy (i.e. extending X-ray crystallography to allow imaging of non-crystalline specimens) in which the X-ray diffraction pattern of a non-crystalline specimen is measured and then directly phased by an iterative algorithm. Since its first experimental demonstration in 1999, X-ray diffraction microscopy has been successfully applied to the 2-D and 3-D imaging of non-crystalline specimens such as whole cells. While the highest resolution achieved thus far is 7 nm, the ultimate resolution is only limited by the X-ray wavelengths and radiation damage to the specimens. Because of its ability to image thick biological specimens and to achieve high spatial resolutions, X-ray diffraction microscopy can be used to bridge the resolution gap between light and electron microscopy. The goals of this proposal are 1) to develop a cryo X-ray diffraction microscope and study the ultimate 3D resolution attainable from frozen-hydrated whole cells; and 2) to test the hypothesis that X-ray diffraction microscopy can be used to image the 3D intracellular structure of frozen-hydrated cells at 10 nm resolution. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/16/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $497,358.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Familial episodic ataxia (EA) syndromes are rare and heterogeneous (EA1-EA7 to date) monogenic disorders, the study of which has illuminated previously unrecognized but important roles of ion channels and transporters in neuronal and cerebellar function. Overlapping features between the EA syndromes and the more common but genetically complex vertigo and ataxia syndromes, particularly those associated with migraine, suggest possibly shared disease mechanisms. We have recruited the largest number of patients with EA under the care of any research group worldwide. We have expanded the clinical and genetic spectrum of EA2 and EA1, defined a new syndrome EA6, and mapped EA7. Furthermore, we performed functional studies to find that the type and location of mutations affect the biophysical and biochemical properties of the abnormal proteins, which correlate with phenotypic variability. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/20/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $231,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This application will develop novel approaches tha | National Institutes of Health | 5/15/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $192,500.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) afflicts 20 million adults in the United States, and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Major male-female differences in the incidence and co-morbidites of the disorder are poorly understood. Since brain changes occurring with OSA may contribute to physiologic and neuropsychological characteristics, male-female differences could explain some of the gender differences in the disorder. Before attempting to related neural changes to comprehensive measures of health status, we aim to verify the male-female differences in neural injury associated with OSA. The findings will establish which brain areas show large male female differences in neural injury associated with OSA; the functional roles of the particular structures affected will be used in future studies to select relevant health status measurements. Understanding the role of gender in brain injury occurring with OSA is important for understanding syndrome progression and development of co-morbidities, and for considering different treatment strategies for male and female patients. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/14/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $221,667.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The focus area is on developing a treatment manual | National Institutes of Health | 9/24/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $500,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The proposal is aimed at prevention of Alzheimer disease. It provides extensive pre-clinical screening of safe and rapidly implementable candidate diet (omega-3 DHA from fish and the curry spice curcumin) and voluntary exercise Alzheimer prevention methods individually or in combination. It also tests the utility of accessible biomarkers in measuring the efficacy of interventions. The objective is to validate synergistic interactions to develop a safe cheap way to prevent the coming 'epidemic' of Alzheimer's dementia as our population ages. Challenge 1) Evidence argues for multiple pathways in AD pathogenesis downstream from Aß. Because AD is a very complex cascade with different stages and pathologies occurring in different regions at the same time, individual or even pleiotropic treatments targeting cascade components may have to be combined for optimal results, while some combination treatments may cancel out individual benefits. Our component treatments are inexpensive, have established safety and efficacy records in individual models and key questions answered in this proposal will be directly translatable to an immediate clinical trial. Challenge 2) Single models for AD are inadequate. Most proposed AD treatments target only Aß or tau and most have been applied prior to lesions in incomplete AD models. We use separate plaque and tangle models in parallel to determine specific impacts of treatment on different types of neurodegeneration and related biochemical pathology, cognitive deficits and biomarker changes. Our preliminary data suggests efficacy with late intervention in both a plaque model with cognitive loss and neuroinflammation and in a non-plaque tau model with wildtype tau, tangles, and loss of neuron, synapses and cognitive function. Challenge 3) Biomarkers include cerebrospinal fluid proteins, PET imaging of amyloid and tau and hippocampal volume shrinkage, many less easily investigated using mouse models. We have therefore been using a transgenic rat model, which we show can be used to evaluate biomarker responses in CSF and microPET imaging. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/24/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $389,523.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Despite best intentions in practice and recent innovations, the sciences continue to experience high attrition rates, particularly in students’ first and second years of college and specifically among underrepresented racial minority students. This critical juncture influences both the expansion and diversity of individuals entering STEM majors and careers. This study seeks to address and expand the unique campus strategies, pedagogical practices, and student experiences that lead to successful development of the skills and dispositions necessary for continuation through the college science pipeline Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/30/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $482,273.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Neuroimmune Factors Mediate the Co-morbid Expressi | National Institutes of Health | 9/24/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $357,907.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Measuring Culture Variations | National Institutes of Health | 9/21/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $1,864,353.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support We propose to develop sustainable statewide infrastructure for Comparative Effectiveness Research on primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among managed care populations. The project builds on the 'Right Care Initiative (RCI)—an existing public-private, multidisciplinary collaboration of health plans, provider groups, public health authorities, and other key stakeholders. RCI was established to address poor performance in clinical outcomes of chronic conditions, including CVD. Now in its second year, health plans and other entities that are part of RCI are sharing and pooling data and reviewing promising practices to identify opportunities for interventions to improve outcomes at local and regional levels. Although RCI is off to a promising start, it lacks the organizational and technical infrastructure necessary to effectively design, implement, and evaluate the range of multisite, multilevel interventions being considered. The Go Grant will allow us to implement this infrastructure, initiate studies, and obtain additional funding for a sustainable public-private partnership that may result in improved health outcomes in our communities. The Go Grant would allow us to rapidly implement the infrastructure RCI needs to initiate studies and obtain additional funding on an ongoing basis. Specifically, we propose to establish a research center—called the California Comparative Effectiveness and Outcomes Improvement (CEOI)—that would be designed to support the goals of the RCI while also significantly increasing the available evidence base on the comparative effectiveness of different strategies for improving the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Because of the size and scale of the RCI healthcare networks that will be involved in center research projects, practices that prove to be effective are likely to be widely disseminated and to have a significant impact on population health far more quickly than usual. While the CEOI will initially be designed to support efforts of the RCI and will focus on preventing cardiovascular disease (CVD), we expect it will gradually expand its scope and capacity to support comparative effectiveness studies involving entities that are not formally part of the RCI and to include care for health conditions besides CVD. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/29/2009 |
| HOUSE EAR INSTITUTE INC | $852,131.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The purpose of this award is to further our understanding of the genetic basis of Age Related Hearing Impairment (ARHI). Our current understanding of the genes that underlie this form of hearing loss is limited to a handful of candidate genes that fail to account for even a small fraction of the full genetic risk. For many common diseases such as ARHI, an agnostic based approach to discovering disease susceptibility has proven to be fruitful. This award will enable us to preform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for the genes that render some individuals susceptible to this disease. The success of these studies has been shown to depend on three parameters. One is a large study population (usually several thousand participants), a second would be the choice of genotyping chip and platform while the third variable would be the phenotypic description. The study we have proposed has over 3000 participants that are extremely well characterized phenotypically. Most of the calculations that we preform to measure the power of our study suggest that we have very close to an 80% chance of discovering a genetic variant that confers risk. The end result of this study will be the identification of genes and pathways that lead to ARHI. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/03/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $920,070.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Sources of change and stability in low-income blac | National Institutes of Health | 9/28/2009 |
| CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER | $81,250.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Study aims to investigate stem cells residing in the nucleus pulposus. It is our hypothesis that stem cells residing in the degenerated nucleus pulposus demonstrate a change in their number and/or differentiation profile compared to SCs in healthy discs. | National Institutes of Health | 5/04/2009 |
| LOS ANGELES BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE AT HARBOR-UCLA MEDICAL CENTER | $68,975.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Intrauterine growth restricted newborns have an increased risk of adult obesity, hypertension and coronary heart disease. Obesity alone accounts for 65-78% of essential hypertension. Although the mechanisms underlying these associations are not fully understood, adipose tissue clearly is a critical factor in the development of obesity-mediated hypertension. In particular, studies have shown that adipose-derived angiotensinogen (AGT) can contribute to approximately 20% of plasma AGT concentrations and modulate blood pressure. This is supported by the fact that all components of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) are expressed in adipose tissue, obese individuals show upregulation of adipose RAS, and adipose tissue-specific overexpression of AGT raises blood pressure and body fat in mice. Thus, adipogenic RAS may be one of the underlying mechanisms contributing to obesity-mediated hypertension. Using a rat model of maternal food restriction (MFR), we have demonstrated that MFR newborns are growth restricted, and have reduced adipose gene expression of AGT and AT2. When allowed catch-up growth during the nursing period, the MFR offspring develop hypertrophic adipocytes in concert with increased adipose gene expression of AGT, AT2 and renin. These MFR offspring subsequently develop hypertension and obesity with persistently upregulated adipose AGT, AT2 and renin. Importantly, plasma AGT levels are elevated though liver AGT expression is unchanged in MFR adult offspring. These findings suggest an important role of adipose RAS in the hypertensive phenotype of MFR offspring. We thus propose to investigate the adipose RAS mediated mechanism of programmed hypertension in MFR offspring. The proposed studies will systematically determine the basal adipose tissue and plasma RAS components at critical ages that demarcate the progression of the obese-hypertensive phenotype. In particular, the relationship between adipose and systemic AGT will be investigated and correlated with blood pressure and body fat. As programmed adipogenic RAS may also result from enhanced cellular responsiveness, we will examine the response of isolated pre- and mature adipocytes to activators/inhibitors of AGT ex-vivo. Additionally, we will determine the mechanism of gestationally programmed versus diet-induced (DIO) obesity mediated hypertension. We will further address gender (male versus female) and fat depot (visceral versus subcutaneous) related differences. Finally, an interventional strategy aimed at suppressing the upregulation of adipogenic and subsequently systemic RAS during the neonatal period will be used to prevent the development of the MFR hypertensive phenotype. In view of the dramatic increase in obesity and hypertension, especially in children, knowledge of the mechanism and potential prevention strategy for MFR programmed hypertension is essential. Hypothesis 1: Programmed hypertension in MFR offspring results from upregulation of adipose RAS with associated increased systemic AGT. Aim 1: Determine the contribution of the adipose RAS (mRNA and protein expression of RAS components), compare it to the systemic RAS and analyze blood pressure responses to angiotensin II in MFR, DIO and Control offspring. Hypothesis 2: Programmed MFR adipocytes have altered cellular responses to AGT activator/inhibitors. Aim 2: Determine the cellular responsiveness of MFR, DIO and Control adipocytes ex-vivo to activators/inhibitors of AGT. Hypothesis 3: Persistent upregulation of adipogenic RAS is essential for programmed hypertension in MFR offspring. Aim 3: Determine if suppression of adipose AGT normalizes adipose and systemic RAS and prevents programmed hypertension in MFR offspring. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 4/27/2009 |
| RAND CORPORATION | $342,360.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose an innovative project that will identify and examine the compensatory strategies and resources used by low literate and low health-literate Latino diabetes patients when faced with literacy-demanding healthcare-related tasks. By comparing strategies and resources of patients who, despite their limited literacy, have good diabetes control, to those who have poor control, we seek to identify and distinguish between effective and ineffective strategies. Moreover, we will explore how the strategies used, and the effectiveness of these strategies, are influenced by personal and healthcare resources. We will limit our study to older Latino patients who have type 2 diabetes because there is tremendous opportunity to improve the health of older Latinos with low literacy and diabetes. Our experienced interdisciplinary team will perform in-depth interviews with 120 older limited English proficient Spanish-speakers with diabetes, 60 of whom are illiterate and 60 of whom have some, but limited, health literacy skills ('low literate'). We will recruit all participants from an urban safety-net hospital. This study will be the critical initial exploratory phase needed to concentrate intervention-development efforts on approaches that complement, augment, or utilize successful strategies. Our research team will use this project's findings to (a) develop a larger survey to quantitatively assess for personal and health care characteristics that may influence the use and effectiveness of strategies and resources; and, (b) develop and empirically test patient-centered interventions to reduce health disparities for older illiterate and low-literate Spanish-speaking patients with diabetes and other comparable chronic illnesses. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed project will provide insight into literacy-compensatory strategies and resources used by Latino diabetes patients with low literacy and low health literacy. This insight will guide researchers in developing powerful patient-centered interventions that have a high potential for decreasing literacy-associated disparities in diabetes outcomes among Latinos. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/28/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $203,750.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Alcohol consumption is generally thought to enhance liver fibrosis. Alcohol-induced liver fibrosis promotes formation of cirrhosis, which increases a risk of liver cancer. Cancer cells have a consistent cytological feature of nucleolar hypertrophy, enlarged nucleoli, where rRNAs are synthesized by RNA pol I and pol III. This implies that transformation in situ is closely linked to the deregulation of RNA pol I- and III-dependent transcription, because the size of the nucleolus reflects the levels of rRNA synthesis. RNA pol III genes encode a variety of untranslated RNAs, including tRNAs and 5S rRNAs. Deregulation of RNA pol III-dependent transcription, enhancing cellular tRNAs and 5S rRNAs production, leads to an increase in translational capacity to promote cell transformation. Although alcohol has been widely studied, nothing is yet known as to whether the transcription of RNA pol III-dependent genes might be affected by alcohol. Since deregulation of RNA pol III-dependent transcription is closely associated with cancers, addressing how alcohol affects this transcription will dramatically elevate our understanding of liver cancer development. Studies have shown that alcohol is able to activate MAP kinases, which are tightly linked to human cancers. Our hypothesis is that alcohol induces stress, activates MAP kinases, particularly the c-Jun N-terminal kinase-1 (JNK1), and increases RNA pol III- dependent transcription, leading to tumor development. First, we will test whether alcohol induces a major class of genes of RNA pol III-dependent transcription, tRNAs, in vivo and in vitro. Second, we will identify alcohol- induced changes in machinery of RNA pol III transcription. Third, we will further investigate the specific signal transduction pathways mediating the alcohol-induced deregulation of RNA pol III-dependent transcription. In addition, we will use liver tissues from chronically alcohol-fed NS5A transgenic mice and intragastric ethanol infusion mice to further identify the changes in RNA pol III-dependent transcription in vivo. Elucidating these key molecular events triggered by alcohol will provide new insights into the pathogenesis of alcohol-induced liver cancer to develop new therapeutic strategies for recovery from liver cancer. Public Health Relevance: The project seeks to elucidate the mechanism of alcohol-induced RNA pol III-dependent transcription in liver cancer and identify the specific pathway by determining MAP kinases, JNK1 and JNK2. Our new discovers of alcohol-induced changes in RNA pol III transcription machinery and our preliminary studies will provide valuable information to develop new drugs to therapy alcohol-associate liver diseases. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/22/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $179,231.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The capacity of lipid molecules in cell membranes to separate into multiple liquid phases, forming so- called lipid rafts, has in the past decade been identified as an important physiological process. Lipid rafts are a control element in the cell membrane, and they take part in numerous molecular pathways with implications for human health, including signal transduction and viral entry. In vitro models of the cell membrane built from synthetic bilayers have played an important role in elucidating the fundamental mechanisms underlying raft formation. Existing artificial bilayer models, however, lack some properties that are inherent to the cell plasma membrane and that are likely important in reproducing the physiological behavior of lipids. These properties include the mechanical attachment of the bilayer to an underlying polymeric cytoskeleton and the compositional asymmetry of the cell membrane. This proposal calls for the fabrication of novel artificial bilayer constructs that will better mimic the structure of the cell plasma membrane and serve as research platforms for investigating lipid raft behavior. This will be accomplished by building vesicular bilayer structures (so called giant unilamellar vesicles, or GUVs) that are filled with a polymer hydrogel. This hydrogel will serve as a biomimetic cytoskeleton, and the membrane will be physically anchored to it via chemical conjugation. One major shortcoming of existing artificial bilayer models of the cell membrane is their inability to properly recapitulate the nanometer scale of lipid rafts found in actual cells, producing instead micrometer-sized lipid domains. There is significant evidence that the size of rafts in cells is limited by the mechanical attachment of the membrane to the cytoskeleton. Building a biomimetic cytoskeleton will allow for precise control over the nature and density of membrane-cytoskeleton attachments and therefore a detailed investigation of the relationship between cytoskeletal attachment and raft size. It will also provide a versatile research platform that can be used to investigate a wide variety of lipid structure-related questions. Investigation of lipid structures at the nanoscale requires the development of analytical techniques that can address these tiny structures. This proposal outlines a set of techniques based on total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy and Fvrster resonance energy transfer that will allow for the detection and evaluation of nanoscale rafts with spatial and temporal resolution. Also proposed is a microfluidic technology for assembling bilayers on GUVs in a layer-by-layer fashion, allowing for the composition of each layer to be controlled and facilitating the fabrication of asymmetric bilayers like those that compose the plasma membrane. Together with the hydrogel cytoskeleton, this technology will allow for a new type of artificial cell that mimics accurately most important properties of the eukaryotic plasma membrane. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Lipid nanostructures in cell membranes help control how cells interact with their environments and are therefore central actors in many disease states, including type-2 diabetes and viral infection. While synthetic lipid bilayers modeling the cell membrane have been important tools for elucidating the molecular mechanisms that underlie lipid structure formation, these systems fail to reproduce important properties of real cell membranes. The new artificial cell constructs proposed here mimic both the cytoskeletal attachment and compositional asymmetry found in cell membranes, allowing them to serve as research platforms for understanding how lipid nanostructures behave and how novel therapeutic approaches can alter lipid- mediated processes. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 4/29/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $504,186.00 | Grant |
Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Sensing of luminal contents by the gastrointestinal (GI) mucosa plays a critical role in the regulation of digestive functions and protection from harmful substances. Different chemicals in the lumen (nutrients, drugs, pathogens, toxins) are detected by different detector systems including enteroendocrine cells, which release hormones entering the circulation, or signaling molecules activating different neuronal pathways. Enteroendocrine cells serve as specialized transducers and represent the first line of integration of chemosensing in the gut. Detection of nutrients or non-nutrients initiates a cascade of events regulating digestion, absorption, food intake, and metabolism, or generates defense processes like food avoidance, neutralization and expulsion of harmful substances. However, the molecular recognition events underlying chemosensing in the gut are still elusive. The recent discovery that taste receptors, (T1Rs for sweet and T2Rs for bitter) and the G-proteins subunits, alpha-gustducin and alpha-transducin, mediating gustatory signals in the tongue are localized to the GI mucosa and that alpha-gustducin colocalizes with CCK and PYY, peptides that affect GI function and food intake, is supportive of the concept that 'tasting' occurs in the gut, where taste receptors are likely to participate in the functional detection of intraluminal substances and initiate a functional appropriate responses. Bitter taste in the mouth has evolved as a warning signal against the ingestion of potentially toxic ('bitter') substances. Initial findings that intraluminal bitter ligands induce activation of vagal afferent neurons suggest that taste signaling molecules participate in the functional detection of harmful substances in the lumen and possibly initiate protective responses. This application will focus on bitter taste receptors in the gut and will test the hypothesis that bitter taste signaling molecules in the gut represent a second line of defense versus harmful substances like pathogens, toxins, drugs and promote a protective response by releasing enteroendocrine hormones that change GI functions to reduce the damage of toxic substances. The proposal is that stimulation of bitter chemosensory receptors in the GI mucosa induces release of signaling molecules by enteroendocrine cells that activate vagal afferent neuronal pathways to modulate GI function and food intake. The long term goal is to develop an understanding of the mechanisms regulating luminal chemosensing, an important physiological process for the regulation of GI function and the detection of ingested harmful drugs and toxins that could initiate responses critical for survival. Understanding chemosensory processes has clinical implications since aberrant or unsteady responses to changes in luminal content might result in disease states ranging from intoxication to feeding disorders and inflammation. Show more...
