According to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, the National Institute of Health (NIH) funding for the UM Miller School totals $117.6M for 2012. UM has risen 13 spots in just six years and is the only institution in Florida in the top 40. Ten of the UM's top-funded principal investigators ranked in the top 5% nationally.
None of this is accidental. Under the leadership of UM President Shalala and Dean Goldschmidt, the focus has been on research in the fields of heart disease, AIDS, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, cancer, paralysis, and a multitude of other diseases and public health issues. Stem cells, genomics, and robotics are just a few of the tools being used to solve complex questions and changing the way that medical care is delivered.
Top awards:
Jose Szapocznik, Epidemiology and Public Health - $8.42 million
Steven E. Lipshultz, Pediatric Cardiology - $3.86 million
David I. Watkins, Pathology - $3.6 million
Joshua M. Hare, Cardiology and Director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, $2.82 million
Norma Sue Kenyon, Chief Innovation Officer - $2.73 million
Margaret Pericak-Vance, Human Genomics - $2.5 million
Ralph Sacco, Neurology - $2.3 million
Gwendolyn Scott, Pediatrics - $2.16 million
C. Hendricks Brown, Ph.D., Epidemiology - $2.05 million.
Department of Neurological Surgery received $4.2 million in new NIH funding. The department’s W. Dalton Dietrich, the Scientific Director of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and Senior Associate Dean for Discovery Science, received $1.5 million.
Miller School’s NIH Funding Climbs to 38th in the Nation
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Josh Hare - Stem Cells
Breakthrough Stem Cell Trial to Treat Heart Failure
A
When Max Eaton began feeling tired and out of breath last year, he knew what was wrong. The 66-year-old businessman had already had one heart attack and was suffering from heart failure. That’s when he began doing his own research and learned about the groundbreaking stem cell trial being led by Joshua M. Hare, M.D., Louis Lemberg Professor of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division and director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute.
Helical Infusion Catheter, a unique minimally invasive system to inject the cells without surgery.
The groundbreaking clinical trial to treat heart failure with stem cells employs the Helical Infusion Catheter, a unique minimally invasive system to inject the cells without surgery.
In October 2008 Hare started the Transendocardial Autologous Cells in Ischemic Heart Failure Trial (TAC-HFT), the first use of a novel catheter device in the United States in what he calls a “breakthrough procedure.” This is the world’s first stem cell trial comparing two cell populations, bone marrow cells and mesenchymal cells, against placebo.
BioCardia, a biotechnology company based in California, developed the Helical Infusion Catheter system, which is the first catheter with a spiral-shaped needle to deliver the stem cells. This unique design contains several infusion points along the helix, with the goal of providing better retention of stem cells within the damaged tissue. Like other catheters, this minimally invasive method is able to inject stem cells into the heart without the complications of surgery.
Alan W. Heldman, M.D., vice chief for new programs and translational medicine in the Cardiovascular Division, has been using the BioCardia device in preclinical studies for four years. He says it is “incredibly exciting to treat patients with heart failure using a nonsurgical treatment that repairs the heart muscle itself.”
Eaton was the first of eight patients to receive ten injections of bone marrow stem cells, not a placebo, as part of the open label phase of the study. Once the safety and dosage amounts are confirmed, the double-blind Phase I study is set to begin this summer.
A visionary UM scientist hopes to do for proteomics—the study of proteins—what the mapping of the human genome did for genomics.
A visionary UM scientist hopes to do for proteomics—the study of proteins—what the mapping of the human genome did for genomics.
Visualizing Living Systems
Until recently, it wasn’t possible to watch living proteins at work. Yet today, says Akira Chiba, a professor of development and neuroscience in the Department of Biology at the University of Miami’s College of Arts and Sciences, “We can study proteins asthey bind and signal with each other to form complex signaling networks.” The photon-based microscope that Chiba’s colleague Daichi Kamiyama helped design will allow the biologists to study how individual proteins interact with one another in their natural environment—as intact cells that have not been dissected.
