University News
$45 Million Headed for Stem Cell Research in California
More than two years after voters approved a $3 billion program to fund stem cell research in California, the state has approved the first grants focused solely on human embryonic stem cell research.
The 29-member Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC), governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), has approved 72 grants totaling approximately $45 million over two years, to researchers at 20 academic and non-profit research centers throughout the state. The grants were selected from among 231 applications totaling more than $138.3 million from 36 California institutions.
Scientific Excellence through Exploration and Development (SEED) Grants were intended to bring new ideas and new investigators into the field of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research, and offer an opportunity for investigators to carry out studies that may yield preliminary data or proof-of-principle results that could then be extended to full scale investigations.
The ICOC voted to name these grants in honor of Leon J. Thal, M.D. Dr. Thal was a professor and chair of the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego. He was one of the world’s leading experts on Alzheimer’s disease and a Governor’s appointee to the ICOC. He died earlier this month when the plane he was piloting crashed
The ICOC originally planned to approve up to 30 grants totaling $24 million in August, 2006, following Governor Schwarzenegger’s authorization of a $150 million loan to CIRM from the state’s general fund. It is slated to approve up to another 25 for $80 million in March, for research conducted by established stem cell scientists.
The grants will fund a broad range of projects, including:
- An attempt to direct hESCs to generate specific types of forebrain neurons and see if they can functionally integrate into cortical circuits (UC San Diego)
- An examination of the role of mitochondria in hESC differentiation (UCLA)
- A study of the role of a specific gene family in “guarding the genome” of hESCs, drawing upon previous research with HIV and other retroviruses (Gladstone Institutes)
- An attempt to identify small molecules that target a specific signaling pathway to support self-renewal or direct differentiation of hESCs, using a chemical genetic approach (UC Riverside)
- Generation of a library of hESC lines that model a number of human genetic diseases (Burnham Institute)
- Development of cutting-edge imaging techniques to view how heart cells derived from hESCs repair and restore myocardial function (Stanford)
- A study of how mutations in mitochondria affect the stability of hESCs and their ability to grow and develop into nerve cells (UC Irvine)
The ICOC approved Leon J. Thal SEED Grants to the following researchers Note the dollar amounts shown are the two-year budgets requested by each applicant and are subject to review and revision by CIRM, prior to the issuance of grant awards:
| Principal Investigator | Institution | Title | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blelloch, Dr. Robert Hector | University of California, San Francisco | MicroRNA Regulation of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Self-Renewal and Differentiation | $631,831 |
| Bredesen, Dr. Dale Eric | Buck Institute for Age Research | Programmed Cell Death Pathways Activated in Embryonic Stem Cells | $734,202 |
| Cashman, Dr. John R. | Human BioMolecular Research Institute | Discovering Potent Molecules with Human ESCs to Treat Heart Disease | $714,654 |
| Chen, Dr. Bin | University of California, Santa Cruz | In vitro differentiation of hESCs into corticospinal motor neurons | $500,000 |
| Chen, Dr. Huei-Sheng Vincent | Burnham Institute for Medical Research | Development of Neuro-Coupled Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Cardiac Pacemaker Cells. | $744,639 |
| Chen, Dr. Irvin S.Y. | University of California, Los Angeles | Genetic modification of the human genome to resist HIV-1 infection and/or disease progression | $642,652 |
| Chien, Professor Shu | University of California, San Diego | Combinatorial Platform for Optimizing Microenvironments to Control hESC Fate | $638,140 |
| Choe, Dr. Senyon | The Salk Institute for Biological Studies | A method to maintain and propagate pluripotent human ES cells | $796,348 |
| Cooke, Dr. John P | Stanford University | EC regeneration in cerebrovascular ischemia: role of NO | $658,125 |