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National Institutes of Health | 9/11/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $653,938.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Molecular mechanisms underlying the inhibitory act | National Institutes of Health | 6/01/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $189,422.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support 'AMYLOID PLAQUE AND TANGLE IMAGING IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND DOWN SYNDROME' Down syndrome is a model for the study of Alzheimer's disease because almost 100% of middle-aged individuals with this condition show a specific pathogenic process that follows a predictable course of development. This study will develop and refine a paradigm for measuring signs of Alzheimer's disease in Down syndrome. The method proposed and developed here measures brain pathology and functional decline due to Alzheimer's disease. This research method combines a relatively new form of positron emission tomography, called [F-18]FDDNP PET (2-(1-{6- [(2-18F-fluoroethyl) (methyl) amino] -2-napthyl] ethylydene malononitrile, with (1) comparative neuropsychological test methods derived from animal studies of aging and cognition and (2) functional brain imaging (PET-FDG). The [F-18]FDDNP PET involves a radiolabeled probe that binds to Aß plaques and neurofibrillary tangles and will be used to measure, in vivo, brain pathology in Down syndrome. Comparative neuropsychological tests with proven validity for people suffering from severe levels of cognitive impairment (e.g., mental retardation) will also be used. Rate of glucose metabolism based on PET-FDG has been effective in distinguishing individuals by stage of Alzheimer's disease, including individuals with Down syndrome. A cross-sectional design will include 40 adults with Down syndrome (20 demented and 20 unaffected), 20 individuals from the general community diagnosed with probable Alzheimer's disease, and 20 healthy controls. Results will extend preliminary studies and are expected to provide the means to more effectively track disease progress and assess treatment outcome. Consequently, this new method of detection stands not only to improve diagnosis and treatment for people with Down syndrome, but for the general population as well. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/18/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $240,402.00 | Grant |
Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support In humans, telomeres are repeating strings of TTAGGG DNA sequences at both ends of a chromosome. While their complete biological functions remain unclear, it is known that telomere lengths shorten gradually and contribute to senescence, apoptosis, or neoplastic transformation in somatic cells during the aging process. It is now increasingly recognized that telomere shortening also contributes to the pathogenesis of several age-dependent complex disorders including hypertension, insulin resistance, obesity, cardiovascular disease (CVD), vascular dementia, and cancer. While an increasing body of biological evidence indicates that both genetic and environmental factors may regulate telomere function, human data that directly relate telomere length and its regulators (either biochemical or genetic) to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2DM) remain sparse. Furthermore, clinical studies have also associated systemic inflammation with accelerated telomere erosion in human leukocytes. In our own epidemiologic work involving several national surveys and cohorts of men and women, we have observed that systemic inflammation and endothelial dysfunction play a significant role in the development of T2DM, CVD and metabolic syndromes. Nevertheless, the magnitude and association between serum inflammatory and endothelial biomarkers and telomere length have never been investigated in a follow-up study of initially healthy individuals. As a direct follow-up to our previous work, we propose to investigate the role of telomere length in T2DM development in a case-control study of 1,800 incident T2DM cases and 2,500 comparable controls (1:1 matching in Whites and 1:2 matching in minority groups) nested in the ongoing Women's Health Initiative Observational Cohort (WHI-OS) of postmenopausal women. In particular, we will examine the interrelationship among biomarkers of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction, as well as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the genes of telomere binding proteins and telomerase maintenance, with telomere length in relation to the development of T2DM in these well-characterized women. Extensive prior molecular epidemiologic works in this well-characterized population provide an exceptionally cost-effective means to evaluate this novel and promising study examining telomere length and its bio-regulators as predictors of T2DM in women. A better understanding of these relationships may lead to important insights into the complex biological mechanisms underlying aging, obesity, and T2DM, ultimately improving strategies for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of this prevalent condition in postmenopausal women. The specific aims are: Primary Aims 1. To prospectively examine the association between telomere length and risk of T2DM in women from the WHI-OS. 2. To examine the associations between plasma concentrations of inflammatory cytokines, markers of endothelial dysfunction and telomere length in women. 3. To define specific functional SNPs of genes that influence telomere length, and to evaluate their roles in determining telomere length as well as the risk of developing T2DM in these women. 4. To further define specific functional SNPs of genes that regulate telomerase, and to evaluate their roles in affecting telomere length as well as the risk of developing T2DM in these women. Secondary Aims To further examine the interrelation among genes that regulate telomere length and telomerase, plasma biochemical markers (inflammatory and endothelial dysfunction), and telomere length in the development of T2DM in women. Show more...
There were 1 sub-recipients, vendors, and/or sub-vendors associated with this. See details |
National Institutes of Health | 5/29/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $210,448.00 | Grant | ARRA - Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students ARRA ? Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) promotes diversity among health professions students and practitioners by providing scholarships for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Eligible health professions and nursing schools apply for funds to make scholarships to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who have financial need for scholarships and are enrolled, or accepted for enrollment, as full-time students at the schools. Show more... | Health Resources and Services Administration | 9/03/2009 |
| LOS ANGELES BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE AT HARBOR-UCLA MEDICAL CENTER | $185,896.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The proportion of individuals with advanced chronic kidney disease who undergo chronic peritoneal dialysis (CPD) treatment, currently <8% of the 400,000 dialysis patients in the USA, has been declining steadily in the past several years. However, the total dialysis patient population continues to grow fast and consumes >6% of the Medicare budget. Recent reports indicating inferior survival in certain groups of CPD patients compared to their maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) counterparts may have played a major role in the CPD underutilization leading to over-utilization of the more expensive MHD. Moreover, the associations between cardiovascular risk factors and outcome in both MHD and CPD patients appear to be somewhat different than the general population. There are inconsistent or even contradictory outcome data when CPD and MHD patients are compared in observational studies. Over-adjustment for inherent advantages of CPD treatment such as slower drop in residual renal function, inadequate analyses of potential interactions or inability to perform subgroup analyses due to small sample size, non-existent or suboptimal CPD to MHD matching in comparative studies, and lack of utilization of novel epidemiologic techniques such as causal structural models, propensity score and instrumental variable, which better adjust for bias by indication, can be among the reasons for discrepant survival data in CPD patients. We propose to study the 5-year (7/2001-6/2006) data of ~17,000 CPD patients in a large dialysis provider, consisting of ~10,000 newly started CPD patients. We will use incidence propensity based density case-control design to match each incident CPD patient to two MHD patients with similar demographic and comorbidity constellations in the same center and at the same time; and will develop and examine several novel epidemiologic models and compare them to traditional survival models. We plan to examine following questions: (1) Is the CPD survival inferior to MHD in all subgroups of dialysis patients, or are there distinct subgroups of patients who may benefit more from either dialysis modalities? And can causal structural models, propensity score and instrumental variable, compared to traditional survival models, better identify subgroups of CPD patients with superior survival? (2) Are the associations between risk factors and outcomes similar in both 10,000 CPD patients and their 20,000 propensity-based incidence- density matched MHD patients and are these associations different than what is observed in the entire 200,000 MHD cohort, and can competing risks or other confounding factors explain the discrepant outcome data? (3) Can the created CPD cohort and developed methodological techniques be used in future studies related to CPD practice and outcome as well as other CKD population related questions? PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Examining survival data in dialysis patient databases may lead to identification of subgroups of dialysis patients with superior survival with either dialysis modalities, leading to better clinical and economic outcomes. Studying administrative databases by developing and combining novel epidemiologic models to better control for bias by medical indication may result in developing practical methods to better examine outcomes in observational cohorts. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/16/2009 |
| CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER | $256,250.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Our aim is to correct an abnormal human gene that causes an inherited form of anemia. We will isolate bone marrow cells from mice with the same abnormal human gene, and will try correcting the gene in the isolated cells. We will then transplant the corrected cells back to the anemic mice to determine whether we have helped their anemia Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 6/01/2009 |
| RAND CORPORATION | $79,639.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Recent years have seen prominent calls for quality improvement within the health-care sector. Nevertheless, the social value of quality turns on its benefits and costs. The purpose of this two-year research project is to investigate the quality of hospitals as perceived by Medicare patients, the cost of perceived quality, and their relation to existing measures. The study will enhance our understanding of the quality and cost of hospital care for Medicare beneficiaries and the broader population. Understanding hospital quality and costs is challenging for at least two reasons. First, hospital quality is multifaceted and difficult to measure. Second, hospitals that are well-managed from the perspective of costs (that is, more productive) may also tend to be higher quality. For both of these reasons, a comparison of existing quality measures to costs across hospitals might tend to understate the actual cost of quality improvement. A possible solution to these problems appeals to hospital patients themselves. Patients possess some information about hospitals from family and friends, physicians, 'report cards,' or even hospitals themselves. Insofar as a patient exercises choice among hospitals, her perceptions about hospital quality are revealed by her choice to receive care at a particular hospital. Perceived quality is complementary to existing measures of clinical quality. From an economic perspective, quality includes all aspects of the hospital experience that patients value, including 'hotel' amenities as well as clinical quality. We propose to infer perceived quality from the hospital choices of Medicare patients receiving coronary and pneumonia care, as reported in hospital discharge abstracts from California's Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. We will specify and estimate a discrete-choice model of hospital choice that accounts for patients' perceptions about quality with a hospital-level fixed effect. In this model a patient trades off a hospital's quality with its proximity to home, and tastes may vary with age, health, and other factors. We will then incorporate the estimates of perceived quality into a translog model of hospital costs and analyze these costs over time. Within the cost model, we are concerned that a hospital's quality may be related to its unobserved productivity. We argue that a hospital's competitive rationale for quality varies with the tastes of patients residing near the hospital; we further argue that patients do not choose where to live based on hospital productivity. We will therefore instrument for each hospital's quality with a measure, derived directly from the analysis of hospital choice, of the taste for quality among neighboring patients. After estimating perceived quality and its cost, we will compare our results to quality and its cost based on alternative measures of clinical quality and the patient experience. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The quality and cost of hospital care is a major public-health concern in the United States. This project proposes to infer the quality of hospitals as perceived by Medicare patients, to measure the cost of perceived quality, and to compare the results to quality and its cost based on alternative measures of clinical quality and the patient experience. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/14/2009 |
| POMONA, CITY OF (INC) | $3,144,717.00 | Grant | The COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP) provides funding directly to law enforcement agencies to hire and/or rehire career law enforcement officers in an effort to create and preserve jobs, and to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. | Department of Justice | 7/01/2009 |
| GARDENA, CITY OF | $1,667,460.00 | Grant | The COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP) is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) and provides funding directly to law enforcement agencies to hire and/or rehire career law enforcement officers in an effort to create and preserve jobs, and to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. Show more... | Department of Justice | 7/01/2009 |
| HOUSE EAR INSTITUTE INC | $873,084.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This is a grant to enable successful recruitment of new Jr. Faculty into the recently reorganized cores, Cell Biology and Genetics (CB&G and Communication and Auditory Neuroscience (CAN). Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/17/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $303,247.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Funding in support of new Assistant Professor of B | National Institutes of Health | 9/30/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $385,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support To discover new drugs ('minidefensins') for treating bacterial and viral infections, based on theta-defensins, unique cyclic octadecapeptides with potent activity against certain Gram-positive bacteria and at least three major pathogens - HIV-1, HSV-2, and influenza A. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/22/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $732,022.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support A Longitudinal Study the Development and Implicati | National Institutes of Health | 8/24/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $174,661.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This longitudinal, observational research project will: 1) Determine whether poor marital functioning predicts greater physiological changes during marital discussions, and slower skin barrier recovery in adults who are about to transition into retirement; 2) Evaluate whether the relationship between marital functioning and health, and marital functioning and physiological mechanisms becomes stronger after retirement; 3) Examine whether larger autonomic responses to marital discussions both before and after retirement predict larger decreases in marital quality, health-related quality-of-life, and skin barrier recovery during the retirement transition; and 4) Explore whether perceived partner responsiveness mediates the relationship between behaviors during marital discussions and physiological changes. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/17/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $231,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The goal of this project is to develop live attenuated influenza virus vaccine. Influenza is a global infectious viral disease of great public health concern affecting millions of people every year. We plan to create highly attenuated PR8 viruses by reverse genetics. These attenuated PR8 viruses can be used as master strains for generating live attenuated influenza vaccine. Live attenuated vaccines can be produced in mass quantity, delivered easily and will produce broader and long lasting protective immunity against virulent pandemic or epidemic influenza viruses and be cost effective Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/21/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $203,280.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Exploratory studies in endometrial cancer detectio | National Institutes of Health | 5/21/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $203,280.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Tumor metastasis represents the major cause of morbidity and mortality in breast cancer. The studies described here investigate the molecular mechanisms by which biobehavioral factors might facilitate breast cancer metastasis to distant target organs in vivo. By exploiting sensitive imaging technology for non-invasive, real-time assessment of stress biology and clinically relevant models of metastatic dissemination from primary mammary tumors, these studies will define the neural-associated mechanisms that operate in the metastatic microenvironment to support homing and arrest of breast cancer cells in target organs. Chemokine receptor regulation will be examined as one potential molecular mechanism for the effects of chronic stress on metastasis. These studies will evaluate the translational opportunity of targeting the sympathetic nervous system as a common regulator of tumor-progression pathways that operate in the metastatic microenvironment. Such interventions would complement current anti-tumor therapies by specifically targeting the neural component of the metastatic microenvironment. In addition, these studies will lay the foundation for future investigations of other psychosocial influences on cancer biology by establishing a stress-responsive model system that closely mimics key features of breast cancer metastasis cancer in humans. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/17/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $262,125.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Despite the growing number of evidence-based mental health treatments for youth being developed, few are effectively practiced routinely in community settings. One reason may be the lack of attention paid to how these treatments are implemented in the context of the organization providing the services to youth, whether it is in a clinic, social service agency, or school. This application proposes to take a conceptual framework from the management literature and modify it for evaluating implementation effectiveness of a mental health intervention in the school system. These concepts will be applied to the development of an implementation strategy for a school-based trauma intervention, the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) program. CBITS has been found to be effective in decreasing trauma-related symptoms and now has been delivered in a number of U.S. sites. However, continued use of the intervention has varied. One implementation strategy that has been used in the health care sector to improve medical care quality and was recently piloted with CBITS is the Learning Collaborative (LC) approach. The LC encourages stakeholders across organizations to share how they have resolved barriers to implementation. The specific aims of this application are: 1) to further refine a CBITS implementation strategy, based on the Learning Collaborative approach, that addresses the key constructs for implementation effectiveness, 2) to adapt and pilot organizational management measures of implementation factors and implementation effectiveness for use in assessing the implementation of CBITS in schools, and 3) to compare a CBITS Learning Collaborative implementation strategy to a CBITS Implementation as Usual strategy for feasibility and acceptability. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/14/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $231,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This R21 proposal will explore whether abnormal white matter anatomical connections may underlie the gray matter (functional) abnormalities previously seen in fMRI data from subjects with bipolar disorder. We will collect, in the same subject, both diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)-tractography data and fMRI data. A combined analysis of both datasets will enable us to assess the integrity of white matter tracts and the extent to which the degree of white matter integrity correlates with degree of neuronal circuit function. Specifically, we will explore whether the integrity of white matter tracts that connect the amygdala to orbitofrontal cortex predicts the functional connectivity in those brain regions. Bipolar illness is associated with anatomical and functional abnormalities in specific brain regions that mediate emotion regulation. The emotional fluctuation that is the hallmark of the illness suggests that the pathophysiology may involve dysfunction of brain networks that maintain emotional homeostasis. We and other groups have combined fMRI with activation paradigms that probe regional brain function involved in emotion processing. Compared to normal subjects, increased activation in limbic areas and decreased activation in orbitofrontal regions in bipolar subjects (even when euthymic) has been found. This suggests a persistent reduction in a modulatory fronto-limbic network. Almost no studies have assessed how activation in one brain region is correlated across other brain regions (“functional connectivityâ€?) and no studies, to our knowledge, have directly linked white matter neuroanatomical structure with brain function in the same bipolar subject. Our group at UCLA has developed and applied methods to assess white matter integrity with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and transverse relaxometry. We have also used fMRI-based functional connectivity techniques to assess the strength of the relationship between frontal cortical and limbic connections. Here we will combine the advantages of these techniques and â€' for the first time â€' apply them both to the bipolar population. We are particularly interested in circuits that mediate emotion regulation and response inhibition. These networks involve brain structures including the amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), cingulate and striatum. We will explore how individual differences in the degree of anatomical connectivity between regions predict differences in functional interaction between those regions. Specific Aims and Hypotheses Specific Aim 1. To perform fMRI to identify regions of neuronal activity in euthymic bipolar and normal control subjects that will be used for structural connectivity analyses. Specific Aim 2. To examine disease specific alterations in the structural integrity of white matter tracts connecting the OFC and amygdala and explore how this is associated with functional connectivity patterns seen on fMRI. Specific Aim 3. To use imaging sequences sensitive to the extent of myelination to assess which combination of white matter measures most powerfully differentiates bipolar from control subjects. Exploratory Specific Aim 4. To obtain blood samples from carefully clinically evaluated bipolar subjects for future genetic analysis of candidate white matter (myelin) biomarkers. Overall, the results of this exploration will significantly advance our knowledge about the relationship between the neuropathology and pathophysiology of bipolar disorder. This project will lay the groundwork for a future R01 application. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 4/28/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $180,856.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Many heart failure (HF) patients have short-term memory deficits, which can adversely impact management of their disease and dramatically increase morbidity and mortality. Injury in brain areas which control short-term memory have been reported in HF, with neural damage and symptoms (short-term memory loss, depression) similar to those seen in persons with thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency. Therefore, the specific aims of this study are to: 1) Examine the associations between plasma thiamine levels, short-term memory (via the Digit Span Test), and mammillary body volumes (volumetric T1-weighted measures via magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]) in advanced (left ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF] < 0.40; systolic dysfunction; dilated cardiomyopathy) HF patients; 2) Examine the relationships between plasma thiamine levels, short-term memory, and mammillary body volumes and clinical characteristics (age, LVEF, body mass index, number of re-hospitalizations for HF in 6 months). Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/08/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $204,724.