Until recently, it wasn’t possible to watch living proteins at work. Yet today, says Akira Chiba, a professor of development and neuroscience in the Department of Biology at the University of Miami’s College of Arts and Sciences, “We can study proteins asthey bind and signal with each other to form complex signaling networks.” The photon-based microscope that Chiba’s colleague Daichi Kamiyama helped design will allow the biologists to study how individual proteins interact with one another in their natural environment—as intact cells that have not been dissected.
These insights are made possible by fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy, which takes three-dimensional images of living tissue at least 50 times faster than anything else previously found in a lab. Kamiyama played a major role in the microscope’s development while working as a researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before joining Chiba at UM as a research assistant professor.
Analyzing Protein Pairs
Chiba notes that he and Kamiyama have used the new microscope “to demonstrate that the binding of two interacting proteins can be visualized directly within the intact brain of a fruit fly. It’s a remarkable achievement that we now propose to repeat for 10,000 different protein pairs in the first 24 months of our project.” UM’s Center for Computational Science will provide memory space and assist in data analysis.
Chiba notes that he and Kamiyama have used the new microscope “to demonstrate that the binding of two interacting proteins can be visualized directly within the intact brain of a fruit fly. It’s a remarkable achievement that we now propose to repeat for 10,000 different protein pairs in the first 24 months of our project.” UM’s Center for Computational Science will provide memory space and assist in data analysis.
By the end of the current project, funded by a $2.6 million NIH stimulus grant, the team hopes to have created a map of protein interactions, shining new light on the dynamics of the molecules of life and transforming the field of proteomics. “Now we have direct access to the protein network,” Chiba says, “and that should help impro
Sunday, June 6, 2010
U of Miami, Seed-One Launch Heat Biologics To Develop Lung Cancer Vaccine, Asthma Rx | Biotech Transfer Week | Biotechtransferweek | GenomeWeb
The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and venture capital firm Seed-One Ventures last week said that they have created a startup company called Heat Biologics to further develop a potential lung cancer vaccine and asthma therapy discovered at the school.
The vaccine, based on the heat shock protein gp-96, is intended as a treatment for non-small cell lung cancer patients, for whom current treatment options are essentially limited to surgery or chemotherapy.
Heat Biologics is currently enrolling patients in a Phase I clinical trial of the vaccine at UM’s Sylvester Comprehensive Care Center, and said that it hopes to receive fast-track designation by the US Food and Drug Administration based on the current dearth of treatment options for NSCLC.
Meantime, the asthma therapy, based on agonists and antagonists of tumor necrosis factor receptor 25, is being considered as an adjunct therapy to increase the efficacy of the NSCLC vaccine, but may also have potential as a standalone treatment for asthma and other autoimmune diseases.
Stem cells turn into seek-and-destroy cancer missiles - life - 04 June 2010 - New Scientist
GENETICALLY modified stem cells are to be injected into the brains of cancer patients, where they will convert an inactive cancer drug into a potent and targeted tumour-killing agent.
Stem cells are strongly attracted towards cancer cells, so it is hoped that as well as homing in on the main tumour, they will also be drawn to secondary growths, or metastases. This will enable higher doses of drug to be delivered to cancer cells while minimising the risk of side effects in the rest of the body.
Read full article here: Stem cells turn into seek-and-destroy cancer missiles - life - 04 June 2010 - New Scientist
Sunday, April 18, 2010
UM Vice Provost for Research
Vice Provost for Research
Chief research officer for the University of Miami, the Vice Provost for Research is responsible for overall policy implementation and coordination of the research activities of the University. Reporting to the Office of Research are the Division of Veterinary Resources, the Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Office, the Office of Research Compliance Assessment, the Office of Research Education and Training, the Office of Research Information Management, the Office of Research Standards, and the Coral Gables and Medical Research Administration Offices. The Vice Provost for Research serves as Chair of the University Research Council, the University Patent and Copyright Committee, the University Compliance Committee, and the Institutional Biosafety Committee, and is the administrative official responsible for the South Campus.
