Grant Program: Collaborative Health Sciences Program

This research will study brain and cardiovascular health in transgender adult patients receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy at two timepoints: before hormone therapy begins, and after four to six months of therapy. The goal of the study is to assess links between gender affirming hormone therapy, cardiovascular health and brain structure and function. MRI will be used to analyze brain structure and brain blood flow. Body fat will be assessed by Dual X-ray Absorptiometry and aerobic fitness will be assessed using a treadmill test. This analysis is also relevant to other conditions involving hormone disruptions such as puberty, menopause, pregnancy, aging, postpartum, diabetes and obesity.

Patients with leptomeningeal metastatic disease (LMD), the spread of cancer into the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, can exhibit loss of vision, hearing, speech, and facial movement and sensation. If not treated, LMD will typically cause death within weeks. Current standard treatment for patients with LMD involves radiotherapy that treats LMD and normal tissues of the head and spine. This project will investigate a new therapeutic approach that can more effectively and more safely treat patients with LMD to achieve disease control and improve patient survival while limiting dose to normal tissues of the brain and bone.

This project focuses on developing and testing a new strategy to treat ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is a daunting diagnosis because it is a rapidly progressive and metastatic type of cancer, and most people are diagnosed at a late stage of disease. Researchers will test an approach of using dendritic cells to stimulate patient T cells and induce an anti-tumor immune response in patients with ovarian cancer. This project lays the foundation for potential future clinical trials to test this novel approach to train patients’ own immune cells to find and eradicate their ovarian cancer.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal lung condition where tissue becomes scarred and hardened, and its prevalence in the United States is increasing. Using cutting edge proteomics and bioinformatics technologies and methodologies, researchers aim to better understand how fibrosis happens in order to find ways to reverse it. The project will lay the groundwork for the development of precise therapeutics tailored to combat fibrotic lung alterations.

This project aims to develop a novel treatment for non-small cell lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in the United States and Wisconsin, by using a unique shark-derived antibody. The goal is to improve treatment outcomes for patients who have an abnormal MET protein and a generally worse prognosis. Researchers will focus on creating a highly targeted therapy that combines radiation with this specialized antibody to attack cancer cells more effectively.

Infants born with a rare genetic disorder or birth defect experience high acuity, prolonged hospital stays and a lifetime of health challenges. Molecular diagnosis is key to caring for these infants, and speed is critical. This multidisciplinary team of researchers will use an approach to screening using artificial intelligence and a revolutionary genome sequencing platform to bring state-of-the-art ultra-rapid genome sequencing to infants in hospitals across Wisconsin.

This project aims to address disparities in cancer outcomes by investigating the biology of cancers and the factors that contribute to aggressive cancers or lead to the development of treatment resistance. Researchers will introduce a minimally invasive liquid biopsy testing approach, which is essentially a blood draw, and utilize a new type of testing called fragmentomics to gather more information about a patient’s tumor and patterns of potential treatment resistance or cancer recurrence.

Current burn treatment and care impose significant financial burdens. In Wisconsin, this is the third highest health care cost, after premature newborns and organ transplant patients. Slow wound healing, pain and scarring remain the major complications of burn survivors. To address health equity in burn wound care, this research aims to explore whether photodynamic therapy, a low-cost medical technology that can be performed by a non-specialist, can speed up burn healing. The project is also expected to yield important insights into burn wound healing that can be translated to the treatment of other wound types.

This project explores the effects of puberty blockers and exogenously administered reproductive hormones on rats to better understand their impact on behavior, brain development and reproductive physiology.

This project, titled Non-Invasive Ultrasound Urodynamics to Improve Medical Care for Men with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) in Rural Areas, aims to develop a method to evaluate LUTS using modalities that are currently available in every urology practice. LUTS include increased urinary frequency, urgency and diminished stream which can significantly impact an individual’s quality of life and lead to various medical complications such as urinary retention, infection and renal failure. Multichannel urodynamics (MCUD) has been used to make an accurate diagnosis and distinguish between prostate obstruction and bladder dysfunction. However, the limited availability of MCUD at large medical centers has resulted in men, especially those in rural areas, receiving empirical treatment without accurate diagnostic testing, leading to delays in effective treatment or undergoing unnecessary surgeries.