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Creation of 100-200 micron dimension probes with m | National Institutes of Health | 7/16/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $500,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The Assessment of Local Environmental Risk Training (ALERT) to Reduce Health Disparities responds to the need for building the capacity of community based organizations (CBOs) to actively participate as equal partners in research projects and the need to train researchers to engage community residents in research from the CBO side and be able to communicate research and risk to residents effectively. ALERT will engage both community organization staff and local air quality researchers in building community capacity to use empirical data in program planning and policy development, embed that capacity in formal action plans, and establish or strengthen partnerships to advance public policies to prevent, reduce, or eliminate air quality health risks. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/28/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $497,284.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Recently developed innovations in perceptual and a | National Institutes of Health | 9/29/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $480,614.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Self-monitoring using GPS- and accelerometer-equip | National Institutes of Health | 9/23/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $409,336.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This application addresses Challenge Area (06): Enabling Technologies and Specific Challenge Topic 06-HL-102, which is to develop high affinity/high specificity targeted molecular probes for molecular imaging of cardiovascular and pulmonary disease targets. We will use antibody probes to better define the pathogenesis of hypertriglyceridemia. Hypertriglyceridemia is caused by inherited defects in lipoprotein lipase (LPL), but the etiology of most cases of hypertriglyceridemia remains mysterious. Fortunately, recent discoveries on the mechanism by which LPL enters capillaries may uncloak the mystery. By applying new discoveries in lipolysis and molecular imaging, we will better define the underpinnings of hypertriglyceridemia. Reduced lipolysis by LPL underlies many cases of hypertriglyceridemia, but the explanation for the defective lipolysis is mysterious. This mystery is compounded when one considers the fact that many patients with hypertriglyceridemia have normal levels of LPL both in tissues and in the 'postheparin' plasma. Arguably, the mechanisms for hypertriglyceridemia constitute the most perplexing riddle in lipoprotein metabolism. We have fresh insights into this problem. We identified an endothelial cell protein, GPIHBP1, which binds LPL and serves as a 'platform' for the lipolysis in capillaries. Also, we found that GPIHBP1 serves as the 'LPL transporter.' GPIHBP1 transports LPL from the basolateral to the apical (luminal) surface of endothelial cells, where it hydro-lyzes lipoprotein triglycerides. We hypothesize that many cases of hypertriglyceridemia are due to defective GPIHBP1-mediated transport of LPL into capillaries. Drs. Stephen Young, Loren Fong, and colleagues have developed monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies against GPIHBP1 and LPL, as well as new gene-targeted models for assessing GPIHBP1 and LPL function. Meanwhile, Drs. Anna Wu and Tove Olafsen are pioneers in immunodiagnostics and molecular imaging. Together, we have already taken the first step and performed positron-based molecular imaging studies with an 124I-labeled monoclonal antibody against GPIHBP1. Over the next two years, we will develop molecular imaging approaches to measure the intracapillary levels of both GPIHBP1 and LPL. This topic can only be approached with molecular imaging techniques. Our imaging studies will begin with mouse models, but we will simultaneously prepare the reagents required for molecular analysis of lipolysis in humans. We expect that our efforts will clarify the mechanisms of hypertriglyceridemia and establish molecular imaging as a critical tool in understanding hypertriglyceridemia. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/21/2009 |
| LOS ANGELES BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE AT HARBOR-UCLA MEDICAL CENTER | $415,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Candida is among the most common causes of nosocomial infections in the United States and worldwide. Even with antifungal therapy, disseminated candidiasis causes an unacceptable 40%-50% mortality. Furthermore, resistance to antifungal therapies among Candida spp. is rising. For these reasons, a vaccine to prevent life threatening Candida infections is particularly attractive. We are developing an anti-candidal vaccine based on the recombinant N-terminus of the candidal adhesin, Als3p (rAls3p-N). We have found that vaccination of mice with rAls3p-N results in significant protection against disseminated candidiasis. We have also found that T lymphocytes are necessary for vaccine mediated protection, and that adoptive transfer of CD4+ T lymphocytes from vaccinated mice transfers protection to unvaccinated recipients. However, T lymphocytes cannot directly kill Candida spp. in culture. Furthermore patients with congenital or acquired T cell deficiency are not at increased risk of disseminated candidiasis. In contrast, phagocytes do kill Candida spp. in culture, and patients with neutrophil deficiencies are at increased risk of developing disseminated candidiasis. Finally, we have found that mice deficient in phagocyte superoxide production are not protected by the rAls3p-N vaccine. We therefore hypothesize that the mechanism by which the rAls3p-N vaccine protects against disseminated candidiasis is by inducing lymphocytes to enhance recruitment and activation of phagocytes at sites of infection. To define the mechanistic links between upstream adaptive and downstream innate immune effector cells in mediating rAls3p-N-induced protection, we will: 1) Define the efficacy of vaccination in mice with functional or numerical deficiencies in phagocytes; 2) Determine the impact of vaccination on neutrophil recruitment and cytokine production at sites of infection; 3) vaccination on T cell phenotype at the sites of infection; and 4) Define the specific adaptive and innate cell types responsible for vaccine-mediated protection by carrying out adoptive transfer studies. The proposed studies will elucidate a novel concept in vaccinology--that lymphocytes may serve as intermediary and phagocytes serve as the end-effectors of protection. Hence, the studies will provide insights into potential vaccine strategies which could be used to target extracellular pathogens ranging from bacteria to fungi. Furthermore, the studies will define strategies to further enhance the rAls3p-N vaccine's efficacy, by enabling focusing of future adjuvant and dosing strategies to maximize expression of critical pro-inflammatory cytokines by specific regulatory cells necessary for protection. Finally, the studies will lay the groundwork for immunological assays to define surrogate markers of protection in future clinical trials. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: We have discovered a highly promising vaccine candidate to prevent life-threatening infections of the blood caused by the fungus Candida. In the current studies we will define how the vaccine trains hunter-killer white blood cells to kill the fungus, thereby protecting against Candida infections. These results will lay the groundwork for maximizing the efficacy of the vaccine, and will also elucidate fundamental ways by which the immune system defends the body from infections similar to those caused by Candida. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/22/2009 |
| BECKMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF THE CITY OF HOPE | $415,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support C57BL/6 (B6) mice are genetically resistant to fatal HSV encephalitis (HSE) compared to 129S6 (129) and BALB/c that are susceptible. We have shown that fatal HSE in 129 mice results from hyper-inflammatory responses involving macrophages and neutrophils and that acyclovir which inhibits HSV replication is largely ineffective in protection against HSE. B6-Rag mice lacking B and T cells are more resistant than 129-Rag that are only slightly more susceptible than 129 wild type (wt) mice. We report that a single dose of pooled human immunoglobulin (IVIG) given at 24 h post infection (PI) completely protected wild type 129 mice from fatal HSE. IVIG protected virtually all B6-Rag mice, while 129-Rag mice were not protected even when given multiple doses of IVIG or IVIG supplemented with acyclovir (ACV). We suggest that the mechanism(s) of IVIG protection differs fundamentally in B6 and 129 mice and further, that a cell type absent in Rag mice is required for long-term protection akin to that seen in IVIG treated wt 129. We propose a two-component model for IVIG protection involving a mechanism to suppress inflammation and a mechanism to suppress HSV replication in neurons; both mechanisms are operative in 129 mice whereas only the second mechanism is operative in B6 mice. We hypothesize that IVIG activates a 'sensor' DC that in turn modulates innate effector cells (macrophages and monocytes) either directly of via induced regulatory T cells (Tregs) to achieve controlled inflammatory responses that control infection without bystander immune pathology. Our Specific Aims are designed to test the hypothesis proposed to explain IVIG's anti-inflammatory activity. The mechanism whereby IVIG suppresses HSV replication will be studied in a separate application. In Aim 1, the inflammatory response to HSV will be characterized in untreated and mice treated with IVIG or its derivatives (sialylated IgG, antibody subclasses, etc). IVIG effects on survival, virus load, lesion formation will be assessed and additionally, biodistribution of IVIG will be compared in mock and HSV infected WT 129 and 129/B6-Rag. In Aim 3, the IVIG 'sensor' cells (sDC) will be identified using an adoptive transfer strategy, it's role in protection will be investigated, including induction of Tregs and modulation of expression of Fc?Rs, cytokines, chemokines and their receptors in hematopoietic cells to define the anti-inflammatory mechanism(s) of IVIG in this model of viral encephalitis caused by excessive inflammation. Results from studies done thus far suggest IVIG will be useful for treating HSE and other immune mediated HSV diseases such as herpes stromal keratitis (HSK). Results from studies proposed here will uncover the mechanisms of suppression of neuroinflammation revealing the potential for application of IVIG to treat a broad spectrum of CNS inflammatory diseases. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 6/17/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $693,593.00 | Grant |
Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and the National Recreation & Park Association both recommend Yoga as a form of total-solution exercise for older adults, capable of providing cardiovascular fitness, resistance training for muscle strength & bone health, and flexibility for functional range of motion as well as relaxation... Despite these dramatic claims of improved function across a variety of physiological & psychological systems/little is understood regarding the physical demands, program efficacy, and overall safety of Yoga for older adults. Our clinical trial experiences suggest that without proper evidenced-based prescription, Yoga participation can be ineffective or even injurious for elders. Thus, this application proposes an intervention development study (IDS) that will use biomechanical investigation (high-speed cameras, force platforms and musculoskeletal modeling) to quantify the physical demands of Yoga performance by older adults. In addition, the IDS will use physical-performance testing, muscle-performance testing, flexibility & balance assessments, and self-reports/to quantify the efficacy and safety of a 32-week Yoga program for ambulatory seniors. The Yoga program is divided into introductory and advanced phases/each lasting 16 weeks. The participants (N=24; 65-90 years of age) will learn the associated Yoga poses (asanas) from Yoga instructors with expertise working with seniors. In order to quantify the dosage (physical demands) of the program, the participants will perform the asanas at the beginning and termination of each phase/while instrumented for biomechanical analysis. Follow-up physical performance, balance, and quality of life, assessments will be conducted at the end of each phase in order to determine the efficacy of the program. Outcome measures will include biomechanical indices of the physical demands associated with Yoga (joint range-of-motion, reaction forces, & moments), measures of muscular & functional performance (stair climb, chair stand, gait, strength, static & dynamic balance), adherence, and safety. Data from the IDS will be used to develop evidenced-based Yoga prescriptions, which we postulate will be associated with fewer musculoskeletal side effects compared to non-evidence based Yoga programs. We also postulate that evidenced-based tailoring of Yoga for seniors will enhance adherence and efficacy. The programs developed from this IDS will be tested in an expanded, Phase II, Randomized Controlled Trial. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE. Yoga is currently being recommended to restore and preserve strength, flexibility, balance, & physical capacity in older adults; however, our clinical trial experiences suggest that without proper evidenced-based prescription, Yoga participation can be ineffective or even injurious for seniors. To address this lack of evidence-based knowledge, the proposed IDS will: 1) quantify the physical demands of a 32-wk Yoga program designed for independent ambulatory seniors; 2) characterize the relations between these demands and participant physical characteristics; 3) examine the adherence, efficacy, & safety of the program; and 4) characterize the relations among reported adverse events, baseline participant characteristics, and Yoga physical demands. Show more...
There were 1 sub-recipients, vendors, and/or sub-vendors associated with this. See details |
National Institutes of Health | 6/29/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $415,550.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) are multipotent stem cells capable of differentiating into different lineage cells including osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes, cardiomyocytes, myoblasts, and neural cells. A recent major breakthrough was the discovery that BMMSCs exert a profound inhibitory effect on T cells. While our preliminary studies revealed that activated T cells are capable of inducing BMMSC apoptosis through the Fas/FasL pathway, suggesting a novel crosstalk mechanism between T cells and BMMSCs. Immune diseases target the orofacial bones with specific phenotypes as seen in periodontal diseases, cherubism, and hyperparathyroid jaw tumor syndrome. Moreover, the orofacial jaw bones contain MSCs (OFMSCs) that are distinct to BMMSCs in terms of differentiation traits and tissue regeneration characteristics. Therefore, the objective of this application is to explore whether and how T cells regulate OFMSCs and whether this regulation contributes to orofacial bone disorders. Our preliminary studies identified that we are able to isolate and expand mouse OFMSCs, which allow us to use mouse models to study the interplay between OFMSCs and T cells. This achievement is critical for the proposed studies because isolation and expansion of mouse OFMSCs are difficult and reliant on stem cell culture experience. Our preliminary data showed that mouse OFMSCs differ from BMMSCs in inhibiting T cell activities in vitro. Our hypothesis is that T cells regulate OFMSCs in a way distinctive from those discovered in the interplays between T cells and BMMSCs, which may link to the orofacial bone phenotypes of immune diseases. In this application, we will explore how T cells interplay with OFMSCs using BMMSCs as a comparison. Moreover, we will examine whether T cell-mediated OFMSC response involved in orofacial phenotypes of immune diseases such as T cell over-activated osteoporosis induced by ovarioectomy. Finally, we will assess whether systemic OFMSC infusion can offer therapeutic effect on T cell over-activated disorders. In summary, novel findings from our proposed studies will provide cellular and molecular basis for understanding interplays between T cells and OFMSCs. These data are likely to lead to new knowledge on identifying mechanisms of immune disorders associated with the orofacial bones. Project Narrative: The purpose of this study is to understand crosstalk between orofacial mesenchymal stem cells and immune cells and delineate the mechanisms by which the crosstalk may associate with orofacial bone diseases. We will use this knowledge to explore new approaches for orofacial bone disease treatment. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 8/15/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $406,875.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Amelogenesis imperfecta (AI) is a group of diverse inherited disorders most often considered as a single trait and not often associated with syndromes or metabolic disorders. However, there have been documented case reports in which AI has been identified in patients with inherited proximal renal tubular acidosis. These reports identify enamel anomalies directly related to this condition of pH control affecting kidney function. We have initiated studies to better understand what role transcellular bicarbonate (HCO3-) transport plays in acid/base transport and pH control during enamel formation. We have found that two proteins involved in acid/base transport are expressed in polarized ameloblasts during amelogenesis. These two proteins are the anion exchanger (AE2) and the electrogenic sodium bicarbonate cotransporter (NBCe1). Our preliminary data shows that NBCe1 is expressed at the basolateral membrane of secretory ameloblasts, whereas AE2 is expressed at the apical (secretory) membrane. These data are the first evidence that AE2 and NBCe1 are expressed in ameloblasts, in vivo, in a polarized fashion, thereby providing a mechanism for ameloblast transcellular bicarbonate secretion in the process of enamel formation and maturation. The hypothesis of this proposal is that 'the spatiotemporal expression profiles of AE2 and NBCe1 in ameloblast cells are highly regulated and are responsive to changing extracellular pH conditions, and any failure in proper AE2 and NBCe1 activity will result in disruptions to the enamel prismatic structure'. Five specific aims are proposed to investigate this hypothesis. These are: 1) will define the expression profiles for AE2 and NBCe1 by in situ hybridization; 2) will establish the spatial location of this AE2 and an associated chloride channel (CFTR) within the secretory face of ameloblasts using immunogold labeling and high resolution TEM; 3) will develop transgenic animal lines in which AE2 and NBCe1 silencing is achieved following the animals exposure to doxycyclin; 4) will be a radiographic and microscopic documentation of enamel defects in animals with mutations in the AE2 and NBCe1 gene loci; and 5) will identify pH-responsive elements in the promoter regions of AE2 and NBCe1 using an appropriate reporter assay. At the conclusion of this study there will be a greater understanding of dental disease that results from disruptions to HCO3- and acid/base transport. A raised awareness of dental disease in patients with kidney disease should result greater interactions between physicians and dentists, and result in more appropriate and comprehensive treatment plans that are initiated immediately after diagnosis, and carried out in a more cost-effective manner. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Patients with hereditary kidney and eye disease, where the cause is directly related to mutations in either the AE2 or NBCe1 proteins, frequently have dental anomalies including poorly mineralized enamel. These dental defects result in a higher incidence of dental decay starting at a very early age, and because of this these patients require significantly greater dental care that a normal population. AE2 and NBCe1 are both bicarbonate transporters involved in maintaining intracellular and extracellular pH. Once complete, this proposal will better define the molecular mechanism available to dental cells to maintain correct pH balance during the stages of tooth formation. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/17/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $353,138.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This project develops tools to address two hypotheses: first that specific types of neurons in localized brain regions or subregions can be altered so that they are susceptible to reversible inactivation or activation in response to systemically delivered low-toxicity chemicals or drugs; and second, that neuronal development, differentiation, and migration can be studied via manipulating ion fluxes, including calcium fluxes, which then lead to diverse signal transduction events. Reagents will be generated that can achieve adjustable, reversible, cell-specific, electrophysiologically measurable, and non-antigenic manipulation of neuronal excitability, and of Ca-activated signal transduction within neurons. Development will continue on a small repertoire of ligand-activated channels, avermectin receptors (AVMRs), that can be expressed in target neurons. These channels will be developed by systematically mutating subunits of existing pentameric Cys-loop receptors: the C. elegans GluCl alpha and beta subunits, and the human glycine receptor. The channels will be insensitive to endogenous ligands (such as neurotransmitters), but will be activated dose-dependently by ivermectin and its analogs, widely used drugs that can be given orally or by injection into the periphery. The chloride-permeable AVMR-Cl will be used as a starting point for constructing AVMR-Na and AVMR-Ca, sodium- and calcium-permeable versions of these channels. The 'therapeutic or research index' of the AVMR system will be improved by finding an AVM analog with fewer CNS side effects, by increasing the AVM sensitivity of the existing optimized GluCl subunits, or by increasing the channel open time or conductance of the existing GluCl subunits, while maintaining reversibility. The project will also avoid immune reactions to AVMR proteins by generating a human glycine receptor-based version. The AVMRs will be useful for research in many vertebrate species: there will be considerable impact for research on circuit analysis; controlling differentiation, neurogenesis, and migration; models for excitotoxicity; and glial activation. Therapeutic impacts include 'pharmacological deep-brain stimulation'; neuroprotection; and other uses that extend beyond CNS neuroscience. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project continues to use receptor ion channels to gain new insight into how neurons are connected within circuits and how such circuits control behavior. We will engineer new receptor channels that respond only to drugs, avermectins, that can be delivered in an animal's diet. Once these receptors are developed, it will be possible to study how activating or inhibiting selected neurons influences behavior. Ultimately, such procedures, involving both gene therapy and an FDA-approved set of drugs, could also help normalize neurons that are either too active, or not active enough, in psychiatric diseases. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/30/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $990,970.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) develops synergistically in HCV-infected patients with alcoholism, and no treatments are available for this devastating complication. Our study reveals the role of TLR4-dependent Nanog+ cancer stem cells (CSCs) in liver oncogenesis induced by alcohol in HCV Ns5aTg mice. Defective TGF-2 signaling in 22 spectrin heterozygote (22sp+/-) mice, leads to aberrant IL-6 and Nanog induction and spontaneous HCC development. These two mechanistic concepts are merged by our recent findings that the Nanog+ CSCs have defective TGF-2 signaling, and 22sp+/- mouse livers have TLR4 induction. Further, CDK4 which is activated by TLR4 signaling, may disrupt TGF-2 signaling via its interaction with 22SP and Smad3, preventing Smad complex nuclear translocation. In fact, CDK4 haploinsufficiency (Cdk4+/-) attenuates HCC incidence in 22sp+/- mice, suggesting the causal role of CDK4 in inactivating TGF-2 pathway and consequently promoting liver oncogenesis. Based on these results, we propose a ground-breaking hypothesis that reciprocal regulation of heightened TLR4 oncogenic signaling and defective TGF-2 tumor suppressor pathway are causally linked via CDK4 to render synergistic liver oncogenesis. To test this hypothesis, we will exploit the use of the putative Nanog+ CSCs and cross-utilization of Ns5aTg, 22sp+/-, and Cdk4+/- mice and pursue the following specific aims: 1) to determine the role of activated CDK4 and defective TGF-2 signaling in TLR4-dependent oncogenic activity of the Nanog+ CSCs isolated from liver tumors of alcohol-fed HCV Ns5aTg mice; 2) to test whether alcohol feeding increases HCC incidence in 22sp+/- mice in a manner dependent on TLR4; 3) to test whether defective TGF-2 signaling aggravates TLR4-dependent liver oncogenesis in alcohol-fed Ns5aTg:22sp+/- compound mice; and 4) to determine whether CDK4 haploinsufficiency or a novel CDK4 inhibitor protects alcohol-fed Ns5aTg:22sp+/- mice from HCC. This program will meet the charge of the Recovery Act by immediately hiring 3 new full-time laboratory personnel and retaining 2 full-time scientists. Further, results from the proposed basic and pre-clinical studies will identify the interactive causal roles of CDK4, TGF-2 and TLR4 signaling in liver oncogenesis and will lead to the development of anti-CDK4, pro-TGF-2, and anti-TLR4 modalities for prevention and treatment of HCC, which itself holds enormous potential for an economic stimulus. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/28/2009 |
| CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | $72,631.00 | Grant |
Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Over 17% of U.S. adolescents are considered overweight. The proposed study will advance our understanding of the dynamic relationship of overweight status and psychosocial adjustment problems during the period of pubertal transition, which will have important public health implications for improving the physical development and mental well-being of adolescents. Show more...