| Duester, Dr. Gregg | Burnham Institute for Medical Research | Retinoic Acid-FGF Antagonism during Motor Neuron Differentiation of Human ES Cells | $759,000 |
| Emerson, Dr. Beverly M. | The Salk Institute for Biological Studies | Regulation of Specific Chromosomal Boundary Elements by CTCF Protein Complexes in Human Embryonic Stem Cells | $678,788 |
| Evans, Professor Sylvia M. | University of California, San Diego | Specification of Ventricular Myocyte and Pacemaker Lineages Utilizing Human Embryonic Stem Cells | $609,999 |
| Feldheim, Dr. David | University of California, Santa Cruz | Assessing the role of Eph/ephrin signaling in hESC growth and differentiation | $499,999 |
| Freeze, Dr. Hudson H. | Burnham Institute for Medical Research | Role of Glycans in Human Embryonic Stem Cell Conversion to Neural Precursor Cells | $759,000 |
| Galic, Dr. Zoran | University of California, Los Angeles | Genetic Enhancement of the Immune Response to Melanoma via hESC-derived T cells | $642,501 |
| Ghosh, Dr. Anirvan | University of California, San Diego | Generation of forebrain neurons from human embryonic stem cells | $612,075 |
| Giudice, Dr. Linda C. | University of California, San Francisco | Human Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation to Trophoblast: Basic Biology and Clinical Translation to Improve Human Fertility | $640,399 |
| Greene, Dr. Warner C. | The J. David Gladstone Institutes | The APOBEC3 Gene Family as Guardians of Genome Stability in Human Embryonic Stem Cells | $777,467 |
| Guo, Dr. Su | University of California, San Francisco | Identifying small molecules that stimulate the differentiation of hESCs into dopamine-producing neurons | $564,309 |
| Hinton, Dr. David R | University of Southern California | Therapeutic potential of Retinal Pigment Epithelial cell lines derived from hES cells for retinal degeneration. | $684,322 |
| Huang, Dr. Ziwei | Burnham Institute for Medical Research | New Chemokine-Derived Therapeutics Targeting Stem Cell Migration | $759,000 |
| Jamieson, Dr. Catriona | University of California, San Diego | Derivation and Characterization of Cancer Stem Cells from Human ES Cells | $642,500 |
| Kay, Dr. Mark A | Stanford University | Novel vectors for gene transfer into human ES cells | $640,642 |
| Khine, Dr. Michelle | University of California, Merced | Micro Platform for Controlled Cardiac Myocyte Differentiation | $363,707 |
| Kovacs, Professor Gregory T. A. | Stanford University | Technology for hESC-Derived Cardiomyocyte Differentiation and Optimization of Graft-Host Integration in Adult Myocardium | $634,287 |
| Kuo, Dr. Calvin Jay | Stanford University | Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells to Intestinal Fates | $578,943 |
| Kurdistani, Dr. Siavash K | University of California, Los Angeles | Cellular epigenetic diversity as a blueprint for defining the identity and functional potential of human embryonic stem cells | $641,047 |
| Lawlor, Dr. Elizabeth R | Children's Hospital of Los Angeles | hESC as tools to investigate the neural crest origin of Ewing's sarcoma | $675,001 |
| Lowry, Dr. William E | University of California, Los Angeles | Modeling Human Embryonic Development with Human Embryonic Stem Cells | $571,575 |
| Lu, Dr. Wange | University of Southern California | Regulation of human neural progenitor cell proliferation by Ryk-mediated Wnt signaling | $668,987 |
| McConnell, Professor Susan K | Stanford University | Optimization of guidance response in human embryonic stem cell derived midbrain dopaminergic neurons in development and disease | $633,170 |
| Murre, Professor Cornelis | University of California, San Diego | Generation of long-term cultures of human hematopoietic multipotent progenitors from embryonic stem cells | $538,211 |
| Oshima, Dr. Robert G. | Burnham Institute for Medical Research | Trophoblast differentiation of human ES cells. | $748,240 |
| Pfaff, Dr. Samuel L. | The Salk Institute for Biological Studies | Gene regulatory mechanisms that control spinal neuron differentiation from hES cells. | $807,749 |
| Pirrung, Professor Michael C | University of California, Riverside | Stem Cell Survival and Differentiation Through Chemical Genetics | $543,987 |
| Ren, Bing | Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research | Mapping the transcriptional regulatory elements in the genome of hESC | $691,489 |
| Robey, Professor Ellen A | University of California, Berkeley | In Vitro Differentiation of T cells from Human Embryonic Stem Cells. | $499,999 |
