Rhode Island Foundation awards $338K to medical research projects

Updated 9:56 a.m.

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Foundation has awarded $338,000 to 16 medical research projects, seed money that will allow researchers at Brown University, The Miriam Hospital, Rhode Island College, University of Rhode Island, Bradley Hospital and Women & Infants Hospital to attract national funding.

The projects run the gamut from developing data for break-throughs in chronic Lyme disease treatment to determining the impact of healthy diets on diabetes.

The grants are intended to help early-career researchers develop their projects to the point where they can compete for national funding.

“We are grateful that our generous donors provide the crucial source of seed funding that enables local researchers to pursue promising medical advances,” said Neil D. Steinberg, the Foundation’s president and CEO. “Our hope is that their successes will bring about healthier lives as well as a healthier economy.”

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The Miriam Hospital received $16,000 for a project entitled “Defining Chronic Lyme Symptoms and Quality of Life to Develop Future Interventions,” led by research scientist Sara Vargas.

Rhode Island ranks fifth nationally in Lyme incidence at 50 confirmed cases per 100,000 people in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although many patients recover shortly after antibiotic treatment, some continue to experience symptoms such as fatigue, pain and cognitive disruptions for years after initial treatment.

“The search is underway to develop appropriate diagnostic tests and treatments for chronic Lyme; but, in the meantime, patients are suffering with debilitating symptoms. We’ll work with patients at Lifespan’s Lyme Disease Center to generate pilot data that will inform a framework for future behavioral interventions,” Vargas said.

The University of Rhode Island received $25,000 for “Correlations between Dietary Quality of Food Purchases and Diabetes Prevalence,” led by Maya Vadiveloo, assistant professor of nutrition and food sciences.

Diet is a major risk factor attributed to seven of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States, including chronic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.

“Research has not explored the correlation between the dietary quality of household-level food purchases and the prevalence of chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity. Enhancing our ability to understand diet-disease relationships using routinely collected dietary data will enable us to develop appropriate interventions to reduce chronic disease burden in the U.S.,” said Vadiveloo.

The Rhode Island Foundation awarded the following grants:

  • Bradley Hospital was awarded $25,000 for “rTMS (sic) and EF Training for Working Memory Deficits in Adolescent Psychopathology” led by Brian Kavanaugh.
  • Brown University was awarded $25,000 for “NMR Structure and Function Studies on Constituents of Promyelocytic Leukemia Nuclear Bodies” led by Mandar Naik
  • The Miriam Hospital received $25,000 for “Counting Kids; Enhancing Detection of Pediatric Tuberculosis in Ukraine” led by Dr. Natasha Rybak.
  • Rhode Island Hospital received $25,000 for “Novel Diagnostic Approaches to Delirium Detection in Patients with Acute Stroke” led by Dr. Michael Reznik.
  • Rhode Island Hospital received $25,000 for “Role of PKD in Right Ventricular Dysfunction Under Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension” led by Bong Sook Jhun.
  • Rhode Island Hospital was awarded $25,000 for “Challenges in Adolescent Transition to Adult HIV Care” led by Dr. Sabina Holland.
  • The University of Rhode Island received $25,000 for “Novel Biomimetic Inhalable Nanoparticles for Sustained Lung Cancer Drug Delivery” led by Jyothi Menon.
  • The University of Rhode Island received $24,911 for “Digital Electrochemistry: Ion-Selective Nanoparticles for Biomedical Analysis” led by Jiyeon Kim.
  • The University of Rhode Island was awarded $24,914 for “Appropriate Care and Associated Outcomes in Women with Metastatic Breast Cancer” led by Ami Vyas.
  • The University of Rhode Island received $21,743 for “Identification of Extemporaneously Prepared Oral Anticancer Therapy Stabilities” led by Britny Rogala.
  • Women & Infants Hospital was awarded $16,259 for “Improving Obstetric Care to Underserved Rhode Island Women: Expanding the Role of Prison Health” led by Dr. Erin Christine Brousseau.
  • The University of Rhode Island was awarded $12,321 for “Utilization and Adverse Perinatal Outcomes of P2Y12 Agents in Pregnant Women” led by Xuerong Wen
  • The Miriam Hospital received $11,458 for “A Pilot Study Exploring Powassan Virus Prevalence in Rhode Island” led by Dr. Rebecca Reece.
  • Rhode Island College was awarded $11,246 for “Understanding the Effects of Metabolism on Protein Folding and Aggregation” led by William Holmes.

The funding came through 20 endowments at the Foundation that help medical researchers win permanent funding from national sources.

Rob Borkowski is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Borkowski@PBN.com.