There were 1 sub-recipients, vendors, and/or sub-vendors associated with this. See details |
National Institutes of Health | 5/29/2009 |
| CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER | $272,345.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This research project is relevant to public health because it will result in the development of a novel therapeutic that can specifically target HER2+ breast cancer. This targeted therapy should be an improvement over conventional treatment methods because normal cells should not be affected. As HER2+ breast cancer does not respond well to conventional therapies, this alternative therapy could provide a significant contribution to breast cancer treatment, and could be modified to target therapy to other types of cancer. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 4/28/2009 |
| LOS ANGELES BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE AT HARBOR-UCLA MEDICAL CENTER | $68,480.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) alters lung development, increasing the risk of respiratory compromise throughout postnatal life. Vertical integration of the cell-molecular mechanism(s) underlying this respiratory compromise offers a powerful functional genomic approach to understand the pathogenesis of chronic lung disease in the IUGR offspring. Since lung development is determined by spatio-temporally specific alveolar epithelial-mesenchymal interactions, we hypothesize that IUGR alters the key alveolar epithelial-mesenchymal signaling pathways that are essential for normal lung development. We propose utilizing a well established rodent model of 50% maternal food restriction (MFR) from day 10 of gestation to term and through postnatal day 21. This model has previously been shown to demonstrate adult-onset obesity, diabetes, and hypertension in the MFR offspring. Now our preliminary data provide clear evidence for failed alveolarization and pulmonary dysfunction in the MFR offspring. Using this model and well established molecular techniques such as lung morphometry, Real-Time-PCR, Western analysis, immunohistochemistry, laser capture microdissection, anti-sense and overexpression studies, and in vivo pulmonary function testing, we will 1) determine the effect of MFR on lung structure and function in the offspring at postnatal days 1 and 21, and months 3 and 9; 2) specifically examine how MFR affects alveolar Parathyroid Hormone-related Protein/Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor 3 signaling that is known to be essential for normal lung development; and 3) evaluate if alterations in key alveolar epithelial-mesenchymal signaling pathways affected by MFR, and the subsequent lung structural and functional changes, can be normalized by either over-expression or silencing of the key regulatory genes involved. Based on our preliminary data, we expect that, in the lung of the MFR offspring, we will find disruption in molecular pathways that are essential for alveolarization, accounting for the altered lung programming seen in the offspring, hence offering the possibility of prevention and/or reversal of such changes with specific molecular interventions. By exploiting the functional genomic approach, the studies proposed herein will translate into novel and innovative molecular preventive and therapeutic approaches for pulmonary dysfunction seen in IUGR offspring secondary to not only MFR, but also to other causes. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: There is accumulating evidence to show that infants who are delivered following growth restriction during the fetal period have significant lung morbidity during their postnatal life. Further, since the mechanism of this lung morbidity is not known, there is no specific intervention to prevent it. Using a well established rat model of intrauterine growth restriction and the state-of-the-art technology, we propose studies that will unravel the fundamental molecular mechanism (s) of pulmonary dysfunction in the growth restricted offspring, allowing us to design novel intervention strategies that may not only prevent, but also reverse intrauterine growth restriction associated lung damage during postnatal life. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/18/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $81,500.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Adjuvant chemotherapy and tamoxifen have been shown to reduce the risk of contralateral breast cancer (CBC) among women with a previous history of breast cancer. It is well recognized that not all individuals metabolize drugs with the same efficiency or experience the same likelihood of adverse side effects related to treatment. Additional information predicting metabolic capacity and outcomes may optimize an individual's response to drug therapy and improve clinical outcomes. Common genetic polymorphisms in drug metabolizing enzymes, functional targets and drug transporters may be key in this distinction. In this pharmacogenetic study, we intend to genotype a key set of functional polymorphisms in metabolic genes in the Women's Environment, Cancer and Radiation Epidemiology (WECARE) Study, a large, population-based, case-control study of women with unilateral and bilateral breast cancer that has systematically collected treatment and outcome data. We will investigate whether selected functional variants in genes involved in the metabolism of tamoxifen and other chemotherapeutic agents modify the protective effect of these treatments on the risk of CBC in the WECARE Study. We consider functional polymorphisms in the following key genes involved in the metabolism of tamoxifen (i.e., CYP2D6, CYP3A5, SULT1A1, UGT2B15) and drugs commonly used in polychemotherapy regimens for breast cancer including: cyclophosphamide (i.e., CYP3A5, GSTM1, GSTP1, GSTT1); anthracyclines (i.e., CYP3A5, MDR1, GSTM1, GSTP1, GSTT1) and antimetabolites (i.e., DHFR, TS, MTHFR) .We propose to genotype 634 women with bilateral breast cancer and 1,158 unilateral breast cancer controls who received the chemotherapy or tamoxifen as treatment for first primary breast cancer. We propose a study design that maximizes available information regarding genetic variability in these key pathways by examining candidate polymorphisms with known or likely functional effects. We plan several follow-up projects using data from this study including incorporating the genotype data collected on the functional polymorphisms in this study with tagSNPs on the Illumina 650K and additional data collection on 1,600 women from a genome-wide study that is expected to be funded in WECARE Study. This will allow for pooled analyses to pursue subgroup analyses and pathway-based statistical modeling approaches. This study uses an efficient approach to address research questions regarding the pharmacogenetics of commonly used therapies and risk of CBC among women younger than 55 years, which has not previously been addressed. These results will contribute to our knowledge base and help improve upon current clinical strategies to determine the right drug for individualized care that minimizes adverse events and maximizes long-term outcomes. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 6/01/2009 |
| CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | $226,321.00 | Grant |
Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This project seeks to understand the neural basis involved in implicit associative processes through the imaging (fMRI) of drug-relevant memory associations. Complex associative learning and memory processes influenced by reinforcing drug use result in neurobiological consequences that include the strengthening of motivationally-relevant associative memories, which, in turn, affect continued drug use. These drug-related associative effects have been shown to consistently predict level of drug use. The application of associative memory concepts from basic science research suggests that one’s behavior at any moment is governed primarily by the current pattern of activation in memory, and that activation is often primarily an implicit, or relatively automatic process. To observe differences in neural activity of drug-relevant associative effects, the proposed project will involve a between subjects comparison of marijuana dependent individuals and a group of healthy controls during performance on a marijuana-Implicit Association Test (IAT). In addition, a within subjects comparison will provide information relevant to the neural activation of memory associations on compatible and incompatible trials of the IAT to help determine neural correlates of the IAT effect. The proposed work is the first study to observe differences in neural activity between marijuana dependent individuals and non-users on an indirect test of associations. Indirect assessments of drug-relevant associations, like the IAT, are rooted in associative learning principles, with associative strength being a key determinant of information processing expressed as memory biases that influence behavior. By eliciting activation of associative drug-relevant memories through performance on this task, it is possible to increase our understanding of individual differences in associative structures that influence drug use behavior. This fMRI project will complement and extend findings derived through behavioral measures. Addiction is a progressive, relapsing condition and once established, it is difficult to overcome without continual intervention. If understanding the neural mechanisms involved in these under-studied but influential implicit processes helps to expand our knowledge of influences affecting continued drug abuse, then this work is indeed significant, and ultimately can help in the development of risk reduction and treatment intervention components. Show more...
There were 1 sub-recipients, vendors, and/or sub-vendors associated with this. See details |
National Institutes of Health | 5/21/2009 |
| RAND CORPORATION | $85,427.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Despite the fact that contraceptives have the potential to nearly eliminate pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth show that almost half the pregnancies are unintended (and approximately half of them end in an abortion) and STDs continue to be a major health threat (19 million STD infections occur annually, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2003). Perhaps, if we better understood contraceptive choices, we could recommend more appropriate methods to individual women, develop better health interventions and social marketing campaigns, and conceive more satisfactory contraceptives; and thereby lower unintended pregnancies and STDs. This project combines recent advances in data collection and modeling of discrete choices by the principal investigator (PI) to advance our understanding of contraceptive choices. Specifically, while previous studies of contraceptive choice have usually sought to model the reduced-form relationship between socioeconomic characteristics and method choice, we take a more structural econometric approach. We model variation in contraceptives chosen as arising from differences in the importance of attributes of contraceptives (e.g., preventing conception, preventing transmission of STDs, side-effects, and cost) and differences in the perceived characteristics of those contraceptives. Our data-a supplement to the NLS-Y97 designed by the PI-directly measure individual perceptions (or expectations) of the attributes of contraceptives and the perceived characteristics of the contraceptives. Our econometric model is designed to analyze data of this form. The resulting parameter estimates allow us to simulate the effect of policies (e.g., price subsidies or information campaigns) on contraceptive choice and unintended pregnancy. The specific aims of the research are to: (1) understand how women's subjective expectations about birth control methods' attributes vary according to socioeconomic characteristics; (2) assess the accuracy of women's perceptions of the efficacy of birth control methods by comparing perceptions with the best clinical evidence, (3) estimate women's preferences about birth control methods' attributes using a structural utility framework, (4) evaluate how preferences vary by observable characteristics and quantify the relative weight of various attributes in a women's decision to use a method; and (5) simulate the effect of policies on contraception use and unintended pregnancies. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/23/2009 |
| CHARLES R DREW UNIV OF MED AND | $206,420.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Investigation of the effects of increased neurosteroid exposure on the maturing cerebral cortex highlights the importance of the downstream effects of stress on cortical development. In particular, nonspecific stress is the most consistent factor recognized in the development of a schizophrenia-vulnerable phenotype. Indeed, monozygotic twin studies show low concordance rates for schizophrenia, thus other factors must play a critical role, including maternal infection, toxic exposure, or traumatic insult during gestation or early childhood, all of which are associated with or contribute to prenatal stress. The GABA-modulatory neurosteroid allopregnanolone is present in the cortex throughout gestation and levels of allopregnanolone in cortex increase in response to stress. The overarching goal of this project, 'Developmental Effects of Neurosteroid Exposure and the Etiology of Schizophrenia,' is to investigate GABAergic neurosteroids as a candidate mechanism in neural development and the etiology of schizophrenia. The investigator will characterize the effects of exogenous neurosteroid exposure on the migration of neurons in the prefrontal cortex and the functional consequences of this exposure at maturity in rats. The temporal and spatial characteristics of the development of the PFC of the rodent make it uniquely vulnerable to the influence of GABA signaling and changes in cortical neurosteroid levels. Based on the data from her previous research, she hypothesizes that neurosteroids play a modulatory role in the regulation of cortical ontogeny and connectivity, and that dysfunction in the neurosteroid modulation of GABAergic neurotransmission alters the developing nervous system and leads to developmental deficits resulting in a schizophrenia-vulnerable phenotype. To test this hypothesis, the investigator will, in Specific Aim 1, investigate the effects of neonatal neurosteroid exposure on cortical neuron migration; and in Specific Aim 2, investigate the neurochemical identity of cell populations mislocalized after neonatal allopregnanolone exposure. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Schizophrenia is a devastating and debilitating mental illness that places an immense burden on the community, especially in underserved populations where treatment access and outcome often fall short of expected norms. Understanding the nongenetic factors that play a role in the etiology of the disorder across development will lead to preventative interventions that may reduce the incidence of schizophrenia or lessen its impact on the community at large Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 8/07/2009 |
| COMPREHENSIVE COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS, INC | $444,749.00 | Grant | ARRA-Health Center Integrated Services development Initiative CCHC: CCHC is a FQHC network of four health centers – in North Hollywood, Eagle Rock, Highland Park, and Glendale – totaling 49 exam rooms and 13 dental chairs in over 35,000 square feet. Each clinic represents a patient’s local access point to a single, integrated network of services. CCHC offers services in all community languages and a sliding fee scale. By in large, CCHC’s service area has small, undercapitalized, fragile neighborhood 'mom and pop shops – all the more fragile in the current downturn. Approximately half those in the service area have incomes under 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. CCHC continues to enjoy success with its model of delivering health care services, outreaching to the community, integrating within the institutional matrix of the community, and achieving high levels of patient satisfaction. The success of the model is witnessed by CCHC’s growth – from 17,055 patients 2004 to 32,127 patients in 2008. The CCHC’s IDS strategy is to expand access to primary care, increase capacity and jobs by increasing the number of health professionals working within its successful model. Need: The need for jobs and access the health care continues to increase in Los Angeles County. In a September 19, 2009 report in the Los Angeles Times, Alana Semuels reported that while the rate of job loss in California has slowed from 70,000 to 12,300 per month, the sheer number out of work and the lengthening duration is worrisome. Nearly 30% of the state's unemployed have been out of work at least 27 weeks. California's unemployment rate is well above the national rate of 9.7%. And it is the fourth highest in the nation; only Michigan, Nevada and Rhode Island, at 15.2%, 13.2% and 12.8%, respectively, are faring worse. 'The unemployment rate hasn't peaked yet,' said Jed Kolko, associate director of research at the Public Policy Institute of California. 'It's likely to still get higher, and stay high for several more quarters. The need for FQHC health services is increasing on at least two fronts. First, as people become unemployed they lose their employer-based health care insurance. Second, the State of California is cutting Medi-Cal optional benefits. These include adult dental, optometry, and podiatry. It appears, at least at this point, that California’s Healthy Families program that insures over 600,000 poor children will be saved. However, the system continues to become more fragile. Response: CCHC’s IDS performance: CCHC’s IDS project is affecting the needs for health services and jobs in the community. CCHC’s IDS project is on track to serve 567 new patients over the two years, of which 170 will be uninsured. Cumulatively, in the first six months, CCHC has provided healthcare services to 205 new patients of which 110 were uninsured. And CCHC has hired 8.2 FTEs, greater than the 5 forecast in CCHC’s original proposal. Jobs provided by CCHC are among best in the community. CCHC is pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with HRSA to expand its services to help poor and working poor people of Los Angeles. Show more... | Health Resources and Services Administration | 3/27/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $188,999.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Chronic pain disorders may persist in children and adolescents for several years and have significant impact on their physical, social, and academic functioning, with potential long-term reduction in quality of life. A significant obstacle to for treating chronic pain disorders in adolescents is lack of adherence to recommended treatments, including complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments such as yoga, biofeedback, psychotherapy, massage, psychotherapy, and acupuncture. One potential method for enhancing adherence to recommended treatments is providing adolescents with social support and thereby increasing a sense of self-efficacy for actively coping with pain. This study aims to explore the efficacy of internet- and telephone-based peer mentoring sessions for enhancing adherence to recommended treatments in adolescents with chronic pain. Adolescents with a chronic pain disorder presenting for treatment at the Pediatric Pain Program will be randomized to either the Peer Mentor condition or a control condition. All participants will be receive treatment as usual, which involves choosing at least one CAM therapy from a standard list. All participants will undergo an initial assessment and receive weekly phone calls to assess treatment adherence and homework compliance. Participants in the Peer Mentor condition will also receive 10 peer mentoring sessions over the course of eight weeks with peer-mentors of similar age who have learned to function successfully with a chronic pain disorder. The mentors will talk and present information to the subjects over simultaneous internet and telephone conference calls in a supervised and monitored interaction for 2 months and encourage participation in skill-building programs. All participants will be tested for improvement in pain and functioning at 2 months and again at 4 months to see if improvements persist. The control group will receive all usual care provided by the Pediatric Pain Program, but will not receive the mentorship intervention. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/08/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $270,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The UCLA Racial and Ethnic Minority (REM) HIV/AIDS Translational Training (HATT) Program. Recently, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has highlighted the need to increase the number of minority research scientist, as there is a dearth of federally funded investigators in the United States. Our R25 training grant, the UCLA Racial and Ethnic Minority (REM) HIV/AIDS Translational Training (HATT) Program has developed a research mentorship program for REM postdoctoral fellows and early career investigators interested in studying HIV/AIDS, mental health and substance abuse and associated co-morbid disparities. This program has established a winter institute with a network of senior mentors who are experts in the field of behavioral, basic, and clinical HIV/AIDS research. With significant support from the UCLA Center for Culture, Trauma and Mental Health Disparities (CCTMHD), the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services (CHIPTS), and the UCLA AIDS Institute and others, 4 postdoctoral fellows and junior investigators will receive state-of-the-art training over two years. These REM investigators will also promote interdisciplinary research that examines and elucidates the behavioral, biological and psychological factors associated with HIV/AIDS, mental health, substance abuse and their associated disparities among racial and ethnic minorities. The UCLA Steering Committee, along with the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), is currently conducting a national application process to select post-doctoral and early career research candidates. Research mentoring will include: (1) a two-week winter institute composed of didactic lectures and individualized mentoring and consultation and; (2) ongoing long-term onsite research mentoring and mentoring via webcast telecommunication to guide and monitor progress toward research goals. HATT mentees will submit a federal research application for funding in the spring of 2010. The Steering Committee, SAC members, mentors, and national consultants will provide ongoing mentorship during the application process, and if not funded, during the resubmission process. Additionally, the Steering Committee, SAC members, mentors, national consultants and REM investigators will evaluate the training program twice each year. Long-term research career follow-up will also be conducted to ensure that REM Investigators mentor others to extend the training into a second generation of NIH researchers. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/08/2009 |
| VERNON, CITY OF | $1,088,718.00 | Grant | The COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP) provides funding directly to law enforcement agencies to hire and/or rehire career law enforcement officers in an effort to create and preserve jobs, and to increase their communtity policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. | Department of Justice | 7/01/2009 |
| LOS ANGELES CHAMBER ORCHESTRA SOCIETY, INC., THE | $50,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/16/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $385,197.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support This is a collaborative project involving a consortium of six premier U.S universities and one national laboratory to train graduate students in an area of anticipated manpower need: advanced acceleration techniques. Students will be trained in experiment, theory and computer simulations on plasma-based particle accelerators. Recent results in this field have shown that plasma-based particle accelerators have the potential to drastically reduce the size and cost of future colliders needed for basic science, and to lead to table-top electron accelerators for myriad industrial, medical and research applications. This project seeks to provide a coordinated learning and research experience for Ph.D. students from leading research institutions that have developed different sets of experimental and theoretical/simulations tools. The topics proposed for their theses span fundamental science yet to be uncovered in the plasma-based accelerators field, the development of new diagnostic techniques, advancing the underlying theory, and advancing the use of computational techniques to model both fundamental phenomenology and ongoing experiments. Examples of basic science topics that will be experimentally investigated include ionization induced trapping, generation of He2+ ion beams, acceleration of electrons and generation of radiation in spatially modulated plasma waveguides, control of plasma wakefields using a beat-wave or two-color scheme and the development of a high repetition rate wakefield accelerator. While most of the experiments will be done using high power lasers, the 75 MeV electron beam facility (ATF) at Brookhaven will be used to investigate high-gradient, high-efficiency acceleration of electrons in a beam driven wakefield. Much effort will be devoted to the development of diagnostic techniques. For instance a Faraday rotation technique will be explored as a means to identify the self-trapping of particles in the wake and a tomographic imaging technique will be developed to enable visualization of evolving wakes. Theoretical/computational effort will focus on many fronts including emittance preservation in wakefields, self-propagation of laser pulses over pump depletion distances, novel strategies for acceleration of positrons, and physics of electron trapping and injection in plasma accelerators. Plasma-based accelerator laboratories arguably contain the most complex and cross-disciplinary instrumentation as any on a campus. In addition, the field of plasma-based acceleration is also cross-disciplinary. Computer simulations in this area are at the forefront of computational science and high performance computing. The field is also at the forefront of closely coupling experimental data to simulation data. The challenges of using complex experimental and computational instruments to carry out cross disciplinary research attracts creative physics and engineering students as well as provides them with an excellent training environment. Plasma-based acceleration has the potential for broad impact. It may some day be the technology used to build a future linear collider at the energy frontier as well as be the basis for compact accelerators that would have use in medicine and novel photon sources. The intent of this project is to provide the graduate students with a sense of community through the formation of a multi-university consortium that has access to state-of-the-art facilities and a multi-disciplinary intellectual environment. This will be accomplished through sharing of intellectual as well as of experimental resources. The students will be in direct contact with a large number of leading researchers in the field. The project will produce a trained workforce that is comfortable with complex systems, interdisciplinary research and collaboration, reporting of findings to colleagues, and ready for future challenges. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 9/15/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $200,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The Division of Chemistry supports Sean T. Roberts of the University of Southern California (USC) as an American Competitiveness in Chemistry Fellow. Dr. Roberts will study the dynamics of energy migration in organic photovoltaic materials using sophisticated femtosecond spectroscopy techniques. In particular, he will look at the dynamics at the interface between electron-donor and -acceptor materials using interface-sensitive spectroscopies. Dr. Roberts will collaborate with experimental scientists at the University of Southern California as well as with theorists at Los Alamos National Laboratory. For his plan for broadening participation, Dr. Roberts will help launch a summer internship program at USC for high school and community college students in Southeast Los Angeles -- a region with a large percentage of Hispanic students. The internship program will include classroom and hands-on laboratory work studying alternative energy technologies. Research like that of Dr. Roberts is aimed at developing a better understanding of how organic photovoltaics convert energy from sunlight into electricity. The ultimate goal of research like this is to develop improved technology for the conversion of solar energy into electricity. The efforts at broadening participation being pursued by Dr. Roberts are aimed at increasing the participation of young people from underrepresented groups in the sciences. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 9/18/2009 |
| MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, THE | $50,000.00 | Grant | Awards to Organizations and Individuals To support the preservation of jobs that are threa | National Endowment for the Arts | 7/13/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $238,474.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Atherosclerosis is a systemic disease; however, its manifestations tend to be focal and eccentric. Hemodynamics, specifically, fluid shear stress, is intimately involved in vascular oxidative stress. Oxidative stress induces molecular signaling regulates the development of intimal calcification that has been identified as a distinct, but relevant process to atherosclerosis. The vascular cells that calcify, previously termed calcifying vascular cells (CVC), are multipotent, with the capacity for chondrogenic, leiomyogenic (smooth muscle), and stromogenic (marrow stromal) lineages. Whether vascular calcification stabilizes atherosclerotic plaques or promotes plaque rupture remains undefined. We propose to assess vascular oxidative stress in non-obstructive, albeit inflammatory, lesions in explants of human coronary arteries and New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits. The development of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) shear stress and oxidative stress sensors in our lab has provided a means to undertake study of atherogenic hemodynamics and vascular oxidative stress. We hypothesize that flow disturbance as assessed by the micro-scale sensors in non-obstructive plaques is associated with oxidative stress relevant for initiation of the arterial plaque. This hypothesis will be tested by three Aims: Aim 1: Assess vascular oxidative stress in arterial regions exposed to atherogenic hemodynamics. The level of vascular oxidative stress will be determined from explants of arterial bifurcations of human coronary arteries using the MEMS oxidative stress sensors. Immunohistochemistry will validate oxidative content, including oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL), foam cells and intimal calcification, in the regions exposed to atherogenic hemodynamics. Aim 2: Determine shear stress and oxidative stress in non-obstructive plaque. Intravascular sensors will be deployed into the aortas of NZW rabbits. Athero-prone regions will be localized by shear stress sensors and vascular oxidative stress will be assessed prior to and after hypercholesterolemic diet. The rabbit aorta will be dissected for immuno-staining for regions that harbor oxidative stress. Aim 3: Study whether vascular calcification stabilizes a mechanically unstable plaque. Vascular mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived plaque that harbors oxLDL, foam cells, and calcification will be used in an in vitro model. Atherogenic hemodynamics; namely, low and oscillatory shear stress, will be delivered and plaque rupture will be captured in the context of vascular oxidative stress and calcification. Our proposal represents a concerted effort between two labs (Tzung Hsiai and Linda Demer) to test hypothesis, to establish causality, and to assess mechanically unstable plaque in the presence of calcification. Our research is relevant to public health because a better understanding of the biomechanics of rupture-prone plaques has the potential to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with atherothrombotic disease. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This research is relevant to public health because a better understanding of the biomechanics of rupture-prone plaques has the potential to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with atherothrombotic disease. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/28/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $514,337.00 | Grant |
Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Investigation of Links between histories of social
There were 1 sub-recipients, vendors, and/or sub-vendors associated with this. See details |
National Institutes of Health | 8/14/2009 |
| THE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES | $500,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic disease that causes severe, lifelong pain, debilitating organ toxicity and early death. Many of the complications can be ameliorated by blood transfusions, which in turn cause significant iron overload. A large number of SCD patients only sporadic transfusions for treatment of acute events at different hospitals by providers unfamiliar with SCD and iron overload. Even though the number of sporadic transfusions may be high, these patients? iron status is largely unknown. In addition, patients who were chronically transfused when young, often stop transfusions in adulthood and are not treated for their iron overload. Thus, a significant number of SCD patients may have unrecognized iron. No study has examined the prevalence of iron overload in SCD adults by direct measurement of total body or tissue iron. We will determine the prevalence of iron overload in SCD patients using MRI methodologies that we developed and validated. These techniques permit easy, accurate, and non-invasive measurement of iron overload in multiple organs. Iron overload is associated with organ damage and poor outcomes in SCD patients; however, the mechanisms by which iron overload exert its toxicity have not been studied and the effects of damage from iron overload have not been separated from organ damage due to vaso-occlusion itself. SCD patients suffer from chronic, progressive vasculopathy leading to pulmonary hypertension, renal failure and stroke. Chronic intravascular hemolysis, which releases red cell components in the circulation, is a leading cause of vasculopathy and acts by impairing nitric oxide bioavailability. Iron-mediated oxidative stress and increased levels of labile plasma iron (LPI), may worsen intravascular hemolysis and impair endothelial function, as clearly seen in the thalassemia syndromes. Determination of the relation between non-invasive, standardized measures of vascular endothelial function, biomarkers of oxidant stress, modulators of nitric oxide metabolism and iron loading is critical for the understanding of sickle vasculopathy and must be accomplished before an interventional study to treat sickle vasculopathy can be designed. We suspect that clinically significant iron overload is common in subjects with SCD and worsens with age. Furthermore, we anticipate that tissue localized and free plasma iron levels predict endothelial dysfunction, carotid intimal-medial thickening, and pulmonary hypertension, independently of hemolysis, inflammation, and night-time hypoxia. Specifically, we will determine the prevalence, and magnitude of hepatic, pancreatic and labile iron elevation in patients with SCD. Liver iron concentration (LIC) and content measured by MRI will be used as a surrogate for total body iron. Pancreatic R2* will be measured as a surrogate for chronic labile iron exposure. Serum ferritin, transferrin saturation, and labile plasma iron (LPI) will be measured as acute markers of iron status. Secondly, we will determine whether iron overload exacerbates sickle vasculopathy. We will quantify sickle vasculopathy by measuring flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery, carotid intimal-medial thickening, and pulmonary hypertension. We will determine if iron loading predicts vasculopathy independently of hemolysis (cell-free hemoglobin, lactate dehydrogenase), inflammation (high-sensitivity CRP), dysfunction of NO metabolism (arginine, ornithine & citrulline, vitamin C, tetrahydrobiopterin, dihydrobiopterin,) and night time hypoxia (overnight pulse oximetry). We anticipate that the results obtained during this granting period will solidly establish the prevalence of iron overload and its relation to biomarkers and endothelial function in SCD patients. This study represents an essential first step in the design of a subsequent clinical trial to improve vascular function. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/21/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $475,142.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support A two year project is proposed to expand, to exploit, to extend, and to apply on a demonstration basis a completely novel approach to high throughput cis-regulatory analysis. We have very recently developed the initial component of this new technology as a tool for rapid validation of sea urchin embryo gene regulatory network models, and demonstrated its efficacy in facilitating the discovery and in measuring the quantitative activity of previously unknown cis-regulatory modules with a throughput of up to 100x that of traditional methods. The essential principle of this approach is use of sequence-tagged 'barcoded' vectors which can be introduced together in large number in a single experiment and de-convolved later. But there remain many additional spinoffs and additional developments to be brought to practice, and the Challenge Grant program offers the opportunity to mount a 'crash program' and bring these opportunities on line in the immediate future. In addition, the methods we have so far developed measure quantitative cis-regulatory output and not spatial activity. We propose additional technological developments to generate higher quality spatial expression data than obtainable by any other means and a high throughput method of recovering large sets of cis-regulatory modules operating in any given spatial regulatory state. The specific aims of this proposal include adapting the sequence tag method to NanoString technology to permit simultaneous assessment of activity of > 100 different cis-regulatory modules; demonstrate the use of this method to obtain temporal output profiles of large numbers of cis-regulatory modules simultaneously; develop a very high accuracy method of determining spatial expression profiles of unknown cis-regulatory modules by use of NanoString measurements; and tune for general use a high throughput technology for isolating all cis-regulatory modules of a large unknown set which operate in a given time-space domain of the organism. Two additional comments are important: first, there is no a priori reason why these technologies should not be transferrable to any other system in which gene transfer by direct DNA injection is utilized; and second, in order to accomplish these objectives we shall have to build a new research subgroup. This will require hiring additional personnel, and in this respect both the scientific and organizational aspects of the proposal synergize with the objectives of the A.R.R.A. NIH initiative. This work is about finding the causal lines of control that determine how fundamental life processes are executed according to the instructions encoded in the genomic regulatory system. The most powerful approach to general solutions to complex disease states requires solid understanding of their control circuitry. Our practice must get beyond struggling to ameliorate effects rather than altering causes. This research shows the way to discovery of structure and function in causal genomic control systems. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/21/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $500,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) has been consistently identified in Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) tumors, primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), and Multicentric Castleman's disease. Although classical KS has a low prevalence rate worldwide, the more aggressive endemic KS, seen primarily in Africa, accounts for nearly half of the reported cancers in some regions and is the leading cause of cancer death in those areas. Despite being a pressing human health problem, there has been little or no activity so far to develop protective and/or therapeutic vaccines against KSHV infection and its associated diseases. A current major barrier for the in vivo studies of KSHV replication, persistence, pathogenesis, and ultimately vaccine is the lack of a proper animal model. We recently performed the first successful zoonotic or cross-species transmission of KSHV into common marmosets, a New World primate (Callithrix jacchus, Cj). This preliminary study has shown that: (1) common marmosets intravenously inoculated with recombinant rKSHV.219 rapidly sero-converted and maintained a high anti-KSHV antibody response over a long period of time; (2) common marmosets infected with rKSHV.219 via the oral and/or intranasal routes also rapidly sero-converted and maintained an anti-KSHV antibody response; and (3) KSHV DNA and the latent nuclear antigen protein are readily detectable in infected animals. This is the first animal model that significantly recapitulates the important aspects of KSHV infection in humans, thus providing a unique opportunity in developing potential vaccine strategies against KSHV infection. The most impressive vaccine protections achieved to date against virus- associated diseases primarily utilize persisting, live, attenuated viruses. This may be due to the duration of the immune response elicited through the continuous expression of viral proteins from a persisting viral genome in the infected host. Thus, we will consider developing a persistent, attenuated KSHV to serve as the vaccine vector. The goal of this study is two-folds: Firstly, to develop a genetically modified replication-competent, non-pathogenic KSHV strain to be used as a vaccine candidate. Secondly, to further build up the primate model of KSHV infection and to develop immunological and virological assays for the vaccination and challenge experiments. This proposal is highly innovative and a successful outcome should prove to be a major discovery that significantly impacts the understanding of the controls of KSHV infection to ultimately reveal novel protective and/or therapeutic vaccine strategies. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/29/2009 |
| OPTIONS - A CHILD CARE AND HUMAN SERVICES AGENCY | $477,159.00 | Grant | ARRA - Head Start ARRA & COLA QI | Administration for Children and Families | 7/01/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $407,771.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Using agent-based modeling to develop a robust and | National Institutes of Health | 9/21/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $499,362.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This is a multi-site study (UCLA, Yale, Emory, Uni | National Institutes of Health | 9/30/2009 |
| CHILDRENS INSTITUTE, INC | $105,049.00 | Grant | ARRA - Head Start ARRA Cost of Living Adjustment(COLA), and Quality | Administration for Children and Families | 7/01/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $748,256.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of a community-based lifestyle behavior intervention (LSBI) conducted by promotoras and a control condition (disaster preparedness and home safety program) on BMI (primary outcome) and selected physiologic outcomes (secondary outcomes i.e., physical activity, blood pressure, measures of cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, waist circumference, self-reported lifestyle behaviors) of middle-aged Latinas who are overweight/obese. Exploratory analysis will examine the relationship between theoretical variables (stage of change and support for nutrition and physical activity), the LSBI and selected outcomes (BMI, self-reported lifestyle behaviors). Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 8/17/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $424,677.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Metabolic Oscillations in Heart | National Institutes of Health | 6/01/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $77,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The purpose of this study is to assess sun protection practices among children at increased risk for melanoma due to parental history. Although these children may be more vulnerable to the negative effects of sun exposure, few previous studies have targeted this vulnerable group. Data from the study will be used to develop a targeted intervention to improve sun protection practices for this group. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/17/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $172,359.00 | Grant |
Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The overarching goal of this study is to test the role of pain, illicit drug use, and symptoms of depression and anxiety in the misuse of opioids and psychoactive medications within an existing cohort of men who have sex with men (MSM) participating in the Baltimore/Washington, DC site of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS), otherwise known as SHARE (The Study to Help the AIDS Research Effort). Pain and commonly co-occurring psychological symptoms of anxiety and depression are sources of considerable distress and disability among MSM. A nationally representative study of HIV-infected persons in the United States found that 67% of patients experienced pain in the prior month. Of particular concern is the high prevalence of painful peripheral neuropathy which is associated with the long-term use of neurotoxic antiretroviral therapy. Neuropathic pain is especially difficult to treat and patients may misuse opioids as well as psychoactive medications seeking relief. Despite guidelines recommending the use of opioids for pain and psychoactive medications for psychological symptoms, the risk factors for the misuse of these medications among MSM are poorly understood. Existing research has largely been cross-sectional and therefore limited in identifying predictors of prescription drug misuse. This gap has hampered efforts to balance the need to treat distressing symptoms of pain, anxiety, and depression with concerns over misuse. To address this gap, the proposed project will use a prospective, longitudinal design to test the importance of key risk factors for misuse of opioids and psychoactive medications. These risk factors will include pain, particularly painful peripheral neuropathy, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and illicit drug use. The project Specific Aims are: 1) To quantify the associations among these risk factors over time; 2) To quantify the relative strength of these risk factors in predicting opioid misuse; and 3) To quantify the associations among illicit drug use, the misuse of opioids and the misuse of psychoactive drugs, as well as the extent to which these relationships are partially explained by pain and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Structural equation modeling (SEM) will be used to address the study aims by allowing the simultaneous quantification of these complex direct and indirect relationships among the study variables. This research is innovative in that we will test a conceptual model focused on the dynamic impact of pain, illicit drug use and symptoms of anxiety and depression on prescription drug misuse over time. This study will advance NIDA's mission of bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction by identifying modifiable risk factors that may be the focus of targeted interventions to reduce the risk of prescription drug misuse while effectively managing pain and symptoms of anxiety and depression in MSM. Show more...
There were 1 sub-recipients, vendors, and/or sub-vendors associated with this. See details |
National Institutes of Health | 5/04/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY AUXILIARY SERVICES, INC | $72,250.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The rapid and accurate diagnosis of bacterial pathogens causing diseases and infections has been a goal of clinicians and microbiologists since the discovery of microbes as disease-causing agents. Conventional methods of diagnosis rely upon physiological identification of bacteria through a series of chemical, biological and immunological tests. The use of these tests however requires culturing and sub-culturing of bacterial samples to obtain usable numbers of bacterial cells. The waiting period that occurs between sample collection from a patient and the conclusion of a diagnosis can often exceed a week, a time period that is too long for patients to receive adequate treatment. Recently, nucleic acid amplification based detection methods such as PCR (polymerase chain reaction) have been developed for pathogen diagnosis. Although such methods have eliminated the need for culturing, the sample labeling and amplification are still time-consuming and prone to contamination which would lead to false positive result. In addition, the range of pathogenic species that can be detected is limited. Moreover, virulence factors present in pathogens are also extremely important for prescription of appropriate antibiotics. Consequently, there is a need for development of rapid and high throughput tests for detecting both pathogen species as well as their virulence potential. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a label-free technology to study biomolecular interactions in real-time. It has been employed increasingly to study antibody-antigene interactions, protein-protein interactions and DNA protein interactions. SPR used in the imaging mode (SPRi) provides additional benefits, such as higher throughput, multiplexing, and reduced sample consumptions. Our hypothesis is that SPRi technology can be used to simultaneously identify bacterial species or strains as well as virulence factors present in the bacteria. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/29/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $231,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Trypanosomes and related protozoa cause a variety of debilitating diseases in the tropics including Human African Sleeping Sickness, Chagas Disease and various forms of Leishmaniasis. The goal of our work is to study pathways present in the parasite but not present in the human host. Such unique pathways can be exploited as targets for novel drugs with the prospect of reduced adverse effects on the human host. The spliced leader RNA (SL RNA) is a small molecule that is not found in the human (vertebrate) or tsetse fly (invertebrate) hosts. We are interested in characterizing the unique properties of this RNA transcript. One feature of the molecule is a hypermethylated cap structure at the 5' end. The cap consists of four ribose methylations and four base methylations. In related work we are characterizing the enzymes, called methyltransferases, that generate the modifications to the nucleotides. In this award we are taking a different approach, to study the proteins that interact specifically with the cap and intermediate forms of the cap. We are focusing on the properties of a protein, termed eIF4E3, that shows greater specificity for incomplete forms of the cap (cap 0) than the mature cap (cap 4). We hypothesize that eIF4E3 is involved in SL RNA processing. Because the SL RNA is essential for cell survival, unique proteins in essential pathways can be used as targets for screening new inhibitors. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/21/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $231,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Trypanosomes and related protozoa cause a variety of debilitating diseases in the tropics including Human African Sleeping Sickness, Chagas Disease and various forms of Leishmaniasis. In the mammalian hosts, regulated gene expression is determined primarily at the level of transcription initiation. In contrast trypanosomes do not control the expression of most genes by regulating the initiation of transcription. Trypanosomes use post-transcriptional mechanisms such as mRNA stability, protein synthesis, and protein stability to obtain differential levels of proteins and their activity. Protein function can be controlled by covalent modification with a number of different adducts, including phosphate, methyl and acetyl groups and small proteins such as ubiquitin. We have chosen to study modification of trypanosome proteins by SUMO (small ubiquitin-related modifier) because of its potential regulatory role on protein function and localization. The ability of covalent attachment of SUMO to a protein to re-localize that protein to the nucleus suggests a mechanism to control protein function. The goal of this project is to determine the identity of all proteins that are SUMOylated in procyclic trypanosome cells. This will enable to select a subset of proteins for further study in regulated nucleic acid metabolism. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/04/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $199,478.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Development of a novel laboratory-based assay to c | National Institutes of Health | 9/28/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $192,500.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This project will identify various response trajectory outcomes in antidepressant-treated Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) patients through the use of statistical growth mixture modeling (GMM), and will also characterize subjects in the various response trajectory classes in terms of sociodemographics and baseline clinical features in secondary analyses of data from an NIMH-funded effectiveness trial of 'real world' MDD patient Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/05/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $283,117.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Evaluating an Emergency Department Observation Syn | National Institutes of Health | 9/29/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $497,847.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Identification of Enhancers of Therapeutic Exon Skipping for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is the most common lethal genetic disease of childhood, occurring in 1 in every 3500 live male births. It is caused by the absence of functional dystrophin. Recent strategies aimed at anti-sense oligonucleotide (AON) directed removal of specific exons during processing of the dystrophin transcript have succeeded in restoring reading frame to the transcript, leading to production of partially functional dystrophin protein. Targeted therapeutic dystrophin 'exon skipping' has been validated in mouse and dog models of DMD and to a more limited degree in DMD patients. Early phase dystrophin exon 51 skipping clinical trials are currently underway. These preliminary studies demonstrate that exon skipping is a viable strategy for inducing the production of some dystrophin in DMD boys. However, the success of this therapeutic approach rests on overcoming the inefficiencies of exon skipping, since it is unclear that levels of skipped dystrophin currently being achieved will be sufficient to reverse pathology, particularly in DMD boys. Therefore, identification of compounds that increase the efficacy of exon skipping represents a viable approach toward increasing replacement of dystrophin to functionally relevant levels. We have developed and implemented high throughput screens aimed at identifying facilitators of anti-sense directed therapeutic exon skipping for DMD and identified several lead compounds. Our screens have focused on cell based assays and already FDA approved and well characterized compounds to increase the likelihood of identifying compounds which could rapidly move toward clinical trials, and for which mechanism may be more readily understood. We have identified 20 lead compounds with potential exon skipping activity for further assessment in secondary assays. Preliminary assessment indicates that at least 10 of these lead compounds synergize with AON to skip mutated exon 23 of mdx (DMD mouse model) on myoblast cultures differentiated in vitro to form myotubes expressing dystrophin mRNA. These data, make clear that facilitators of exon skipping will likely be identified. However, additional dosing and efficacy studies are required to fully characterize the activity of these compounds. Further, we have obtained promising preliminary studies assessing in vivo activity of one lead compound in combination with AON in the mdx DMD mouse model. Here we propose to create a bank of immortalized DMD patient derived fibroblasts, which are readily and reproducibly inducible to myotubes, and to develop quantitative methods for detecting mutant and skipped DMD mRNA products in these cells. We will focus efforts at developing cell lines from patients in which mono- or multi-exon skipping of exons 45, 53, 46, 51, or 50 are predicted to lead to in frame transcripts and largely functional dystrophin. Once developed, 20 lead compounds will be screened for their efficacy and specificity in facilitating AON DMD exon skipping. Assessment of the activity of these same compounds on myoblast/myotube cultures from mouse DMD models mdx and mdx.4cV will enable a further assessment of specificity and identify candidates, which we will test in the mdx or mdx.4cV models in vivo. The proposed experiments focused on 20 lead compounds have the potential to validate their activity, determine their specificity, and identify potential target DMD populations. Identification of a compound that can improve efficacy of AON directed exon skipping has the potential to move this therapeutic modality from proof of principle of dystrophin production to more robust therapeutic efficacy resulting in functional improvement, thus rendering exon skipping a practical and effective treatment for DMD. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/23/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $409,558.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support To study the effects of the curcumin derivative drug CNB-001 on counteracting the brain dysfunction after traumatic brain injury (TBI) CNB-001, a potent synthetic derivative of curcumin, has both neuroprotective and neuronal function enhancing properties, its a unique candidate drug for treating TBI and other neurodegenerative disorders. To assay the efficacy of the compound CNB-001, we will use a fluid percussion injury model for TBI. Thus, the goal of this project is to explore the therapeutic potential of CNB-001 for TBI and to determine potential mechanisms for these actions using fluid percussion injury model (FPI). Specifically, we will evaluate the ability of CNB-001 to restore synaptic plasticity and energy metabolism disrupted after TBI. We will evaluate CNB-001 effects on counteracting cognitive, mood disorders, and motor dysfunction. It is noteworthy that our comprehensive study of CNB-001 efficacy considers the analysis of motor behavior in conjunction with studies in the brain and spinal cord. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/24/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE | $47,210.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Vitamin D3, Autoimmunity and N-Glycosylation: Under the proposed intensive training plan, I will acquire the invaluable scientific skills and knowledge required to achieve a productive, independent scientific career. The Kirschstein-NRSA Individual Fellowship will enhance my scientific experience as a postdoctoral scholar and expand my research training. This fellowship will provide for my participation and active involvement in the scientific community by affording me various avenues of intellectual outlet, including attending and presenting my work at the yearly Glycobiology Research Symposium at UCSD and the yearly Keystone Symposia in Immunology. During this award, I will not only acquire training in fundamental areas of knowledge, but specialized training in autoimmunity and central nervous system pathology. The proposed training will integrate immunological research and educational activities in the fields of glycobiology, neurology, molecular biology, biochemistry and pathology for a comprehensive training plan. This specialized training in the field of immunology and autoimmunity will provide a solid basis for application to the fields of medicine and therapeutics. The Kirschstein-NRSA Individual Fellowship Award will undoubtedly reinforce achievement of an independent scientific career in a field of expanding importance. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 6/04/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $2,995,563.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Award Description: The Clean Energy for Green Industry (Clean-Green) IGERT at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is designed to train U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers for leadership roles in the clean energy sector - university-industry-government. Emphasis is placed on economic expansion through transformational research, new business, highly trained workforce development, equity and inclusion. The Clean-Green IGERT addresses the urgent societal challenge of meeting increasing energy needs without further negatively affecting the environment. Meeting this challenge requires a revitalized energy production and delivery infrastructure in which innovative and commercially viable energy harvesting, storage, and conservation solutions are developed in concert. The development of such solutions is only feasible through university-industry-government partnerships with highly-skilled, broadly-educated, globally-minded leadership. Such partnerships have high potential for economic development in urban areas primed for growth in this sector, with a well-trained workforce, a supportive government and visionary industrial foundations. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/10/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $790,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Development of network data services that enable d | National Science Foundation | 8/26/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $250,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in a class of oxide materials known as cuprates in 1986 had simulated intense worldwide research efforts because of high expectations for potentially a wide range of applications. Although much progress has been made both scientifically and technologically, the physical cause for the occurrence of high-temperature superconductivity remains unknown. Moreover, the complexity of these materials makes applications of them far more challenging than originally anticipated. In 2008 a class of new superconductors, known as the iron pnictides (with a maximum transition temperature ~ 52 K), was discovered. These new iron-based superconductors reveal interesting similarities and contrasts to the cuprates. The primary thrust of this research project is to conduct parallel studies and comparison of the physical properties of both cuprate and iron-pnictide superconducting systems. The objective of these studies is to provide insights into means of making superconductors with higher transition temperatures and better physical properties, thereby advancing better applications based on superconducting materials. Additionally, the training required for conducting this research project involves a wide variety of advanced technologies and theoretical knowledge, and are therefore effective for the education of young researchers. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/27/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $557,067.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Dr Steidel will make a detailed study of the galaxies and gas within a few million light years of bright quasars that we observe as they were 10 billion years ago. Using the Keck telescopes, he will take high-resolution optical and near-infrared spectra to measure the absorption lines of gas lying between us and the quasar. These spectra will target lines of highly ionized oxygen to trace warm and hot gas, Lyman-beta to measure neutral hydrogen, and additional lines that probe the chemical abundance and physical conditions in the gas. These observations will be compared with theoretical models for the effect that active galactic nuclei such as quasars should have on their surroundings. Deep optical and near-infrared images will be taken to pick out galaxies likely to lie close to the quasar. Optical and infrared spectra of these objects should yield accurate redshifts (and hence distances), dynamical masses and chemical abundances for about 150 galaxies around each quasar. The infrared spectroscopy should be particularly effective when the galaxies are partially obscured by dust. Two or three graduate students will be trained as they participate in the research. Both the published results and primary data will be made available as soon as possible to the astronomical community. Dr Steidel is Project Scientist for the MOSFIRE imaging spectrograph (Multi-Object Spectrometer for InfraRed Exploration); this new instrument will serve the Keck Observatory's large user community. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/17/2009 |
| WEST COVINA, CITY OF | $255,831.00 | Grant | 16.808 - Recovery Act Byrne Competitive Retain 1 Community Service Officer (CSO) to respon | Department of Justice | 9/08/2009 |
| TORRANCE, CITY OF (INC) | $351,425.00 | Grant | 16.808 - Recovery Act Byrne Competitive Hiring of Civilian Staff in Law Enforcement Agenci | Department of Justice | 9/08/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $148,787.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support The title of the project is 'Investigating the mechanics of conjugate strike-slip faults and its implications for continental deformation'. The work consists of three components: (1) field investigations mapping the geometry and kinematics of active conjugate faults in central Tibet, (2) paleomagnetic analysis of rocks collected from central Tibet to determine whether the faults have rotated about vertical axes, and (3) analog modeling dealing with cause and processes of conjugate fault formation and evolution. The proposed work tests several first order hypotheses with regard to the mechanism of fault formation, nature of continental deformation, and relationship between upper crustal deformation and lower crustal flow in the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen. The final results will provide new guides to decipher how faults were initiated under diverse tectonic settings both on Earth and other terrestrial planets. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 7/19/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $500,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Research Support Project is to design, implement and evaluate the personal wellness platform called Health Guardian (HG). The Health Guardian concept introduces a paradigm shift in wellness monitoring - from traditional client to server model to location/environment aware and P2P networked solution. Through the Health Guardian, the mobile users will not only transmit mere sensor data to the Central Health Server. It will also provide additional services critical to personal wellness/safety: (a) it will correlate the data collected from the user with the environment, exploiting recent advances in localization, place discovery and social networking; (b) it will help users associate with one another (for recreational activities) and look after each other (in case of emergencies) leveraging common interests and/or important skills (e.g., CPR training) discovered in user profiles; (c) it will discover, through P2P networking user profiles and expand Internet based social networks; (d) it propagate alarms upon detecting critical conditions and; (e) it will upload/download health related data from Internet Servers. The HG-empowered individual will be much more than remotely monitored. He/she will be part of a socio-technical network with enhanced security, privacy and availability; will be constantly location and environment aware, and; will be able to enjoy a variety of networked services including the assistance from other peers. The name of Health Guardian conveys the fact that the equipment worn by the patient (e.g., cellphone) is not used solely to connect to the infrastructure. It becomes an 'intelligent' personal agent capable to preserve the 'wellness' of the owner in all possible situations. The proposed Health Guardian relies on three main components: BodyLAN; Gateway + Cellphone pair, and; networking (to Infrastructure and to peers). The BodyLAN ties together wirelessly all the medical sensors worn by the users and reports the measurements to the Health Gateway. Major design challenges are: selection of technology; low energy operation, and; protection from interference. These three issues are interrelated and will be extensively discussed in later sections {Body Area Networks; Zigbee and WiFi coexistence}. The core of the Health Guardian is the Health Gateway and Cellphone pair. Of the two, the primary function of the Health Gateway is to interface to body sensors and to preprocess measurements (filtering, compression, preliminary diagnosis, etc). Specific monitoring strategies and polling priorities are managed by the health gateway. Medical data and profiles are securely stored there. The cellphone is the natural complement of the Health Gateway. Most importantly, it uploads/downloads from Gateway to Internet. It assists the health gateway in various processing, rendering and display functions such as display of electrocardiogram (ECG) waves. It supports several 'environment awareness' functions such as acceleration monitoring (to detect when the patient collapses, for example), patient localization, etc. It helps correlate environment measurements with medical date collected by the Gateway, to diagnose and cure certain defects. The final component is the cellphone viewed as a communicator. The ability to maintain efficient links with the infrastructure and with neighbors in any possible conditions/emergencies is one of the main charges of the cellular phone component as discussed in the sections {Internet connectivity on smart phones; Peer-2-Peer Networking}. Critical issues are the use of Cognitive Radios for efficient spectrum use, the exploitation of ad hoc routing and the saving of energy. Show more... | National Science Foundation | 8/22/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $338,546.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support More than 2 million children and youth in the U.S. are homeless at some time each year. Once on the streets, homeless youth frequently rely on high-risk survival behaviors to meet their basic needs. Compounding these high-risk behaviors, these youth also have histories of depression, low self-esteem, trauma, substance abuse, and physical and sexual abuse. Despite the myriad mental health issues homeless youth confront, their rates of engagement in existing services are limited. To date, the field also lacks a recruitment protocol for engaging and retaining homeless, street youth in vocational and mental health services. The overall goal of this PAR-06-248 R34 proposal is to enhance the engagement and retention of homeless youth with mental illness in our previously piloted and refined Social Enterprise Intervention (SEI), a vocational intervention integrated with clinical services, specifically designed for homeless, street youth with mental illness, high-risk behaviors and limited service engagement. The SEI seeks to improve street youths' engagement and retention in vocational and mental health services, and to increase their social support, life satisfaction, service utilization, and mental health and functional status through peer mentoring, job training, clinical services and harm-reduction strategies. The specific aims of our study are to: 1) develop and implement a peer-based service engagement protocol with homeless youth; 2) develop strategies for increasing their retention in vocational and clinical services; 3) revise and finalize a manualized version of the SEI to include the engagement protocol, retention strategies, and fidelity and sustainability measures for future model replication; and 4) conduct a pilot study of the revised SEI manual and engagement protocol with 72 homeless youth (36 intervention and 36 control-group youth) to assess the intervention's impact on various treatment outcomes. We propose a randomized experimental design with repeated outcome measurements at baseline and at 8- and 14-month follow-ups. Building upon the 5-year partnership between the USC School of Social Work and the host agency, My Friend's Place, this study addresses the fundamental issue around identifying effective vocational programs for street youth within agency settings. Presently, there are limited examples of community-based participatory research endeavors that involve the practice community in the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions. As such, this study supports one of NIMH's key research priorities to expedite evidence-based practices into clinical settings. Several products will be available from this study: 1) a revised SEI treatment manual that will include engagement and retention protocols, fidelity measures and sustainability strategies; 2) baseline information of sample characteristics and variable distributions to help plan our large-scale, randomized intervention trial; 3) pilot data on subject recruitment, randomization, data collection and SEI implementation processes for our future randomized trial; and 4) an R01 application to test the effectiveness of the SEI in a subsequent randomized clinical trial. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/18/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $38,854.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The pancreatic ?-cells are responsible for producing insulin and maintaining glucose homeostasis. A loss of ?-cells or their inability to compensate for insulin resistance is the major cause for type I and type 2 diabetes, respectively. Increasing ??cell mass or generating optimally functional islets in vitro for transplantation could potentially improve or cure diabetic conditions. Thus, efforts have been focused on improving ?-cell mass by understanding and manipulating the mechanisms involved in their differentiation, proliferation and regeneration. PTEN is a lipid phosphatase that antagonizes the function of the PI3K signaling pathway. Targeted deletion of Pten in insulin producing cells led to a significant increase in total islet mass. This study suggests that ?-cell regeneration may be under mitogenic regulation and that PTEN may be regulating ?-cell regeneration in a paracrine fashion. To understand the biology underlying ?-cell regeneration, we performed immunohistological (IHC) analysis in a ?-cell injury and non-injury model. We demonstrated that the proliferating cells are most likely originating from previous-existing ?-cells under normal physiological conditions, but seem to induce proliferation of surrounding non-?-cells in the streptozotocin (STZ)-treated mice. To further confirm this observation, we used a reporter mouse model, Ptenlox/lox;Rosa26lacZ;Rip-Cre+, to determine the origin of the proliferating cells. Our preliminary analysis showed that the effect of PTEN on ?-cell proliferation may be intrinsic and that ?-cells themselves are contributing to ?-cell regeneration. However, when STZ was administered to these mice, the loss of PTEN in ?-cells produced a paracrine effect to induce a proliferation of surrounding non-beta-cells and non-islet cells. Further IHC analysis suggests that this loss of PTEN in ?-cells lead to the expansion of surrounding mesenchymes in these STZ-treated mice. Together, our present studies suggest that mitogenic signaling, such as those regulated by PTEN, may regulate ?-cell proliferation and regeneration under physiological conditions in a cell intrinsic manner, but may induce a paracrine effect during ?-cell injury. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/19/2009 |
| REDONDO OPTICS | $149,959.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The Title of the project is Multiparameter Fiber Optic Breathing Sensor. The goal of this project is to develop a device to detect periodic breathing, or brief central or obstructive apnea, assocaited with hypoxemia for infants at risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). A non-intrusive, cost-effective, reliable, and user-friendly breathing monitor can improve the safety and reduce mortality risk to infants, children, and adults suffering from acute and viral respiratory disorders. For this reason, Redondo Optics Inc, (ROI) a leader in the research and development of advanced optical medical diagonosis instrumentation, propose to develope a new, highly accurate and reliable, low-cost, portable, and non-invasive ResHealth device for monitoring breathing activity in clinical high risk, life threatening, conditions associated with hypoxemia in infants suffering from central or obstructive apnea or at risk of sudden infants death syndrome (SDIDS), and other acute respiratory breathing disorders. In Phase I of this program, ROI will conclusively demonstrate the concept of the ResHeath monitoring device by designing, assembling, and testing a conceptual prototype of a non intrutive multi-sensor array optical microchip, and optoelectronic sensor readout unit capable of detecting, analyzing, and separating vital breathing activity signatures, and to generate an alarm in the case of a potential catastrophic event with higher sensitivity, selectivity, and with near false alarms. In Phase II, ROI will integrate the ResHealth monitoring device into a portable, stand-alone unit. Such a system will find an immediate use in the fast growing breathing monitors and diagnosis market. No other available commercial device in the market today offers such capabilities at an affordable cost. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/18/2009 |
| LOS ANGELES BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE AT HARBOR-UCLA MEDICAL CENTER | $499,968.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This application is in response to RFA-09-09-003 and addresses broad Challenge Area (15) Translational Science and specific Challenge Topic, 15-OD(ORDR)-101: Pilot Projects for Prevention, Early Detection, and Treatment of Rare Diseases. The congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a genetic disorder characterized by a prolonged QT interval on the electrocardiogram (ECG) and life-threatening arrhythmias. The Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome (JLNS) is the most severe form of LQTS, with a hallmark feature of congenital sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). JLNS patients become symptomatic very early and are at risk for sudden cardiac death if untreated. Sudden cardiac death of infants with undiagnosed JLNS is often reported as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). While mass screening of the general population for JLNS is not practical, the prevalence of JLNS in older children with congenital SNHL has been reported as high as 4%. Most infants with SNHL are now identified early by the state newborn hearing screening programs, therefore, creates an opportunity for early detection and treatment of JLNS. We propose an innovative approach to early JLNS diagnosis by cardiac screening of infants with severe-to-profound SNHL identified by the newborn hearing screening program. The goals of this study are to determine the prevalence of JLNS in infants with severe-to-profound SNHL and to evaluate the effectiveness of early JLNS diagnosis. We propose a population-based study of infants with SNHL identified through the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program. Subjects will be recruited for a 'prospective cohort' (SNHL diagnosed during the project period) and a 'retrospective cohort' (SNHL diagnosed in preceding 4 years). An estimated 1,256 infants and young children with severe-to-profound SNHL will participate in this 2-year study. Cardiac screening will consist of detailed personal and family histories, and a 12-lead ECG. Subjects who are considered high risk will have genetic testing for JLNS mutations. From the prospective cohort, we will calculate the prevalence rate of JLNS among young infants with severe-to-profound SNHL and compared with the reported rates in older children. The impact of early JLNS diagnosis on clinical management will be assessed by the number of infants who receive therapy [¿-blockers and/or an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD)] as a result of early diagnosis. The effectiveness of cardiac screening will be evaluated by comparing the retrospective cohort and the prospective cohort to determine the number of cardiac deaths and SIDS that could have been prevented had the cardiac screening been conducted early in the retrospective cohort. Public Health Relevance: The Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome (JLNS) is the most severe form of the congenital long QT syndrome with a hallmark feature of sensorineural hearing loss. Patients with JLNS become symptomatic early in life and are at risk for sudden cardiac death if they are not diagnosed early and properly treated. We propose an innovative approach to early diagnosis of JLNS by cardiac screening of all infants who are identified with sensorineural hearing loss by the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/16/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $166,240.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Posterior polymorphous corneal dystrophy (PPCD, MIM #122000) is a dominantly inherited corneal endothelial dystrophy associated with a varied phenotype, ranging from symptomatic corneal endothelial changes to glaucoma and progressive corneal edema causing severe loss of vision. Locus heterogeneity has been demonstrated for PPCD, which has been mapped to both chromosome 10p11.2 (known as the PPCD3 locus) and chromosome 20p11.2 - q11.2 (known as the PPCD1 locus). The objective of this proposal is to identify the genetic basis of PPCD1 through continued investigation in a family linked to the PPCD1 locus. This will be accomplished through enrichment and large scale resequencing of the PPCD1 locus, analysis of identified sequence variants in the common PPCD1 interval and screening control individuals and other PPCD pedigrees for segregating variants in the common PPCD1 interval Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/30/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $179,804.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Summary of Award: The purpose of the award, Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research, is to support Dr. Gerardo Moreno. This supplement was awarded to The UCLA/Drew Center for Health Improvement for Minority Elders (CHIME) (P30-AG02-1684), a research and mentoring program for minority junior faculty at UCLA and Charles Drew University. The overarching goal of the CHIME is to reduce health disparities for African-American and Latino elders through training and mentorship of minority faculty. Specific Aims: The goals of the project are to investigate the relationships between biological markers of health, physical activity levels, functional health, disability, and health-related quality of life among sedentary older Latinos. The specific aims of the project are: 1) To examine in exploratory fashion the cross-sectional relationships between biological markers of health (Interleukin – 6 [IL-6], C-reactive protein [CRP], Tumor Necrosis Factor – alpha [TNF-alpha], blood pressure, and the metabolic syndrome), physical activity levels, physical and cognitive function and health-related quality of life. 2) To examine in exploratory fashion the relationship between longitudinal changes (6 months) in biological markers of health (IL-6, CRP, TNF- alpha, blood pressure, the metabolic syndrome), physical activity levels, disability and health-related quality of life. 3) Do biological markers of health act as mediators between changes in physical activity levels and changes in disability and health-related quality of life? Background and Significance: Though physical activity is related to physical function, morbidity, and mortality among older adults, relatively little is known about the biological mechanisms by which increased physical activity may improve health in minority populations. Some studies have found a relationship between physical activity and biological markers of health in non-Latino elderly; we need to know if this is true for elderly Latinos. If we identify a relationship suggesting that increases in physical activity are associated with low inflammation and less metabolic syndrome, then the results may help inform the direction of future research and guide future interventions aimed at increasing physical activity and preserving function among older Latinos. Overview of Caminemos: Caminemos is a 5-yr NIA-funded community-based randomized trial of an interdisciplinary behavioral intervention aimed at increasing walking among sedentary older Latinos (527) (Clinicaltrials.gov #NCT00183014). A subset of 120 consecutive eligible participants (Caminemos Dos) had baseline and 6 months measurement of IL-6, CRP, TNF-alpha, fasting glucose, insulin, triglycerides, HDL, and waist circumference. Dr. Moreno will examine the data from the 120 Caminemos Dos participants. Design/Methods: Latinos aged 60 yrs or greater were recruited between 8/2005 – 8/2007 from senior centers and invited to enroll in Caminemos. The exclusion criteria were: 1) age < 60 yrs; 2) not Latino; 3) already engaging in less than and equal to 20 minutes of moderate intensity (or greater) physical activity less than and equal to 3 days a week; 4) medical contraindication to participation in a physical activity class; 5) inability to participate in a 1-hour discussion session; and 6) inability to walk. All eligible participants who completed informed consent to participate in Caminemos between June and November 2006 were also invited to participate in Caminemos Dos. Eighty percent of those invited enrolled in Caminemos Dos. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/24/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $696,196.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Support to provide shared resources for research a | National Institutes of Health | 7/17/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $280,527.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The administrative supplement to the UCLA SCOR grant is intended to expand the capacities of two existing research cores, the Neuroimaging Core (NIC) and the Neuroimmune Measures Core (NMC). Preliminary data generated by the NIC under the parent grant suggest the presence of significant structural differences related to age, diagnosis and symptom severity in IBS patients In order for the Core to accelerate the number of scans available for advanced analysis, we plan to establish a repository for structural and functional (resting state) MRI data, which will enable us to pool MRI data obtained at multiple sites. In addition, this collaborative effort with the Laboratory of Neuroimaging at UCLA (UCLA-LONI) is intended to greatly enhance the range and scope of advanced analyses techniques, including the characterization of resting state networks, of white matter fiber tracts (diffusion tensor imaging, DTI) and grey matter morphology. It was proposed to hire a full time person who will be in charge of setting up the repository and linking several participating research centers to the repository. Preliminary data in humans and animal models generated under the parent grant suggest that the adrenergic signaling system in the colonic mucosa is sexually dimorphic and plays a potentially key role in the pathogenesis of IBS. In order for the MMC to take advantage of the existing extensive database of well phenotyped patients with colonic tissues, we are intending to perform additional assays related to mucosal signaling, including the performance of microarray studies for gene expression, and quantitative PCR confirmation in the existing biopsies as well as in selected target cells isolated by laser capture dissection techniques. It was proposed to hire a full time person who will be in charge of all proposed analyses. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 8/17/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $181,944.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The UCLA UDALL Parkinson Disease Center of Excelle | National Institutes of Health | 8/20/2009 |
| HUNTINGTON MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES | $37,453.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Developmnet and evaluation of biodegradeable neura | National Institutes of Health | 5/29/2009 |