Dr. Richard J. Bookman, Vice Provost for Research
E-mail: rbookman@miami.edu
E-mail: rbookman@miami.edu
Mailing Address: | Street Address: 1400 N.W. 10th Avenue Medical Campus, LC: R64 |
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Fight cancer by picking off cells before they go rogue
Image via Wikipedia
Chemotherapy works by killing off cells that are already cancerous. Until now, attempts at the "chemoprevention" of tumours have not been particularly successful. Because the drugs are used to treat people who don't yet have cancer, only the mildest side effects are acceptable. As a result, the drugs usually only inhibit the growth of precancerous cells, rather than killing them off.
Now Xiangwei Wu, a molecular biologist at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, and his colleagues have found two compounds that kill precancerous polyps in mice. One of these compounds is known to kill cancer cells, the other makes precancerous cells susceptible to the first compound. When injected together, they killed up to 90 per cent of polyps and left normal cells unaffected. The same mixture also killed human intestinal polyps in the lab (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature08871).
If the drugs also kill polyps in people, they could be taken less frequently than drugs that merely inhibit growth, limiting side effects. While a 90 per cent success rate would be poor for chemotherapy, only a tiny fraction of precancerous cells ultimately become malignant. So just reducing their numbers can slash the risk of cancer, says Wu.
Search engines' dirty secret
Search engines' dirty secret - opinion - 06 April 2010 - New Scientist
"IT research firm Gartner estimates Google's data centres contain nearly a million servers, each drawing about 1 kilowatt of electricity. So every hour Google's engine burns through 1 million kilowatt-hours. Google serves up approximately 10 million search results per hour, so one search has the same energy cost as turning on a 100-watt light bulb for an hour."
Monday, April 5, 2010
wikipedia
Biobank
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The database of deCODE genetics,[1] a company in Iceland, is one example of a biobank that is working to realize the potential for large molecular repositories. The United Kingdom Biobank intends to archive the genetic material of 500,000 individuals into a database that hopes to address complex diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, forms of dementia and other conditions. Generation Scotland is creating a predominantly family-based biobank from the Scottish population.[2][3] Howard University's National Human Genome Center announced plans to develop a biobank over the African diaspora.[4] The IMSC is a biobank located in Freiburg, Germany, that collects, preserves, and distributes moss plants. [5]
Contents[hide] |
[edit]Security and storage
Biobanks, like other DNA databases, must carefully store and document access to samples and donor information.[3] The samples must be maintained reliably with minimal deterioration over time, and they must be protected from physical damage, both accidental and intentional. The registration of each sample entering and exiting the system is centrally stored, usually on a computer-based system that can be backed up frequently.[3] The physical location of each sample is noted to allow the rapid location of specimens. Archival systems de-identify samples to respect the privacy of donors and allow blinding of researchers to analysis. The database, including clinical data, is kept separately with a secure method to link clinical information to tissue samples.
Room temperature storage of samples is sometimes used, and was developed in response to perceived disadvantages of low-temperature storage, such as costs and potential for freezer failure. Current systems are small and are capable of storing nearly 40,000 samples in about one tenth of the space required by a −80 °C (−112 °F) freezer. Replicates or split samples are often stored in separate locations for security.
One controversy of large databases of genetic material is the question of ownership of samples. To date, Iceland has had three different laws on ownership of the physical samples and the information they contain. Current Icelandic law holds that the Icelandic government has custodial rights of the physical samples themselves while the donors retain ownership rights. In contrast, Tonga and Estonia give ownership of biobank samples to the government, but their laws include strong protections of donor rights.
