Awards/Grants Roundup
Technology Review Names Khademhosseini Top Innovator Under 35
Ali Khademhosseini, MASc, PhD, of the Harvard-MIT Biomedical Engineering Center at BWH, was recognized in the September Technology Review magazine as one of the world’s top innovators under the age of 35. Khademhosseini was honored for his pioneering work in the development of novel tissue engineering and cell culture approaches. Selected from more than 300 nominees, the TR35 is an elite group of accomplished young innovators who exemplify the spirit of innovation in business, technology and the arts.
Goldstein Leads SCOR to Explore Sex/Gender Factors Affecting Women’s Health
BWH is one of 11 institutions in the country to receive a Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) on Sex and Gender Factors Affecting Women’s Health Award by the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health. Funding for these SCORs will total approximately $55 million, which will be distributed among the 11 organizations over five years. The BWH project, lead by Jill Goldstein, PhD, explores fetal antecedents to sex differences in depression and is one of only two specialized centers in New England.
BWH to Lead Meniscal Tear Treatment Trial for Patients with OA
Jeffrey N. Katz, MD, MS, director of the Orthopedic and Arthritis Center of Outcomes Research, along with a team of investigators from BWH and five other centers across the US, was awarded a $2.5 million dollar grant from National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) to lead a multicenter, randomized controlled trial to compare surgical intervention with nonoperative therapy in patients with meniscal tear and osteoarthritis.
The team includes Elena Losina, PhD, co-director of the center; John Wright, MD, lead orthopaedic surgical investigator at BWH; Thomas Thornhill, MD, advisory committee leader; and many other individuals at BWH and the other centers. The other participating clinical sites include Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Hospital for Special Surgery/Cornell and Vanderbilt Medical Center.
Kristal Receives Grant to Study Interaction Between Genes and Diet
Bruce Kristal, PhD, of Neurosurgery, received a four-year, $1.7 million grant from the NIH as part of a trans-NIH initiative to study the interaction between genes and the environment. Kristal’s research focuses on the role of diet, specifically testing how different fats and carbohydrates affect mitochondria.
Though there has been speculation among researchers that nutrition influences mitochondrial activity, there has been little scientific evidence to support this idea. Kristal’s project also addresses diet influence on blood metabolites and proteins, with a long-range interest in disease risk prediction. His other research includes drug development for neuronal injury.
Curhan to Lead Kidney Stone Pathobiology Project
Gary C. Curhan, MD, ScD, of the Renal Division and Channing Laboratory, was awarded an $8.5 million grant by the National Institutes of Health to lead a three-part project that explores the physiological processes, genetic predisposition and gene-environment interactions that affect the overall risk for kidney stone formation.
There is sparse information available on the pathophysiology of kidney stones, or nephrolithiasis. By studying this complex disease from a variety of approaches, Curhan and colleagues from BWH and the Harvard School of Public Health hope to enhance understanding of the pathobiology of kidney stones to develop better prevention strategies for patients.
Other BWH investigators part of this project include Edward Brown, MD, Peter Kraft, PhD, David B. Mount, MD, Martin Pollak, MD, Meir J. Stampfer, MD, DrPH, and Eric Taylor, MD.