| Sage, Julien | Stanford University | Functions of RB family proteins in human embryonic stem cells | $520,777 |
| Schultz, Professor Peter G | Scripps Research Institute | A Chemical Approach to Stem Cell Biology | $784,900 |
| Smotrich, Dr. David | Burnham Institute for Medical Research | Generation of hESC lines, under defined conditions, modeling normal & diseased states from material stored at the Burnham shared embryo bank. | $638,000 |
| Teitell, Dr. Michael Alan | University of California, Los Angeles | Role of Mitochondria in Self-Renewal Versus Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells | $635,024 |
| Verdin, Dr. Eric M. | The J. David Gladstone Institutes | Role of HDAC in human stem cells pluripotentiality and differentiation | $790,999 |
| Wandless, Professor Thomas J. | Stanford University | Reprogramming Differentiated Human Cells to a Pluripotent State | $647,681 |
| Weinberg, Dr. Kenneth I | Stanford University | Embryonic stem cell-derived thymic epithelial cells | $658,057 |
| Wu, Joseph C | Stanford University | In Vivo Imaging of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Derivatives and Tumorigenicity | $658,123 |
| Wysocka, Professor Joanna | Stanford University | Role of Chromatin Modifiers in Regulating Human Embryonic Stem Cell Pluripotency | $658,126 |
| Yang, Dr. Phillip Chung-Ming | Stanford University | In Vivo Molecular Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Human Embryonic Stem Cells in Murine Model of Myocardial Infarction | $658,125 |
| Ying, Dr. Qilong | University of Southern California | Self-renewal of human embryonic stem cells | $663,209 |
| Zhang, Dr. Zhuohua | Burnham Institute for Medical Research | Modeling Parkinson's Disease Using Human Embryonic Stem Cells | $758,999 |
| Zheng, Dr. Binhai | University of California, San Diego | Genetic manipulation of human embryonic stem cells and its application in studying CNS development and repair | $642,361 |
| Bertozzi, Professor Carolyn Ruth | University of California, Berkeley | Profiling surface glycans and glycoprotein expression of human embryonic stem cells | $498,409 |
| Cummings, Dr. Brian John | University of California, Irvine | The Immunological Niche: Effect of immunosuppressant drugs on stem cell proliferation, gene expression, and differentiation in a model of spinal cord injury. | $619,223 |
| Daldrup-Link, Dr. Heike E. | University of California, San Francisco | Labeling of human embryonic stem cells with iron oxide nanoparticles and fluorescent dyes for a non-invasive cell depiction with MR imaging and optical imaging | $251,088 |
| Kasahara, Dr. Noriyuki | University of California, Los Angeles | Down-Regulation of Alloreactive Immune Responses to hES Cell-Derived Graft Tissues | $469,219 |
| Kim, Dr. Seung K. | Stanford University | Patient-specific cells with nuclear transfer | $656,074 |
| Laird, Professor Peter William | University of Southern California | Screening for Oncogenic Epigenetic Alterations in Human ES Cells | $685,000 |
| Lane, Dr. Thomas Edward | University of California, Irvine | Human Embryonic Stem Cells and Remyelination in a Viral Model of Demyelination | $425,594 |
| Limoli, Professor Charles L. | University of California, Irvine | Using human embryonic stem cells to treat radiation-induced stem cell loss: Benefits vs cancer risk | $625,617 |
| MacGregor, Dr. Grant R | University of California, Irvine | Production of Oocytes from Human ES Cells | $623,781 |
| Mikkola, Dr. Hanna | University of California, Los Angeles | Improving microenvironments to promote hematopoietic stem cell development from human embryonic stem cells | $577,037 |
| O'Connor, Dr. Timothy R. | City of Hope National Medical Center | Sources of Genetic Instability in Human Embryonic Stem Cells. | $357,978 |
| Procaccio, Dr. Vincent | University of California, Irvine | Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Embryonic Stem Cells | $632,500 |
| Ramalho-Santos, Miguel | University of California, San Francisco | Transcriptional Regulation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells | $618,901 |
| Tlsty, Dr. Thea D. | University of California, San Francisco | Role of the tumor suppressor gene, p16INK4a, in regulating stem cell phenotypes in embryonic stem cells and human epithelial cells. | $639,150 |
| Weaver, Dr. Valerie Marie | University of California, San Francisco | Force, Dimensionality and Stem Cell Fate | $561,082 |
