GRANT-ed

Our TTUHSC faculty have been busy conducting impactful research. Here is a list of grants awarded in 2018.

Luis Cuello, PhD, associate professor of cell physiology and molecular biophysics, received a Welch Foundation Award of $195,000, for use over a three-year period, to study crystallographic and functional studies on the novel role of water molecules in K+ channel C-type inactivation gating.

Lan Guan, MD, PhD, associate professor of cell physiology and molecular biophysics, received a $420,750 two-year R21 award from the National Institutes of Health to study the recombinant expression and functional characterization of a lysophosphatidylcholine transporter. Guan also received a $1.3 million 4-year R01 award from the National Institutes of Health to elucidate the mechanisms of contransport by an integrated multi-disciplinary approach. The aim is to provide novel and essential structural and functional information for our mechanistic understanding of cation-coupled transporters, which will directly facilitate studies of transporters related to human health and disease; and may help develop novel drugs for the prevention and treatment of a broad range of neurodegenerative diseases.

Brendan Mackay, MD, assistant professor in orthopedic surgery, received a $27,000 award from AxoGen, Inc. for the evaluation of post-operative outcomes in patients following multi-level surgical reconstruction with use of avive soft tissue.

Linda McMurry, DNP, RN, (Nursing ’10, ’04) received $20,000 from March of Dimes for the 2019 Stork’s Nest project, which is a program that offers free services to expecting mothers including the classes and education materials.

Volker Neugebauer, MD, PhD, professor and chair of pharmacology and neuroscience, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Arizona College of Medicine, received a five-year $2.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health Neurological Disorders and Stroke Institute. The funds will be used to study exactly how stress produces pain and how to stop it from occurring.

P. Hemachandra Reddy, PhD, executive director and chief scientific officer of the Garrison Institute on Aging, received a $1.9 million, five-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health Neurological Disorders and Stroke Institute. The grant goes toward Reddy’s research of the protective effects of mitochondria division inhibitor 1 that inhibits excessive mitochondrial division in mouse models of Huntington's disease.

Natalia Schlabritz-Lutsevich, MD, associate dean for research in the TTUHSC at Permian Basin School of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecolory, received a National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research Grant—the first NIH grant awarded to the Permian Basin campus. The $60,917 Phase I grant will be used to develop the first clinical prototype system of a novel hybrid laser optocoustic-ultrasonic medical device for noninvasive evaluation of spatially resolved maps of blood flow and its oxygen content in uterine venous and arterial vascular trees. Winning a Phase I grant qualifies Schlabritz-Lutsevich to apply for a Phase II grant, which is usually up to $1 million over a two-year period.

Vani Selvan, MD, (Resident, ’08) assistant professor in family medicine for TTUHSC at Permian Basin, received a three-year $80,000 from the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas for the Southwest Coalition for Colorectal Cancer Screening Program.