JANUARY 9, 2010
Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Contact: Sharon F. Terry, President
Email: sterry@geneticalliance.org
Phone: 202.966.5557 x201
http://www.gabiobank.org/
Email: sterry@geneticalliance.org
Phone: 202.966.5557 x201
http://www.gabiobank.org/
Executive Summary
The Genetic Alliance BioBank, a centralized, registry and sample repository that enables translational genomic research, was founded in 2003 by leaders in the disease research advocacy field. It was based on a proof of concept, single condition bank that has operated with excellent outcomes since 1995. It operates as a cooperative venture, extensible and responsive to the needs of the nonprofits engaged in the endeavor. The BioBank provides infrastructure for disease advocacy organizations to pursue sophisticated, novel research collaborations with academia and industry to develop new diagnostics and therapeutics to better understand and treat disease.
Our Vision: We revolutionize access to information and resources to enable translation of research into services while empowering participants to make informed decisions.
Our Product: We provide registry and biorepository solutions for advocacy organizations to catalyze research for treatments.
The BioBank performs the following key functions:
- Provides clinical data collection system with customizable, web-based interface for participant data entry. Controlled SNOMED vocabulary and minimum data sets provide enhanced data mining opportunities.
- Provides web-applications for ease of sample and data management by the member advocacy organization.
- Provides state-of-the-art storage facility and systems for collection, processing, archiving and distributing biological samples. Offers a la cart genetic and genomic analysis.
- Provides training and mentoring to disease advocacy organizations by experts in BioBanking1 and templates for all necessary documents and protocols.
- Provides tools for disease advocacy organizations to recruit participants to the BioBank, using state-of-the art methods that emphasize trust, privacy protections, data security, empowerment of participants and the member advocacy groups, and ongoing education.2
- Provides a robust and dynamic process for informed donor decision-making, leading to truly informed consent, tailored to specific uses of the samples and related information.
- Provides a robust data mining system for querying and visualizing donor statistics and samples for cohort development.
- Facilitates collaboration between advocacy organization, academic, government and industry partners.3
The BioBank is governed by representatives of the participating disease advocacy organizations and experienced outside directors from a variety of disciplines. At present, seven foundations participate in this cooperative research consortium, banking more than 10,000 samples and thousands of clinical records. The BioBank collects, stores and distributes samples in accordance with the procedures and specifications determined by the Genetic Alliance BioBank´s Advisory Committee and approved by the Genetic Alliance BioBank´s Institutional Review Board, exceeding the requirements of all applicable federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations. The BioBank has received a Certificate of Confidentiality from the National Institutes of Health. The Genetic Alliance Board of Directors oversees the fiscal management and annual audit.
Selected Achievements:- Gene discoveries for PXE5-8 and CFC9
- PXE licensed a diagnostic10 and is proceeding to genomic and chemical studies
- National Psoriasis Foundation Challenge Grant Award
- HAEA to use infrastructure for adverse event reporting to FDA
The BioBank develops solutions for disease advocacy organizations to catalyze research4 in an efficient and accelerated manner, ultimately bringing therapies for genetic diseases closer to realization and creating a new research paradigm.
Genetic Alliance BioBank is a program of Genetic Alliance. For more information, visit www.biobank.org.
Genetic Alliance BioBank Advisory Board
Sharon F. Terry, MA, President, Genetic Alliance and PXE International
Liz Horn, PhD, MBI, Director, Genetic Alliance BioBank
Owen Johnson, CEO, Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation
Joan Scott, MS, Genetics and Public Policy Center
Patrick F. Terry, PXE International and Technic Solutions
Sharon F. Terry, MA, President, Genetic Alliance and PXE International
Liz Horn, PhD, MBI, Director, Genetic Alliance BioBank
Owen Johnson, CEO, Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation
Joan Scott, MS, Genetics and Public Policy Center
Patrick F. Terry, PXE International and Technic Solutions
PUT IT IN THE BIOBANK
One part of the hunt starts in a nondescript building in west London, where volunteers line up to reveal their innermost secrets. While many have given blood before, this time they are donating their DNA and medical records, both past and future, to a vast experiment that will track them to the grave.
It sounds Orwellian. Yet volunteers checking into UK Biobank -- backed by the government and the Wellcome Trust -- are keen to participate in something that might help their children or grandchildren.
This age group, 40 to 69 years, has been chosen because the volunteers won't keep researchers waiting too long before developing interesting conditions such as cancer, arthritis, diabetes, heart disease and dementia.
So far some 450,000 Britons have signed up, consenting to have their DNA sequenced and their health tracked, anonymously, through the National Health Service.
The target of 500,000 should be reached around July, by which time the project's giant freezer facility in northern England will have the equivalent of two road tankers worth of frozen blood samples.
Principal investigator Dr. Rory Collins says it is only by doing such large-scale sampling that scientists can uncover how lifestyle factors interact with a long list of rare genetic variants to cause common diseases.
"If you are looking for the effect of lots and lots of different genetic variants that are producing modest effects and they're interacting with a lot of non-genetic factors, then you need to be able to do studies that are very, very big," he said. "It's only just now that the technology allows those experiments to be done."
China, Sweden and other countries have also set up biobanks but the British one is the most comprehensive in terms of the number of factors studied. Organizers hope it will go beyond what earlier biobanks produced -- like one in Iceland that helped create gene-hunting firm Decode Genetics.
Working out of a glass-and-steel building on the outskirts of Reykjavik, Decode's scientists have peppered the scientific literature with reports on common DNA variants linked to schizophrenia, cancer and other diseases by trawling the country's genetic heritage, which has changed little since the Vikings arrived more than 1,000 years ago.
Understanding a few of the pieces of the gene puzzle, however, was not enough to shore up Decode's ailing business and the former Nasdaq-listed company filed for bankruptcy protection last November. It re-emerged as a private business in January.
Decode was one of a number of biotech start-ups that rode the first wave of genomics, offering the technological tools needed to understand the links between genes and diseases. Many fell by the wayside after just a couple of years -- but not all.
Human Genome Sciences Inc is one that finally looks set for prime time. Its shares have skyrocketed since last year, when it reported unexpectedly strong data from a trial of its experimental lupus drug Benlysta.
Last March the company was trading as low as 45 cents; now its shares hover around $30. If approved, the drug, which is being developed in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline Plc, would be the first new treatment for lupus, a serious immune system disease, in more than 50 years.
Genetic Alliance BioBank has the following technical components along with an integrated biorepository.
TRIMS Registry The TRIMS implementation for GABB is an Application Service Provider (ASP) model hosted and maintained by Gene Logic. TRIMS is a centralized data repository for annotation data (clinical and experimental), sample source and handling information, processing and quality assurance (QA) information, as well as inventory and process flow data. All clinical, demographic, and experimental data management and sample registration/accessioning occur in TRIMS. TRIMS also provides tracking, data query, report generation, and process management functions. TRIMS currently supports more than 185,000 records with thousands of standard fields and unlimited customizable fields for the collection of clinical information. TRIMS uses SNOMED, from the College of American Pathologists, as the controlled vocabulary for classification of disease and sample morphology. TRIMS also uses internal standards for controlling the quality and consistency of entered data including use of drop-down pick lists, flexible units translation, and field data type restrictions among others. Further, the system administrator can control and modify many of these attributes for particular fields to tailor the acceptable input values. TRIMS is built on industry-standard architectures based on COTS application platforms. The application software utilizes J2EE architecture, Microsoft Visual Basic, and an Oracle database with a robust baseline database schema that is readily extensible and customizable to accommodate various data and interface requirements. It uses Sun Enterprise™ or Sun Fire™ server hardware for high-reliability and scalability. Online Clinical Questionnaire System GABB TRIMS system provides member organizations the ability to implement customized Web-based questionnaires for the collection and management of participant clinical data. This secure system has administrative and end-user functionality. Member organizations administer the questionnaires and have secure access to the application where they can register questionnaire users, request a user to fill out a questionnaire by sending a request e-mail, and review, approve, or reject completed questionnaires. End-users can be participants, providers, parents, or any other designated third party. Users have secure access to the questionnaire application where they can consent to complete the questionnaire, directly navigate to specific pages or sections, and complete the questionnaire partially or fully. Multiple answer types are supported including free text, drop-down lists and check boxes. Data checks exist for consistency by page and dependency for the entire questionnaire, and data is saved to the database every time the user leaves the page. Users can review the data by section, mandatory questions, unfilled questions or the complete questionnaire before submitting the questionnaire. Action Request System Once a participant has been consented, they are eligible to donate a sample or data to the BioBank. The Action Request System is their first point of entry. The Action Request System is utilized to request that an action be performed by the Gene Logic biorepository personnel, such as sending out sample collection kits to donors or sending biological samples to authorized investigators. The Action Request System provides Web-based, secure access to the application for participant registration and is administered by the member organization´s designated representative. The participant´s name, contact information, and the type of kit requested (if a sample will be collected) are entered. This triggers Gene Logic to accession the participant into TRIMS and send the kit, with customized instructions for sample collection, to the participant. Once the sample donation is complete (in most cases a blood draw by a phlebotomist, nurse or physician), the kit is returned to Gene Logic by a prepaid Fed Ex mailer. Each kit comes with all necessary components and instructions. Arrangements can be made to ship multiple kits (e.g. for patient outreach events). Kit shipment and receipt can be tracked within the Action Request System. The Action Request System also has secure activity logging and provides summary reporting for all distribution activities (collection kits and samples) as well as for billable events, inventories and accounting. Data Mining Capabilities The Genesis Enterprise System Software data mining software provides GABB members with extensive search capabilities tailored to the clinical and experimental data stored in the TRIMS warehouse. It provides access to the sample annotations for clinical, medical, family history, and experimental information that accompanies each donor and sample registered in TRIMS. The Genesis Sample Query Tool is used to select criteria, query the clinical database and select cohorts or sets of samples with specific characteristics using any of the hundreds of clinical and experimental attributes contained in the database. Genesis provides a collaborative, secure environment that incorporates integrated visualization tools that allow users to examine clinical data and sample attributes simultaneously and perform a wide variety of analyses. The system enables the easy creation and management of a large number of sample sets and storage and sharing of the analysis results for ongoing investigations. Genesis has secure, administrator-controlled access permissions and automated workflow templates for managing end-user access and enterprise sharing of analyses and data. This tool allows the researcher to fully customize the layout and presentation of results, findings and analyses in order to aid in the discovery of critical and valuable information. Integrated Centralized Biorepository Gene Logic´s Biorepository is responsible for receiving and accessioning all incoming samples. The Biorepository provides shipping, receiving and handling services for all biological samples. Processes and procedures have been established to ensure compliance with domestic and international regulations and guidelines and to ultimately ensure that all samples are handled in a manner that will preserve the quality of the material both in transit and at Gene Logic. To date, this department has successfully handled more than 185,000 biological samples. The Biorepository has worked with over 150 sites to accrue tissue, RNA and DNA of interest. Sites must have evidence of IRB approval and comply with all relevant confidentiality regulations. Chain of Custody and Audit Tracking Gene Logic provides chain of custody information and audit tracking for all processes described above. The TRIMS system includes a fine-grained hierarchy of authentication with users, groups, permissions and roles. Information in TRIMS has an owner and a permission object with a user´s privileges verified prior to displaying or changing a data point. The Online Clinical Questionnaire System provides authentication, has secure activity logging, and provides summary reports for all distribution activities (collection kits and samples) as well as for billable events, inventories, and accounting. A site administrator creates users and groups and establishes roles and permissions. Authentication logs are maintained to show changes to permissions and access as well as to all data fields. |
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Science Daily - Next decade offers promise for treatment of spinal cord injuries
Read Full Article: spinal cord injuries
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