| Willenbring, Dr. Holger | University of California, San Francisco | Induction of pluripotency in fibroblasts by fusion with enucleated human embryonic stem cell syncytia | $342,962 |
| Yamoah, Ebenezer N. | University of California, Davis | Hair Cells and Spiral Ganglion Neuron Differentiation from Human Embryonic Stem Cells | $469,327 |
| Yokomori, Kyoko | University of California, Irvine | Derivation and characterization of human ES cells from FSHD embryos | $632,500 |
| Gao, Dr. Fen-Biao | The J. David Gladstone Institutes | MicroRNAs in Human Stem Cell Differentiation and Mental Disorders | $791,000 |
| Reddi, Professor Hari A | University of California, Davis | hESCs for Articular Cartilage Regeneration | $367,650 |
| Terskikh, Dr. Alexey | Burnham Institute for Medical Research | Analysis of Candidate Neural Crest Cells Derived from Human ES Cells | $759,000 |
| Sauer, Dr. Frank Uwe | University of California, Riverside | Non-coding RNA as tool for the active control of stem cell differentiation | $595,469 |
| Total | 44,8389,926 |
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NIDDK Welcomes Seven New Members to Advisory Council
Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael O. Leavitt has appointed seven new members to the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), an Institute representative announced this week.
NIDDK is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NIH is the federal agency with primary responsibility for funding and conducting biomedical research within the United States.
Established by law and charter, the NIDDK Advisory Council meets three times annually to advise the NIDDK about its research portfolio. The Council typically undertakes broad issues of science policy. Members of the Advisory Council are drawn from the scientific and lay communities, are appointed for four-year terms, and represent all areas within the Institute’s research mission. An important role of the Council is to provide second-level peer review of grant applications that have been scored by scientific review groups. The Council members are an important liaison between the research communities they represent and the NIDDK, which supports each community’s research efforts.
NIDDK Acting Director, Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., M.A.C.P., will chair the Advisory Council meeting on February 21 with the following new members:
Charles O. Elson, III, M.D., is Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Medicine and the Basil I. Hirschowitz Chair in Gastroenterology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Elson’s research interests include the regulation of mucosal immune responses in the digestive tract. This research has implications for the understanding and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, colitis, and Crohn’s disease. Elson joins the Digestive Diseases and Nutrition (DDN) Subcommittee.
James W. Freston, M.D., Ph.D., is the Boehringer Ingelheim Chair of Clinical Pharmacology and Professor Emeritus at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington. Dr. Freston’s research interests include the clinical pharmacology of digestive diseases, including acid-related disorders and drug-induced liver injury. He is a member of the NIDDK-funded National Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network (DILIN). Freston joins the Digestive Diseases and Nutrition (DDN) Subcommittee.
Mark A. Magnuson, M.D., is the Earl W. Sutherland, Jr., Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and Director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. His research interests include the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus, pancreatic beta cell function and development, the use of site-specific recombinases in mice, and directed differentiation of embryonic stem cells. Dr. Magnuson joins the Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases (DEM) Subcommittee.
William E. Mitch, M.D., is the Gordon A. Cain Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Nephrology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. His research interests include the study of metabolic abnormalities associated with kidney disease and the mechanism controlling the loss of muscle mass. His clinical interests include treatment of patients with chronic renal disease and methods for delaying loss of kidney function. Dr. Mitch joins the Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases (KUH) Subcommittee.