| CHARLES R DREW UNIV OF MED AND | $138,240.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (Drew) proposes to continue and enhance its Drew National High School Student Summer Research Apprentice Program (NHSSSRAP). The main goal is to increase the number of underrepresented minority and disadvantaged students 'in the pipeline' who are committed to a career in biomedical, behavioral, clinical, or social science research in the NIDDK mission areas including diabetes, endocrinology, metabolism, nutrition, obesity, and digestive, urologic, kidney, and hematological diseases. Through effective recruitment, retention, education and training strategies, the Drew NHSSSRAP will help to diversify the biomedical and healthcare workforce with research scientists who are culturally competent and responsive to the multiple cultural and social needs of underserved minority and socio-economically deprived populations. The program will expose 20 high school students from racial/ethnic groups underrepresented in biomedical and behavioral research, and students from disadvantaged backgrounds to critical methodologies and principles of biomedical research in the NIDDK mission areas and those disease areas identified by Healthy People 2010 as disproportionately prevalent among underrepresented minority communities. The research program will expose promising students to the above areas of biomedical research they would otherwise not likely have access to, thus encouraging them to pursue biomedical careers in these areas. The Drew NHSSSRAP student experience will include an introductory web-based training curriculum, an informal mentor-led lab and research orientation, opportunities for attendance at various research forums, specialized student-specific research assignments and activities, and the annual NIH student research symposium where students present their research findings to their peers. The program, to be held principally during five consecutive summers, has the following specific aims: 1. Provide a rewarding eight to ten-week summer research experience to 20 high school students, which includes education in research principles, research conduct, evaluation and presentation. 2. Provide research faculty mentors for 20 high school student participants during the summer experience. 3. Provide a forum at the NIH for high school students to make oral and/or poster presentations to peers and established researchers using the standard presentation format of national scientific meetings. 4. Evaluate the impact of the NIH/NI DDK/Drew NHSSSRAP. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/14/2009 |
| RAND CORPORATION | $255,696.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The middle school years are peak years for initiation of alcohol and marijuana (Johnston et al., 2004). Unfortunately, most youth who engage in substance use and experience problems are unlikely to voluntarily make use of formal prevention services (D'Amico, 2005; Johnson et al., 2001; Wu et al., 2003). A small body of recent research suggests that youth may benefit from less formal programs that are brief, voluntary, and easily accessible (Brown, 2001; Brown et al., 2005; D'Amico et al., 2004; D'Amico & Orlando, 2005). However, very few intervention programs of this type have been developed (Little and Harris, 2003). Thus, while this approach shows promise, the impact of intervention programs that younger teens may choose to attend has not been extensively examined. One such intervention, Project CHOICE, was developed and tested by the PI using NIAAA funding for developmental work (R21AA13284-01). Project CHOICE is the only voluntary intervention that has been tested for middle school youth and our small quasi-experimental study has demonstrated its efficacy in one school setting (D'Amico et al., 2005; D'Amico & Orlando, 2005). The Project CHOICE intervention addresses several critical gaps in the field, including beginning to understand voluntary service utilization among this age group and assessing how this type of program may impact school-wide use of alcohol and other drugs (AOD). The main objective of the proposed 5-year longitudinal study is to build on our initial work by conducting a more rigorous test of Project CHOICE. The study will include 16 middle schools, located in the ethnically diverse Southern California cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Torrance. These schools will be randomly assigned as intervention (n= 8) or control (n = 8). We will first examine individual-level effects by testing whether Project CHOICE affects AOD-related outcomes among students who participate in the intervention. We will then examine school-level effects by testing whether AOD rates among all students in the intervention schools are affected, regardless of participation. We assume that these school-level effects will be due to changes in the school environment (e.g., Project CHOICE advertising, discussion of Project CHOICE among students, changes in social norms). In anticipation of this school-level impact, a secondary objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of who participates in Project CHOICE, as well as how these participants and changes in the school environment may influence the attitudes and behaviors of those who do not participate. This research incorporates a novel methodology for AOD involvement, as it emphasizes personal self-change efforts and natural recovery and is appealing to both using and non-using youth. The work proposed in this application represents the important next step in this line of research: to more critically evaluate Project CHOICE and its potential impact on both school-wide and individual outcomes with a larger population of youth. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/30/2009 |
| TRANSPORTATION, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF | $573,850.00 | Grant |
Highway Planning In Los Angeles County in and near Pasadena, from S
There were 1 sub-recipients, vendors, and/or sub-vendors associated with this. See details |
Federal Highway Administration | 4/24/2009 |
| LOS ANGELES CONSERVATION CORPS | $500,000.00 | Grant | Brownfield Job Training Cooperative Agreements Brownfields Job Training Program | Environmental Protection Agency | 8/31/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $46,200.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Characterizing genes that cooperate with CREB in leukemogenesis. Our laboratory previously demonstrated that CREB is overexpressed in primary human acute leukemia cells compared to normal bone marrow cells. We also showed that transgenic mice that overexpress CREB in myeloid cells developed myeloproliferative disease, but not leukemia. These results suggest that CREB requires additional mutations in the development of acute myeloid leukemia. We sought to identify these cooperating oncogenes using retroviral insertional mutagenesis (RIM). CREB transgenic or wild type mice were infected with the MOL4070LTR retrovirus within 24 hours of birth. These mice were allowed to mature. We observed a shortened latency in the development of AML in CREB transgenic mice infected with virus, compared to wild type mice. Potential genes were identified by reverse PCR, including sox4 and gfi-1. We are currently using ARRA funding to characterize the cooperation of candidate genes with CREB in vitro and in vivo. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/15/2009 |
| THE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES | $400,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The use of pigs as organ donors for human transplantation represents a solution to the escalating shortage of organs that are available for patients with end-stage diseases. Wild type pig organs are hyperacutely rejected, however, by pre-existing natural antibodies directed at the ?Ñ-D-galactosyl-(1?_3)-?Ñ-D-galactoside (gal ?Ñ1,3gal) carbohydrate, which is expressed on pig, cells and absent in humans. Organs derived from gal knockout pigs have been bred as potential donors, but recent studies from several laboratories have shown that although these organs do not undergo hyperacute rejection, they are still rejected within six months. Acute humoral rejection (AHXR) and thrombosis contribute to the demise of these grafts. Anti-non-gal xenoantibodies have been shown to be induced in non-human primates transplanted with gal knockout donor organs, but the specificity, origin and structure of these antibodies has not been determined. Currently available immunosuppressive drugs are ineffective in preventing AHXR. Additional research is needed to determine why acute humoral xenograft rejection occurs, and to define a means to prevent it. Our specific aims propose a detailed and systematic study on the origin and binding specificity of xenoantibodies that still reject genetically-manipulated xenografts in non-human primates transplanted with genetically-modified organs. This work would provide information that is lacking but necessary for the design of a successful approach to preventing xenograft rejection. The experimental samples that we plan to examine in our study have been bred on a gal knockout background and have additional transgenes such as CD39 to prevent thrombosis. We will further determine whether an anti-idiotypic antibody that identifies B cells producing xenoantibodies will prevent AHXR in vivo. This grant proposal will extend our work in the previous grant period in which we defined the structure of immunoglobulin genes encoding xenoantibodies to wild type pig organs in non-human primates and have identified an anti-idiotypic antibody with the ability to define B cells producing xenoantibodes. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/01/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $346,198.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support One of the most challenging problems in molecular design is developing molecules that can bind protein surfaces and block protein-protein interactions. The ability to modulate protein-protein interactions in a directed fashion opens the possibility of probing and controlling biological systems through design. The long- term objective of this proposal is to use in vitro selection experiments to target protein surfaces, exploring fundamental aspects of protein recognition, structure, function, specificity, and catalysis. In vitro genetic approaches currently represent a powerful operational solution to the protein design problem. Previously, the PI has conceived, developed, and implemented mRNA- peptide and protein fusions (hereafter 'mRNA display) to design proteins using in vitro selection experiments. mRNA display provides important advantages relative to other in vitro and in vivo protein design strategies, such as the ability to examine very large libraries (>1013 individual sequences) in the absence of a living cell, with tight experimental control over binding and stringency. In this proposal, we will continue using G-protein linked signaling as a target for ligand design. Our goal is to explore the biophysical chemistry of protein recognition as it pertains to this important signaling pathway. Our specific aims are: 1) To enhance the properties of our G protein and GPCR-directed ligands. 2) To develop peptide and protein ligands targeting the 2-adrenergic (2AR) G protein coupled receptor (GPCR). 3) To explore the function and structure of our GPCR-directed ligands. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/17/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $230,384.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Our broad goal in this grant is to understand mechanisms that underlie female gender bias in the development of a chronic disease called lupus. Specifically, we will investigate whether sex chromosome complement plays a role in conferring susceptibility to this disease. The Supplement grant will accelerate this goal as follows: Aim 1: Determine the expression of genes located on X and Y chromosomes in four-core genotype lupus mice. Aim 2: Determine the role of immune cells in conferring the sex chromosome effect on lupus susceptibility. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/18/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $18,685.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This award provided summer salary support for 2 undergraduate researchers who previously volunteered in the PIs laboratory. Both UCLA undergraduates are pre-med majors and are currently in the process of applying for admission to major medical institutions throughout the country. Both students actively participated in data collection involving the identification of molecular mechanisms by which heat shock protein 72 regulates tissue inflammation and insulin action. Both students performed ex vivo and in vitro studies in cells and tissues from wildtype and HSP72 knockout mice. These student performed real-time quantitative PCR, western analyses, and assays to assess cellular oxygen uptake and insulin action. These students identified that HSP72 is critical for cellular fatty acid oxidation and inflammation repression. In addition they found that mice will a homozygous deletion of HSP72 are hyperinsulinemic, glucose intolerant, insulin resistant, and have increased adiposity. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/13/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $241,644.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This project deals with the causes and mechanisms | National Institutes of Health | 7/17/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $49,103.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The goal of this R01 (NS41574) is to understand the mechanisms that lead to neuronal dysfunction in HD, an inherited, progressive neurological disorder characterized by abnormal dance-like movements (chorea), cognitive disturbances, and disorders of mood, particularly depression. Knowledge of pathophysiological mechanisms is essential for the design of more rational therapies for this disorder. In order to understand these mechanisms, we have been using multiple transgenic mouse models of HD so that we can validate findings in more that one model to insure that outcomes are due to the HD mutation and not uncontrolled variables specific to one mouse strain or unique to a particular model. In our electrophysiological and morphological studies, supported by the parent grant, we demonstrated alterations in glutamate receptor function, intrinsic membrane properties, synaptic cortical inputs, as well as morphological changes in striatum and cortex. The supplement allows us to employ deserving and motivated undergraduate students during the summer months of 2009 and 2010 to perform research directly related to the specific aims of the parent grant. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/26/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $65,849.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Olfactory ensheathing glia (OEG) transplantation was combined with intensive treadmill step training to optimize the maximum functional recovery in adult rats following a complete spinal cord transection (spinal rats). We conducted many more procedures on these spinal rats than originally proposed and the subsequent analyses of these results are time- and resource-consuming. We requested additional technical assistance to accelerate our data analyses. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/25/2009 |
| THE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES | $150,114.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support What is the Problem: The United States has become largely dependent on a foreign workforce. By 2025, more than 50% of all American high school (HS) students will be the children of today?s American minorities?of those, 75% will be Hispanic. Yet only 50% of current Hispanic students graduate with a high school diploma and additional dropout from the educational path occurs in college. Barriers to success are many including lack of career building, extracurricular opportunities such as research summer programs that would provide both academic training and a source of income. Approach: The NIDDK STEP-UP program is a summer research activity where undergraduate students are prepared for a career in science and/or medicine. Funding for additional 5 students, an increase in 20%, is requested through this administrative supplement. The additional students will be selected based on their academic strength and interest in science and/or medicine through a rigorous selection process. They will participate in a 10 weeks long training program to perform a research project relevant to the mission of the NIDDK. Students will participate in career building workshops and scientific lectures. Learning objectives: Students will learn to formulate a hypothesis and test it by actively performing experiments. They will learn to analyze their data and draw correct scientific conclusions. Students will learn to present the data in written and in oral form, thereby learning the intricacies of a professional career in science and/academic medicine. Expected Outcome: It is expected that exposure to a professional scientific environment will promote student?s goal orientation, enhance the trainees efficacy beliefs about their future employment, provide the impetus to enter a career in research, and develop the role models for future minority/disadvantaged students. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/16/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY AUXILIARY SERVICES, INC | $176,018.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Specific Aims and Objectives The specific aims of this administrative supplement are to improve the management and programmatic aspects of the Cal State LA RISE Program. Through these improvements we will increase the pace of research training progress. We propose to do this through four objectives: two will improve management of the program by 1) updating the student data tracking system; and 2) by updating and increasing the utility of the program website. Programmatic aspects of Cal State LA RISE will be improved through: 3) introduction of an intense short course on research techniques and instrumentation, a Biomedical Boot Camp; and 4) enhancing support for the development of student scientific writing skills. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 8/31/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $80,377.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The award will create a position in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics for hiring either a postdoctoral researcher or a highly qualified Staff Research Associate to contribute to the research program on Trypanosome DNA replication proteins. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 8/03/2009 |
| LOS ANGELES, COUNTY OF | $8,000,000.00 | Grant | Airport Improvement Program The primary objective for this project is to reconstruct a portion of the airport apron areas and taxi lanes, as part of a complete rehabilitation of all airport apron areas and taxi lanes. The area consists of approximately 1,200,000 square feet. Appurtenant work will include improvements to the existing drainage system on the south apron, and installation of a new storm drain system on the north apron. Show more... | Federal Aviation Administration | 8/04/2009 |
| LOS ANGELES, CITY OF | $10,832,000.00 | Grant |
Airport Improvement Program Airport development to construct Aircraft Rescue a
There were 3 sub-recipients, vendors, and/or sub-vendors associated with this. See details |
Federal Aviation Administration | 6/12/2009 |
| BECKMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF THE CITY OF HOPE | $20,584.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Currently an important clinical problem in prostate cancer research is predicting the likelihood of recurrence. Our hypothesis is that histology using nanoparticles displaying thioredoxin on tumor sections will improve on the current standard diagnostic methods (e.g. PSA level and Gleason's score) in predicting the likelihood of recurrence. Using this bionanotechnology we have constructed a nanoparticle consisting of a DNA scaffold displaying three copies of the methyltransferase-thioredoxin fusion protein. The DNA scaffold has been modified so as to permit the visualization of the cancer cells using fluorescein. Our preliminary work shows that the nanoparticle displaying thioredoxin binds selectively to LNCaP and MCF-7, but not PC-3, COS-7 and Primary Prostate Epithelial Cells, suggesting that the nanoparticle is selectively targeting certain types of cancer cells. We propose to follow up on these preliminary findings with the following Specific Aims: Specific Aim 1: (i) Generate nanoparticles comprising a Y-junction DNA scaffold displaying three identical methyltransferase thioredoxin fusion proteins (YRII-Trx-F) in quantities necessary for the experiments described in Specific Aims 2 and 3. (ii) Generate and purify thioredoxin labeled directly with fluorescein (Trx-F) as a control. Specific Aim 2: Test the nanoparticle displaying the thioredoxin (YRII-Trx-F) and thioredoxin labeled directly with fluorescein (Trx-F) for their ability to discriminate between various available prostate cancer cell lines: (e.g. LNCaP, PC-3, DU-145, MDA PCa 2b and 22Rv1) while not detecting primary prostate stromal cells, and primary prostate epithelial cells. Specific Aim 3: Test the nanoparticle displaying the thioredoxin (YRII-Trx-F) and thioredoxin labeled directly with fluorescein (Trx-F) determine whether or not the binding to frozen prostate tumor sections can be correlated with Gleason's score and/or recurrence. For comparison, immunohistochemistry will be performed on sections of each tumor sample to evaluate the level of expression of PSMA and AMACR using anti-PSMA antibodies and and-AMACR antibodies. Each diagnostic assay will be analyzed to see if there is a correlation between the Gleason's Sum, antibody binding intensity and fluorescent intensity of the nanoparticles. Our long-term goals are two-fold: First, we hope that our findings will provide a new parameter that can contribute to a nomogram for the prediction of recurrence. Second, the modular design of the nanoparticle allows us to custom design it to target almost any cancer for potential delivery into cells. If the results of this study show that this nanoparticle can specifically target aggressive prostate tumor cells, we could then modify the design for potential delivery of a therapeutic into the cells. Both goals are beyond the scope of the present proposal. Project Narrative Currently our tools for determining who is in danger of having prostate cancer return are not as helpful as they should be, so we cannot follow up with additional treatment until the cancer reappears. We have developed a technology for creating nanoscale (molecule size) particles that can home in on the cancer cells and make them glow. In this proposal we will attempt to determine whether or not the color we see under the microscope will permit us to pick out those cancers that are likely to come back after treatment and help the patients who are likely to come down with the cancer again to take additional action. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/29/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $74,130.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Overview: Although there is consensus that HIV accelerates hepatitis C (HCV) disease in co-infected (HIV+HCV+) patients, studies differ regarding the impact of HCV infection on HIV disease progression. This proposal seeks continued support for our grant HCV and Progression of HIV and HAART Response in Women . During the past 5 years we found that HCV accelerates HIV disease progression and that this is related to immune activation and altered T cell maturation as a result of dual viral infection. Our central hypothesis is that HIV disease progression is impacted by enhanced CD8 activation and altered T cell maturation as a result of HCV viral dynamics and that HAART will not completely reverse this in the setting of ongoing HCV replication. Specific Aims: 1) Determine the relationships among extrahepatic replication of HCV in PBMC, HCV dynamics and HIV disease progression in co-infected HCV viremic women. 2) Longitudinally investigate the relationship of T cell activation/maturation and function and a) HCV quasispecies dynamics and extrahepatic reservoirs. b) Disease progression. 3) Assess the relationship of HCV reservoirs in PBMC and HCV quasispecies dynamics with HIV viral load response (VLR) and rebound post-HAART. 4) Determine the relationship of immune activation and T cell maturation/function with HIV VLR and rebound post-HAART and correlate with extrahepatic replication and quasispecies diversity. Clinical Significance: Our studies thus far find that compared with singly infected women, co-infected women had: a) an almost two-fold increased probability of developing AIDS among women who never had CD4 counts < 200 cells/mm3; b) an increased relative hazard (RH) of AIDS and death at lower HIV RNA levels; c) increased RH of AIDS associated with higher levels of activated CD8+ T cells; they also had d) a 40% prevalence of HCV replication in PBMC which was associated with alcohol use and prior AIDS; and, e) a 3 fold increase in changes in HCV quasispecies among active IDU. These findings support our hypothesis that HCV dynamics contributes to immune dysregulation and the development of AIDS and AIDS-related death. Co- infected women may need to initiate antiretroviral treatment (ART) at lower HIV RNA and higher CD4 count thresholds than is currently recommended, to prevent AIDS/death. Given the many clinical, demographic and behavioral characteristics associated with HIV disease progression, a large cohort is needed. The proposed study will allow us to better define those who may benefit from more aggressive ART.In this study we will determine the relationships among extrahepatic HCV replication in PBMC, HCV dynamics and a) HIV disease progression; b) long-term response to HAART among HIV infected and HIV and HCV co- infected women from the Women's Interagency HIV Study. Further, we will longitudinally investigate the relationship of T cell activation/maturation and function with a) HCV quasispecies dynamics and extrahepatic reservoirs and b) HIV disease progression. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/23/2009 |
| BECKMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF THE CITY OF HOPE | $182,598.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common fatal cancers worldwide, which has a 5-year survival rate of <15%. Significant reduction in the mortality will require successful strategies to diagnose and treat asymptomatic precursor lesions and early stage cancers. The goal of this application is to develop a blood-based screening assay using disease-associated autoantibodies as biomarkers for early stage ESCC in high-risk populations. We have developed a similar test for early detection of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which achieved over 91% sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing stage I NSCLC. Through collaboration with Drs. Sanford Dawsey and Philip Taylor at the NCI, who have led esophageal cancer epidemiologic studies in high- risk regions in China over the last twenty years, we have access to a large number of serum samples from patients at all stages of ESCC and squamous dysplasia, and from high-risk 'normal' individuals. In our preliminary study, we have constructed an ESCC T7 phage-display library from tumor tissues, and have biopanned this library with patient and normal sera to enrich tumor-associated proteins that bind to autoantibodies found only in the cases. We spotted 2000 of these proteins on a two-color fluorescent microarray system that can be used for high-throughput discovery and validation of disease classifiers. Our preliminary testing has demonstrated promising results in detecting ESCC. In this study we will first test our biomarker chips with 100 ESCC and 100 control serum samples, as a training set. Statistical analysis will be performed and classifiers will be generated for discriminating cases from controls. Second, these classifiers will be evaluated in a blind cross-validation for their ability to: 1) discriminate ESCC from non-cancer samples in a separate validation set of 200 ESCC patients and 200 controls; 2) identify esophageal squamous dysplasia, the precursor lesion of ESCC, and early-stage cancers, using samples from 150 patients with and 150 patients without these lesions; and 3) identify asymptomatic patients who will develop ESCC in the future, using prospectively collected samples from 200 such patients who did and 200 patients who did not develop ESCC within 3 years of sample collection. If the results of these studies are promising, we will proceed to clinical protocols in the high-risk regions where we have ongoing collaborations and the infrastructure to perform such studies. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most common fatal cancers worldwide. Reduction of the mortality requires successful strategies for early detection of this disease. The goal of this study is to develop a blood test that can detect early stages of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma using disease associated autoantibodies as biomarkers. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 5/29/2009 |
| TRANSPORTATION, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF | $1,714,361.00 | Grant |
Highway Planning VARIOUS LOCATIONS WITHIN THE COUNTY OF VENTUR , PA
There were 1 sub-recipients, vendors, and/or sub-vendors associated with this. See details |
Federal Highway Administration | 5/06/2009 |
| TRANSPORTATION, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF | $2,479,590.00 | Grant |
Highway Planning ANGELES FOREST HWY., SIERRA HWY.,CROWN VALLEY , PA
