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U of L researchers get federal grants for spinal cord research
By BRUCE SCHREINER
Associated Press Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. --Elizabeth Fust was part of a crowd Monday honoring
University of Louisville researchers who won $4.7 million in federal
grants. For Fust, the ceremony was more personal, knowing she might
someday benefit from the search for new spinal cord injury treatments.
Fust, paralyzed from the waist down since a spinal cord stroke two
years ago, said the highly sought grants show cutting-edge research
is taking place in her hometown.
"I'm thrilled that I don't have to go somewhere else in the
country ... to see this science come to fruition," the 40-year-old
lawyer said in an interview.
The university said three separate grants from the National
Institutes of Health will go for research at the Kentucky Spinal Cord
Injury Research Center, part of U of L's medical campus. The studies
will examine cell-based and drug-based therapies for spinal cord
damage.
In a time of tight budgets, winning the NIH grants shows that U of L
is "competing against the very best institutions and medical centers
across the country, and we're competing well," U of L President James
Ramsey said.
Ramsey also used the announcement to tout the "Bucks for Brains"
program, which matches public money with private donations to attract
top researchers to Kentucky universities. Some U of L researchers in
the NIH-backed spinal cord research were lured by the program.
As state lawmakers in Frankfort confront a massive budget shortfall,
Ramsey urged them to "be creative" in finding ways to fund research
at Kentucky's public universities. He noted that a portion of court
costs are used for a research fund for spinal cord and head injuries.
Public universities and community colleges would share in the deep
budget cuts being proposed by Gov. Steve Beshear in the face of
sagging revenues and spiraling hikes in the cost of Medicaid and the
state's prison system. U of L's portion of the proposed cuts would
total $25 million.
Beshear has proposed $60 million for "Bucks for Brains," and U of L's
share would be about $16 million, Ramsey said. U of L would like even
more money for its top budget priority, Ramsey said, but the amount
proposed "is important to keep the program moving forward."
U of L officials said the NIH-backed research could help bring
advances in treating spinal cord injuries.
Scott Whittemore, scientific director for the Kentucky Spinal Cord
Injury Research Center, is the lead researcher for a $1.6 million,
five-year grant to continue research on genetically engineered mouse
cells aimed at regrowing myelin. Myelin is the insulation around
nerve fibers that allows them to conduct signals to and from the
brain to the spinal cord and limbs.
One of Whittemore's colleagues, assistant professor Qilin Cao,
received nearly $1.6 million for work to encourage adult stem cells
to regenerate myelin-producing cells in rats and fight the formation
of scar tissue after spinal cord injury.
Theodore Hagg, the endowed chair in neurological surgery, was awarded
more than $1.5 million to study how drugs based on very small
molecules can be used to boost neuron regeneration in adult brains.
Their research could have broader applications beyond treating spinal
cord patients.
Along with the NIH grants, the center also will receive a $300,000
grant from the Kentucky Spinal Cord and Head Injury Research Trust.
Fust said she had to relearn basic tasks after being stricken by a
spinal cord stroke.
"One day I'm perfectly normal practicing law and going to courtrooms,
and the next day I'm paralyzed," she said.
Fust continues to make progress and said she welcomes any advances to
make her more independent. She thinks the work done by U of L
researchers could make that happen.
"Of course we'd all like to return to normal and have normal control
of our bodies, and walk and hike and swim and do all the things we
used to do," she said. "But at this point any functional gain is an
advance."
http://www.kentucky
more:
U of L gets $4.7 million for spinal-cord research
By Laura Ungar
lungar@courier-
The Courier-Journal
Bucks for Brains researchers at the University of Louisville's
Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center have earned three federal
grants totaling $4.7 million that they hope will lead to new
therapies for people with spinal-cord damage and other conditions.
The National Institutes of Health awarded the grants -- which
university officials announced this afternoon -- at a time when
federal funding for such research is shrinking. The researchers will
also receive a $300,000 grant from the Kentucky Spinal Cord and Head
Injury Research Trust.
"Decreased funding at NIH means that these grants to independent
researchers are more competitive than ever," said Scott Whittemore,
scientific director of the center. "That's why we are thrilled to
announce three major grants in such a short time."
Whittemore and Theodore Hagg, two of the researchers who earned
grants, were hired through the state's Bucks for Brains program,
which matches state funds with money raised by universities to build
endowments to pay researchers' salaries. U of L president James
Ramsey said $8.6 million from private donors has been matched by $6
million from Bucks for Brains over the last six years.
"The return on investment now tops $47.1 million," Ramsey said.
In early January, Senate President David Williams said the state
might not be able to put more money into the program. Started by
former Gov. Paul Patton, the program created hundreds of positions,
but legislature stopped appropriating funds after 2003.
Gov. Steve Beshear's budget, which has not yet been approved,
includes $60 million for the program.
University officials said the latest successes of Bucks for Brains
researchers show how valuable the program is.
Whittemore is principal investigator for a five-year, $1.6 million
grant to research using genetically engineered mouse cells to regrow
myelin, the insulation around nerve fibers that allows them to
conduct signals to and from the brain to the limbs and spinal cord.
Qilin Cao, one of Whittemore's collaborators, earned another $1.6
million for research encouraging adult stem cells to regenerate
myelin-producing cells in rats -- which could fight the formation of
scar tissue after spinal-cord injury.
Someday, officials said, Cao and Whittemore's work might lead to a
treatment for multiple sclerosis.
Hagg, endowed chair in neurological surgery, earned more than $1.5
million to examine how certain drugs boost neuron regeneration in an
adult's brain. This could help victims of spinal cord injury as well
as stroke, Huntington's Disease, Alzheimer's disease and Lou Gehrig's
disease.
Read more in tomorrow's Courier-Journal.
Reporter Laura Ungar can be reached at (502) 582-7190.
http://www.courier-
AID=/20080218/
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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