Lisa H. Richardson has been a volunteer with the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, Inc. (CCFA) since 1989. The CCFA National Foundation is headquartered in New York City with the mission to cure and prevent Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis through research, and to improve the quality of life of children and adults affected by these diseases through education and support. Ms. Richardson has chaired and served on numerous committees for the Houston Gulf Coast/South Texas Chapter of CCFA, as well as committees for CCFA’s National Board of Trustees, two of which include the Education Advisory Committee and the Research Advisory Committees. She currently serves CCFA as National Emeritus Chairperson of the Board. Richardson joins the Digestive Diseases and Nutrition (DDN) Subcommittee.
Anthony J. Schaeffer, M.D., is the Herman L. Kretschmer Professor and Chairman of the Department of Urology at Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Schaeffer is a leader in the study of urinary tract infections and prostatitis. He is currently Chair of the National Institutes of Health Multi-Site Collaborative Research Project on male chronic pelvic pain syndrome (prostatitis). He is also currently Chair of the Research Council for the American Urological Association. In 1996 he was awarded a National Institutes of Health Merit Award grant from the NIDDK for research on urinary tract infections. Schaeffer joins the Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases (KUH) Subcommittee.
Patrick Tso, Ph.D., is Professor of Pathology, Associate Director of the Cincinnati Obesity Research Center, Director of the Cincinnati Mouse Diabetes Phenotyping Center, and Director of the Center for Lipid and Atherosclerosis Research at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio. His research interests include mechanisms of fat and cholesterol absorption in the digestive tract and the study of food intake regulation by gastrointestinal peptides. He is also studying the role of hypothalamic dysfunction in the development of obesity in Zucker obese rats. Dr. Tso joins the Digestive Diseases and Nutrition (DDN) Subcommittee.
[ FYI Index ]
Princeton’s Tilghman Names Committee to Advise on International Opportunities
Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman has appointed a group of faculty members to advise her on how the university can best respond to the challenges and opportunities in the international arena.
Tilghman has charged the President's Advisory Committee on Internationalization with recommending how to develop a set of strategic priorities as well as "specific measures that will enable the University to fully realize our aspiration to be an American university with a broad international vision."
The committee is chaired by Jeremy Adelman, chair of the Department of History and the Walter Samuel Carpenter III Professor in Spanish Civilization and Culture, and Anne-Marie Slaughter, dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs.
Tilghman has asked the group to look specifically at several questions:
- Under what circumstances should Princeton enter into partnerships with research and educational institutions in other countries?
- When, if ever, should Princeton consider establishing and operating overseas facilities?
- Are there specific University roles or policies that currently create unnecessary barriers to the effective pursuit of international research or educational opportunities?
- What funding mechanisms should the University pursue in order to support international research and educational opportunities on its campus?
- How can the University more effectively promote its reputation abroad?
Tilghman noted that her charge does not include questions about study abroad opportunities for students. A separate effort to expand those programs, approved last fall by the University's Academic Planning Group, already is under way.
She has asked the advisory committee to submit its report by July.
Other members of the group are: Mark Beissinger, professor of politics; Robert Keohane, professor of public and international affairs; Stephen Kotkin, professor of history and director of the Program in Russian and Eurasian Studies; Kai Li, the Charles C. Fitzmorris Professor of Computer Science; Susan Naquin, professor of history and East Asian studies; Katherine Newman, the Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs; Gideon A. Rosen, professor of philosophy, director of the Program in Humanistic Studies and chair of the Council of the Humanities; Daniel Rubenstein, chair and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and director of the Program in African Studies; José Scheinkman, the Theodore A. Wells '29 Professor of Economics; and Yigong Shi, professor of molecular biology.
[ FYI Index ]
Hebrew University Vice President of External Relations, Avi Armoni, Resigns
Vice-President of External Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Avinoam Armoni, has announced his decision to resign in the coming months, after four years in the post.
Since his appointment to the post in 2003, Armoni succeeded in managing the Division for Development and Public Relations and in raising a substantial sum for the university as part of the financial fundraising campaign. Under his management, the division succeeded in reaching the campaign target that began in 1997 and in raising over a billion dollars two years ahead of time.
Hebrew University President Prof. Menachem Magidor expressed his regret over Armoni's decision and said that Armoni has been an excellent vice president for external relations who significantly advanced the activities of the division of external relations at the university, the image of the university and its status among the world's Jewish communal leaders. Armoni said he plans to return to private business.
Prior to this post as Vice President for External Relations, Armoni served as director of the Gilo Family Foundation and the New Israel Fund. Armoni also served as special advisor to the former mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek, and to the prime minister's office, as well as to academic institutions, foundations and the business community.
Armoni will officially leave his post after the Board of Governors meeting in June 2007.
[ FYI Index ]
Oxford Names New Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Planning and Resources
Professor Anthony Monaco, currently Director of Oxford’s Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, is to take up the role of Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Planning and Resources from May 1, 2007.
Dr. Monaco undertook his undergraduate studies at Princeton University and was awarded his MD-PhD from Harvard Medical School, where he was involved in the identification of the gene for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) laboratories, followed by four years as an ICRF senior scientist and head of the Human Genetics Laboratory at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at Oxford University. In 1995 he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship and joined the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics to work on the genetic basis of neurodevelopmental disorders including autism, specific language impairment and dyslexia. He has been Director of the Centre since 1998. He is a Fellow of Merton College.
Monaco will take over from Donald Hay, who has been Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning and Resources) since October 2006. Hay will step down at Easter, and transitional arrangements are currently being discussed.
Professor Monaco will hold the Pro-Vice-Chancellorship for five years.
[ FYI Index ]
Yale Professor Wins Dru Carlson Award for Ultrasound Research
Yale School of Medicine researcher Joshua Copel, M.D., professor in the Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences and Pediatrics, recently received the Dru Carlson Award for Research in Ultrasound and Genetics from the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) at their 27th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
Dr. Copel will also assume the Presidency of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) at its annual meeting in New York in March.
Copel is in the middle of a six-year term on the AIUM Executive Committee: As President-Elect (2005 to 2007) as President (2007 to 2009) and as Immediate Past President (2009–2011). He has also served as treasurer of the AIUM.
Copel, who is also Vice Chair and Director of Obstetric-Gynecologic Ultrasound at Yale, is an expert in high-risk pregnancies, prenatal diagnosis, fetal surgery, amniocentesis and first trimester screening and chorionic villus sampling. Copel’s research aims to increase the number of abnormal babies identified through less invasive and less costly detection methods.
Copel’s research abstract “Prospective Cardiac Monitoring in Fetuses at Risk of Congenital Heart Block: The PR interval and Dexamethasone Evaluation (PRIDE) Study,” at last week’s SMFM meeting won him the Dru Carlson Award. The SMFM program committee presents the award to the abstract with the best ultrasound or genetics research at the annual meeting.
It was established in memory of Dru Carlson, M.D., a member of SMFM who was known for her expertise in ultrasound and genetics research. The Los Angeles physician passed away in 2003 from breast cancer.
The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine is a multidisciplinary association dedicated to advancing the safe and effective use of ultrasound in medicine through professional and public education, research, development of guidelines, and accreditation. The AIUM has promoted the safe and effective use of ultrasound in clinical medicine for 50 years.
[ FYI Index ]
UGA Researcher Receives Grant to Study Risks of Jet Fuel Exposure
A University of Georgia College of Public Health professor has received a $650,000 grant for research that aims to better understand the health risks posed to military personnel and civilians who work with jet fuel.
The grant, from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, allows Jeff Fisher in the department of environmental health science to develop a mathematical model that determines the amount of harmful chemicals present in the body based on a breath test. Fisher will also use rats to determine the levels at which the compounds in jet fuel become harmful.
Fisher said jet fuel exposure is probably the most common chemical exposure to military personnel and civilians working on military bases.
