UMKC School of Pharmacy faculty and student researchers in the lab of Simon Friedman, Ph.D., are working to refine a technique for controlling gene expression with light. Dr. Friedman, Associate Professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the School of Pharmacy, recently received a grant through the National Science Foundation Chemistry of Life Processes program to support the research.
The technique is known as Light Activated RNA Interference (LARI) and, according to the researchers, once it is fully refined, it will offer the potential to examine and address questions in a range of biological systems, encompassing numerous areas of research such as developmental biology and tissue engineering.
The UMKC Office of Research and Economic Development has launched a new website.
The new site contains links to the UMKC Office of Research Services (ORS), which supports the scientific, scholarly, and creative endeavors of the faculty and staff at UMKC. The ORS section of the site includes information on the Institutional Review Board (IRB) committees, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), Pre-Award, Post-Award, and the general UMKC Financial Disclosure Form.
The new site also features links to UMKC Economic Development programs and information, including the UMKC Innovation Center and the Office of Technology Transfer. Visit the new UMKC Research and Economic Development site at http://ors.umkc.edu/home.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently sponsored Transition STEM — a veterans’ STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education think tank — through UMKC. The invitation-only event convened national leaders to help veterans with service-connected disabilities transition into post-secondary science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.
The medical journal, Lancet Onclology, has published a commentary by Diane Harper, M.D., Professor in the UMKC Departments of Community and Family Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Informatics and Personalized Health. Dr. Harper’s comments are in response to a study reported in the journal suggesting that bivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine used in the routine vaccination of girls against cervical cancer, also protects against HPV infection that can lead to anal cancer and might prevent a large proportion of anal cancers in women.
In Dr. Harper’s commentary, “Who should be targeted for vaccination against anal cancer,” she addresses ongoing studies regarding the potential benefits of the HPV vaccine for men, noting that “the additional protection against four oncogenic anal HPV types in women increases their benefits from vaccination. For men who have sex with men, HPV vaccination for anal cancer prevention is very cost effective, but, cost-effectiveness analyses for women and for men who have sex with men pivot on the duration of vaccine efficacy. Without duration of efficacy of at least 15 years, cancers will not be prevented for women or men who have sex with men, only postponed.”
“Gardasil is an HPV vaccine that only has evidence of preventing anal cancer in men who have sex with men (MSM); and therefore, general male vaccination in the population is not warranted,” Dr. Harper concludes.
To read the complete commentary, visit http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045%2811%2970237-6/fulltext
Thanks to a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of nearly $20 million, researchers and clinicians from University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) and Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute (MAHI) will collaborate with colleagues from across the bi-state region to create a broad new multidisciplinary translational research network. The five-year grant was awarded through the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program to the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) and will be used to create a regional program called “Frontiers,” which will be administered through the Heartland Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.
“The awarding of this grant is a testament to the strength of the consistent and ongoing collaborations between scientists at UMKC and our academic, clinical and research colleagues in the bi-state region,” said UMKC Chancellor Leo E. Morton. “This opportunity to further combine all of our strengths will translate directly into discoveries and therapies that will advance and improve health care for the people of our region.”
The National Science Foundation (NSF) will sponsor a veterans’ STEM education think tank through the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) next week. The invitation-only event will convene national leaders to help veterans with service-connected disabilities transition into post-secondary science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.
NIH Funding Opportunities NSF Program Announcements