There were 1 sub-recipients, vendors, and/or sub-vendors associated with this. See details |
Federal Highway Administration | 6/16/2009 |
| BRENTWOOD BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC. | $10,800.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support American Recovery and Reinvestment Act | National Institutes of Health | 9/17/2009 |
| JOHN WAYNE CANCER INSTITUTE | $2,005,765.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Surgery, Immunology and Immuntherapy of Human Canc | National Institutes of Health | 9/29/2009 |
| THE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES | $79,259.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This supplement application proposes to augment the RO3 Modern Genetic Testing in the Pediatric Critical Care Environment (Upperman, PI) awarded by the NICHD in July 2009. We propose to enhance data collection activities in Phase 1 to include focus groups and interviews with parents/surrogate decision-makers (SDM) of PICU patients during the patient?s admission. This expansion of data collection will provide a more comprehensive assessment of the variables that influence SDM attitudes towards genetic testing and decision- making in the critical care setting. Throughout the development of our proposal we have consulted Dr. Bradley Freeman, an intensivist examining surrogate decision-making in adult ICUs. Our proposed additional data collection is supported by preliminary evidence emerging from the Co-Investigator?s (Iverson) qualitative study of SDM?s of adults in critical care (Freeman, PI, 1R01GM080591-01A2)(see letter of support in RO3 parent grant). The first phase of Freeman?s study engages SDMs in focus groups related to genetics and genetic testing and individual interviews related to SDM decision-making while their loved one is in critical care. From these discussions, there is emerging evidence that the circumstances related to the critical care experience (e.g., severity of condition, clarity of cause and outcome, length of time in the ICU and hospital) may have an impact on comfort with decision-making, trust in providers and understanding how to navigate the ?system? in critical care to the obtain the information they need to feel comfortable with decisions being made about their loved one. This supplement request proposes using similar data collection techniques with parents while their child is in critical care. A deeper understanding of the connection between the context of making decisions in critical care and parents? comfort, stress and trust related to making decisions will have implications to a parents? receptivity to genetic testing of their child in the ICU and how best to support parents to make these decisions. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/28/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $99,180.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Complicated Grief in Older Adults: The Physiology | National Institutes of Health | 9/04/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $145,876.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Assessment of the Benefits and Costs of Volunteerism in Older Adults in the Experience Corps Intervention Trial Social and productive activity are thought to confer salutary benefits in older adulthood through a number of psychosocial, cognitive, behavioral and physiological pathways. The Baltimore Experience Corps (EC) program is a senior volunteer program designed to promote better mental and physical health in older adults through high-intensity volunteerism in public elementary schools. An ongoing trial of the Baltimore EC program (NIA P01 AG027735) is evaluating whether older adults randomly assigned to EC volunteerism show better health profiles following a two-year volunteer period as compared to non-volunteer control participants. As part of a Career Development Award (NIA K01 AG028582) in aging and as a co-investigator of the Psychosocial Outcomes Project of the Baltimore EC Trial, Dr. Tara Gruenewald is investigating the psychological pathways through which EC volunteerism might lead to better health and well-being. An overarching hypothesis is that EC volunteerism promotes positive psychological states, such as a feeling of being useful to others, as well as other indicators of psychosocial well-being, such as feelings of self-efficacy, mastery, and social integration, which in turn promote better physiological, mental, cognitive and physical health. The EC Volunteer trial is currently beginning the final year of trial enrollment. An important observation from our experience with trial volunteers is that although anecdotal reports and observations suggest that the majority of volunteers are greatly benefitting from EC program participation, a subset appear to have more difficulty adjusting to the volunteer role and school environment. Despite a strong desire to serve and be useful, it appears that some older adults nonetheless find service to be somewhat 'stressful' and there is a concern that such stress perceptions and associated psychosocial, behavioral and physiological responses may act to counter some of the hypothesized benefits of program participation. Thus, there is a need to empirically document whether some volunteers experience significant burden in the volunteer role, and to determine the contextual and individual factors associated with both negative and positive volunteer experiences. The current project is designed to measure both the costs and benefits of program participation from the perspective of trial volunteers. This will be accomplished by measuring daily perceptions of burdens and benefits associated with EC participation, as well as a physiological indicator of stress experience, the diurnal pattern of the stress hormone cortisol, at key points during the first year of service (pre-volunteer baseline, end of training, first week, fourth week, and fourth and eighth months). All incoming trial participants randomized to the volunteer arm of the intervention will be invited to participate in this substudy to the main trial and consenting participants will be followed over their first year of service. Key objectives include: (1) Identifying whether EC participation is associated with psychological and physiological costs in some individuals, (2) Determining the individual and contextual factors associated with perceptions of burdens versus benefits in the volunteer role, and (3) Examining whether volunteer-associated burden experience acts to dampen hypothesized mental and physical health benefits of EC volunteerism. The ultimate objective is to use such knowledge to modify volunteer training and volunteer activities so as to maximize benefits of EC volunteerism for older adult volunteers and those they serve. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/18/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES | $98,943.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The specific aims (SA) of the parent grant, K23 A0I066983A explore HBV outcomes in HIV/HBV coinfected individuals including the prevalence of HBV infection and HBV genotypes (SA1), the association between HBV genotype with HBV virologic suppression and HBV resistance (SA2), and the association between HBV and hepatotoxicity in HIV- infected individuals receiving HIV therapy (SA3). The objective of this proposal, to be administered through an administrative supplement, is to determine the prevalence of HBV minority resistance species using clonal analysis in HIV/HBV coinfected individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy after one year after antiretroviral therapy. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/01/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $533,281.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This project is a continuation of a line of investigation we started more than 20 years ago. We then discovered a protein, called NF-KB, that subsequent work has shown to play a key role in inflammation and immunity. Here we propose four lines of investigation(aims) that seek to increase our knowledge of the roles of NF-KB in the inflammatory response. Inflammation is a process that continues for days following an initiating stimulus and NF-KB plays a role throughout: our first aim is to understand the temporal control processes that allow the inflammatory response to unfold in an orderly manner. Our second aim is to probe the role played by an enigmatic regulator of NF-KB responses called B94. It potentiates induction of some genes by NF-KB but there is no mechanistic or physiological understanding of its effects. NF-KB is extensively modified as part of its mode of action: our final two aims are to investigate previously uncharacterized modifications for which we have preliminary indications of importance:methylation and glycosylation. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 7/17/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $407,500.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This project addresses mechanisms that are responsible for formation of the ventricular chamber of the heart during mouse embryonic development. We have advanced a model in which signals secreted from the epicardium promote cell division and morphological organization of the underlying compact zone myocardium. In this application, we propose to pursue the following goals: Specific Aim 1: To define the role of IGF signaling in heart development. Several lines of evidence presented in this proposal indicate that IGF signaling is an important mediator of proliferation in the midgestation heart, although a functional role for IGF signaling in heart development has not been examined previously. In this Aim, we will primarily undertake a phenotypic assessment of mouse embryos in which IGF ligands and receptors are conventionally and conditionally mutated. Specific Aim 2: To define pathways that lead to morphogenic differentiation of the compact and trabecular myocardium under the influence of the epicardium and endocardium. Epicardial and endocardial factors converge on a common set of signaling intermediates to activate proliferation, yet diverge to achieve differential morphogenic outcomes. How the ventricular myocardium becomes partitioned into compact and trabecular compartments is a critical aspect of heart development, yet one that is not well- understood. In this Aim, we address the molecular pathways that result in the selective expression of genes in the compact zone or trabecular myocardium, with the consideration that these are surrogate markers for the larger biological processes of compact vs. trabecular morphogenesis. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project considers how the muscle of the embryonic heart forms and becomes organized. An understanding of these processes may give insight into certain forms of congenital heart defects, and may be relevant to therapies to reverse or treat the pathology of adult heart failure. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 6/04/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $387,114.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This administrative supplement request is for funds to purchase a new bench top flow cytometric analyzer with the ability to detect seven colors of fluorescence from three lasers. The parent grant is to determine how the powerful transcription factor PU.1 is used in T cell development, first how its effects are channeled through a Notch signaling-dependent mechanism, then how it is finally repressed. A central feature of the first aim is to test the abilities of other genes to override the effects of PU.1, in experiments involving transfection with multiple, distinctively marked retro viral vectors. However, these experiments have been held back by the lack of ready access to flow cytometric analyses of more than four colors in our laboratory. Long waiting times for access to the more powerful sorters in the multi-user Caltech Cell Sorting Facility have made progress very slow. Excellent pricing now available on the advanced bench top analyzer brings the multicolor analysis needed by this project within reach. This administrative supplement would dramatically accelerate progress on the original aims of the parent grant. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 8/31/2009 |
| BECKMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF THE CITY OF HOPE | $166,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common childhood malignancy, with a five-year survival rate approaching 80%. We have shown highly significant differences in survival among ethnic and racial groups. The remission rates were comparable among the four ethnic and racial groups (97% to 99%) studied, but the relapse rates were significantly different, resulting in the observed difference in Event-Free Survival (EFS). African-American children had the poorest and Asians the best outcome. The outcome for Hispanics was intermediate between that for Caucasians and African-Americans. Multivariate analysis revealed racial/ethnic background to be independently associated with decreased EFS, even after controlling for known risk factors such as age at diagnosis, high initial white count and chromosomal abnormalities associated with adverse outcomes. Thus, follow-up of this large cohort of 8,447 patients documents that survival rates after ALL are significantly different for children from different ethnic and racial backgrounds. The reason(s) for the observed differences in outcome by ethnicity are not clear. Treatment of ALL requires a maintenance phase of approximately two years composed of oral administration of antimetabolites [6-Mercaptopurine (6MP) and methotrexate (MTX)] in order to achieve durable remissions. Low systemic exposure to oral 6MP during maintenance therapy (represented by red cell antimetabolite concentrations) has been shown to adversely affect prognosis. There is significant inter-patient variability in red cell 6MP metabolite levels that could stem from differences in the rates of absorption, metabolism, or elimination of 6MP, or because of failure to adhere to therapy. We hypothesize that ethnic/racial difference in systemic exposure to 6MP during maintenance therapy, due primarily to non-adherence to 6MP, could explain the observed differences in outcome of childhood ALL by race/ethnicity. We aim to i) determine adherence to 6MP in a cohort of children with ALL from four different ethnic and racial groups (Caucasians, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians) receiving maintenance chemotherapy. Adherence will be assessed by measuring red cell 6MP metabolites (6TGN, MethylTIMP), frequency of 6MP dosing using an electronic pill monitoring system (MEMS), and self report of adherence to 6MP; ii) determine the impact of adherence to 6MP on EFS in the entire cohort studied, after adjusting for known predictors of disease outcome; iii) define a critical level of adherence (measured independently by 6TGN, MEMS, self-report) that has a significant impact on EFS for the entire cohort; iv) using the definition from (iii), describe prevalence of adherence to 6MP by ethnicity; v) describe behavioral and socio-demographic predictors of adherence using the questionnaire data; vi) describe the pill-taking practices in this cohort using the MEMS data; and vii) evaluate the impact of adherence on ethnic/racial difference in EFS. We will control for polymorphisms in TPMT, and other genetic polymorphisms (in transporters, repair enzymes, HPRT, etc.), as well as control for potential differences in disease burden and biology among the ethnic groups. Our overall goal is to conduct a comprehensive study across ethnic groups to elucidate the reasons for the observed differences in survival by race and ethnicity, thus building a framework for appropriate intervention(s) to address this problem in the future. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/21/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $809,215.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This project is to use high-throughput genomic sequencing analysis of histone marks and transcription factor binding sites to track the succession of regulatory changes that underlie multipotent progenitor differentiation into T lymphocytes. The project will characterize the transitions from one stage to the next in terms of genome-wide changes in histone modifications ('epigenetic marks'), changes in RNA polymerase II loading and activity, and changes in comprehensively measured transcript accumulation. The feasibility of this project is based not only on access to extensive Solexa/Illumina sequencing and quantitative informatics analysis, but also on the advent of efficient methods for expanding and isolating primary mouse hematopoietic cells at a series of discrete phases across the transition from stem cell to committed T cell precursor. This system provides unusually advantageous access to cell states in a real, precisely coordinated developmental continuum. As defined by previous work of the applicants, the T-cell developmental sequence includes opportunities to observe both the mechanisms through which T lineage-specific genes are first activated and the mechanisms through which stem cell pluripotency genes and self-renewal genes are programmed for long- term silencing. The project thus offers a novel opportunity for the epigenomics field to test the significance of patterns of epigenetic marking at sites throughout the genome, in light of known trajectories of changing expression of these loci over time. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The genome that is the blueprint for life includes much more than sequences that code directly for proteins. It also includes sequences that are control sites where levels of RNA and protein expression can be regulated. As stem cells develop into mature cell types, for example the blood cells that are produced every day throughout a human life, thousands of genes must be re-tuned in their expression levels to create the new cell identity. This regulation can be extremely sensitive, as small variations can lead to disease. Recent advances help to map where regulatory sequence sites are likely to lie in mammalian genomes, but knowledge of the rules that govern when they are acting have so far lagged behind. What is needed is to bring these new technologies to bear on a well characterized set of mammalian cells caught at various stages in the process of development from a stem cell to a differentiated fate, where the changes across the genome can be followed across time. In this project, we therefore use advanced technology for tracking the action at regulatory sequences as differentiation progresses to understand in detail the genome-wide events that cause a stem cell to develop into a T lymphocyte of the immune system. This system is profoundly important to human health. In this project, we will determine how different types of regulatory events occurring across the genome can explain which type of cell the precursors become, as well as how they avoid being sidetracked into leukemia. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/30/2009 |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $641,495.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This project will generate and validate fourteen strains of mice with fully functional fluorescent mouse nicotinic receptor (nAChR) subunits. These strains will be constructed using the proven and reasonably efficient method of exon replacement via homologous recombination in embryonic stem cells, leading to 'knock-in mice'. In each case, one mGFP and one mCherry allele will be generated, so that strains can be crossed to study receptor assembly with Foerster resonance energy transfer. Fluorescent proteins (FPs) have been successfully integrated into the M3-M4 intracellular loop of most of these subunits (the final two will be verified before funding starts), and these fluorescent subunits are fully functional and correctly targeted in mammalian cell lines. The Caltech group will immediately construct targeting vectors for the alpha3, alpha4, alpha5, alpha6, beta2, beta3, and beta4 FP-labeled subunits. The project will generate embryonic stem cells harboring these subunits, then generate knock-in mice. Further experiments will validate that these strains display nAChRs whose key parameters of expression and function are within a factor of two of the wild type level. Thus, at Boulder autoradiographic and synaptosome-based experiments will be performed on the initial lines to verify faithful expression and function; at Caltech, cellular-level fluorescence quantification will also verify faithful expression and gene dose dependence. Simultaneously, the project will begin to generate congenic strains on the C57Bl/6 background. These mice will be valuable for future studies, for two key reasons which bear on multiple biomedical disciplines. First, evidence is emerging that changes in the level and composition of the nAChRs themselves underlie some components of the responses to chronic exposure to nicotine during nicotine addiction. Changes in the level of the receptors themselves are also thought to underlie two inadvertent therapeutic effects of tobacco use: the inverse correlation between a person's history of tobacco use and his risk of Parkinson's disease (PD), and the seizure-suppressing effects of nicotine use in autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy. Second, SNPs found in two clusters of nAChR subunit genes, and in two other nAChR subunit genes, are associated with nicotine dependence, number of cigarettes smoked per day, 'pleasurable buzz' elicited by smoking, age of tobacco and alcohol initiation, early subjective response to tobacco, 'dizziness' after the first few cigarettes, and lung cancer. Other studies have linked one or both clusters with alcohol and cocaine dependence. Smoking is also clearly associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Time lines and decision points for this research are established, as are procedures for distribution to the research community. It is likely that congenic strains will be available less than a year after the project terminates. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The mice generated in this project will be valuable for future studies, for reasons which bear on several diseases. First, evidence is emerging that changes in the level and composition of the nicotine receptors themselves underlie some components of the responses to chronic exposure to nicotine during nicotine addiction. Changes in the level of the receptors themselves are also thought to underlie two inadvertent therapeutic effects of tobacco use: the inverse correlation between a person's history of smoking and his risk of Parkinson's disease, and the seizure-suppressing effects of nicotine use in autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy. Second, variations found in two clusters of receptor subunit genes, and in two other receptor subunit genes, are associated with nicotine dependence; number of cigarettes smoked per day; 'pleasurable buzz' elicited by smoking; age of tobacco and alcohol;... Please see full award description available at http://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfm. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/25/2009 |
| BECKMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF THE CITY OF HOPE | $159,895.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Almost without exception, patients with localized tumors have better prognoses than patients with metastatic disease. The long-range goal of our studies is to develop safe, effective, systemic treatments for metastatic solid tumors. The basis of the approach described in this application is the use of neural progenitor cells (NPCs) to deliver cDNAs encoding therapeutic transgenes selectively to metastatic tumor loci. We propose to determine whether the tumor-tropic property of intravenously injected NPCs can be exploited to deliver the cDNA encoding a CPT-11-activating enzyme selectively to metastatic tumor sites. We will evaluate whether subsequent administration of CPT-11 to mice with metastatic neuroblastoma (NB) will eradicate micrometastatic disease. Preliminary and published data show that NPCs given by tail vein injection migrate to tumor loci regardless of the anatomic location of the tumors in mouse models. Preliminary data also show that NPCs transduced with replication-defective adenovirus encoding the CPT-11-activating enzyme rabbit carboxylesterase (rCE) express up to 1000-fold higher levels of CE activity than do human normal or tumor cells. The data support the hypothesis that intravenous administration of NPCs encoding rCE and CPT-11 may produce levels of SN-38 at tumor loci sufficient to eradicate residual disease, but minimize toxicity. Efficacy and toxicity studies will be done using esterase-deficient Es1e/SCID mice bearing disseminated NB. Preliminary Data show that NPCs migrate to metastatic NB tumors, and clinical trials indicate that CPT-11 has potential for the treatment of NB. This study is intended to show proof of principle specifically regarding the efficacy of NPC-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (NDEPT) with rCE and CPT-11 for NB. However, preclinical data document that NPCs also migrate to loci of several types of solid tumors such as glioblastoma and breast cancer. Therefore, the data generated may also provide proof of principle for the more general hypothesis that NPCs can be used as effective tumor-specific delivery vectors for therapeutic cDNAs. The described approach might then be adapted to the treatment of other solid tumors by careful choice of appropriate therapeutic transgenes. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 8/31/2009 |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | $788,935.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The University of Southern California (USC) P30 project is directed at recruiting junior faculty members whose research interests are complementary to our goal of enhancing our understanding of the polydisciplinary events shaping craniofacial morphogenesis, their malformations and the use of stem cell biology for their regeneration. These new faculty members will be jointly recruited into the USC School of Dentistry (USCSD) and Keck School of Medicine (KSOM), permitting their access to university wide infrastructural research resources. These resources include technical support core laboratories and full access to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The most important resource we will supply them with is a highly talented, vertically stratified faculty cohort whose interests parallel their own research interests and who are dedicated to mentoring these new colleagues towards a path of independent biomedical research. The leadership of the two USC schools commits to space resources and faculty salaries that will permit our new colleagues to devote greater than 75% of their professional time over the next four years to their scholarship efforts. Year-end goal setting and reporting mechanisms are in place that will provide metrics of performance for these two new colleagues. These metrics will be reviewed and a plan created to enhance their strengths while attenuating any weaknesses as they achieve a path towards tenure and promotion at the University of Southern California. Ultimately, the success of this P30 project is measured by the career success of these two newly recruited faculty members, their integration with the existing distinguished faculty experts and the enrichment and expansion of the craniofacial biology program at USC. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This collaborative project between the University of Southern California (USC) School of Dentistry (SD) and Keck School of Medicine (KSOM) will provide crucial support for the development of junior faculty members and academic programs at the USC and will certainly have a long lasting impact towards the improvement of oral health care for all Americans. Show more... | National Institutes of Health | 9/17/2009 |
| BECKMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF THE CITY OF HOPE | $292,538.00 | Grant |
Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This is a request to purchase a high resolution, high mass accuracy tandem mass spectrometry system for proteomics analyses. The mass spectrometer will be equipped with a nanoflow liquid chromatography system and chip based electrospray interface. The instrument will be installed in the existing City of Hope Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Facility directed by the Principal Investigator, Dr. Terry Lee. The instrument will be used by members of the City of Hope Cancer Center to assist in a number of research projects related to cancer and other diseases. Currently there is one high performance mass spectrometer system within the Facility that is capable of analyzing complex proteomic samples. That system is unable to meet the demand and an additional system will provide the analytical support needed. Additionally, the new system has performance characteristics that are superior to the existing instrumentation particularly with respect to quantitative proteomics analyses. The new system will greatly benefit a number of existing and future research projects. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Mass Spectrometry is an indispensable tool for the characterization of molecules that are the functional units of all biological processes. The requested Q-TOF mass spectrometer provides the capability to identify hundreds of protein components in a single analysis. This instrument will greatly assist City of Hope researchers in their efforts to better methods of diagnosing and treating major diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Show more...
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National Institutes of Health | 5/29/2009 |
| BRENTWOOD BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTIT |