NEWS

UNC receives $5 million federal grant for cell signaling research

Dr. Kendall Harden, professor of pharmacology and the project’s principal investigator, said the study brings together five scientists "who share a common passion but widely different expertise for unraveling biochemical mechanisms that determine how cells respond to hormones, neurotransmitters and growth factors."

The group includes Drs. Channing Der, David Siderovski and John Sondek of the pharmacology department and Dr. Henrik Dohlman of the biochemistry and biophysics department. All are members of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Harden said the project team will apply state-of-the-art biochemical, genetic, biological and structural approaches to gain new insights into key proteins that orchestrate cellular events at the source of diseases as diverse as cancer, heart disease and mental disorders. The research should illuminate new targets for drug therapies.

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The National Institutes of Health has awarded UNC School of Pharmacy faculty member Dr. Anthony Hickey a $1 million grant to research an aerosol vaccination for Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The four-year, $1.04 million grant will allow Hickey, a professor of drug delivery and disposition, to illustrate the advantages of an aerosol TB vaccine. Little research exists into alternative delivery systems such as aerosol.

"This is surprising given the pulmonary route of exposure by which most patients acquire their primary infection," Hickey said. "We know the antigens, but they’ve never been delivered to the lungs."

Hickey’s collaborators on the project represent the UNC School of Medicine: Dr. Miriam Braunstein and Dr. Glenn Matsushima from the department of microbiology and immunology, and Dr. Scott Trasti from the department of pathology and laboratory medicine. Trasti is working on the veterinary pathology of tuberculosis.

It is estimated that, worldwide, 8 million people contract TB, and more than 2 million people die of the disease every year. The research being conducted by Hickey and his collaborators could eventually result in treatments that may lower both infection and mortality rates of TB.

Hickey’s research builds on seven years of work in the development of aerosol treatment. He also is the co-founder and chief scientific officer at Oriel Therapeutics Inc., a company developing breakthrough technology to commercialize a powder inhaler for patients with lung disorders and diseases. Oriel is among a dozen new spin-off companies based on research by UNC faculty.

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UNC’s N.C. Botanical Garden has received a 2002 Conservation Assessment Program grant in the amount of $3,730 to fund an outside evaluation of the UNC Herbarium, a component of the garden located on the main campus.

The assessment, made possible by the Institute of Museum and Library Services-funded and Heritage Preservation-administered grant, will allow professional conservators to spend two days surveying the UNC Herbarium site and three days writing a comprehensive report identifying conservation priorities. The on-site consultation will enable the herbarium – home of 660,000 plant specimens and the largest such collection in the southeastern United States – to evaluate its current collections care policies, procedures and environmental conditions.

Heritage Preservation’s president, Lawrence L. Reger, recognized the N.C. Botanical Garden for "making the vital work of caring for collections and sites a priority at their institution and helping ensure that they are available to present and future generations."

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The UNC Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center has launched a digital image library containing a searchable collection of more than 2,200 walking- and bicycling-related photographs.

The image library, located at www.pedbikeimages.org, allows visitors to download free photos for use in noncommercial projects. The center developed the library in collaboration with Walkable Communities Inc. and the Institute of Transportation Engineers.

In addition to photographs of people walking and bicycling, the image library also includes pictures of traffic-calming devices, engineering improvements communities are using to create safe and attractive walking environments and neighborhoods that have been designed to be conducive for walking and bicycling.

Established in June 1999, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center aims to improve community life through the increase of safe walking and bicycling as a means of transportation and physical activity. The center, housed within the UNC Highway Safety Research Center, serves as a national clearinghouse of information on walking and bicycling.

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Dr. Don Bailey, director of UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, has received an award for his research on mental retardation.

 The American Association on Mental Retardation has presented its annual Research Award to Bailey "for formulations and investigations that have contributed significantly to the body of scientific knowledge in the field of mental retardation."

The award was presented May 30 at the association’s annual meeting in Orlando.

In late 2001, Bailey received a career achievement award from the North Carolina chapter of the association. He was presented the James E. Favell Excellence in Research Award in recognition of his "outstanding research contributions to the benefit of people affected by mental retardation and related developmental disabilities."

The American Association on Mental Retardation is considered the leading professional organization in the mental retardation field. 

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Dr. Laura Linnan, assistant professor in the department of health behavior and health education at the UNC School of Public Health, has been awarded the 2002 Young Investigator Award from the Society of Behavioral Medicine.

Selection is based on a researcher’s achievements in the behavioral medicine field and is limited to those who have held a doctoral degree for seven or fewer years.

Linnan’s research interests include the design, implementation and evaluation of multi-leveled applied interventions projected to reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases in low-income populations and certain minority groups. She has been recognized for the quality of her research, including her work with beauty salon owners and cosmetologists to promote health and reduce cancer risk among their clients and the development of a scale to measure participation in employee health advisory boards.

Linnan, who joined the School of Public Health in 1999, is a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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Dr. Beth Moracco, an assistant professor in the departments of maternal and child health and health behavior and health education at the UNC School of Public Health, has recently been appointed by N.C. Gov. Michael Easley to serve on the North Carolina Domestic Violence Commission.

Moracco studies women’s health and violence prevention, with much of her research focusing on violence against women. Recent projects include studies of female homicide and suicide, origins of fear of violence and choice of self-protection strategies.

Moracco’s appointment to the commission will run through August 2003.

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Three students representing the UNC department of nutrition, housed jointly in the schools of public health and medicine, recently received national recognition for their research.

Linda Hammond recently received the American Society for Clinical Nutrition’s Young Investigator Award. This award was designed to promote interest in clinical nutrition and encourage excellence in research papers for graduate and medical school students.

Xiaowei Chen was one of the five finalists for the same award.

In addition to the Young Investigator Award, Hammond was one of 12 finalists for the American Society for Nutritional Sciences’ Proctor & Gamble Graduate Student Research Award and was awarded the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Minority Travel Award.

Xiaonan Zhu also was named one of 12 finalists for the Procter & Gamble Graduate Student Research Award.

The three students recently presented the results of their research at the meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology meeting in New Orleans.

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News Services contact: Deb Saine at (919) 962-8415