May 17, 2007

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — The UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC) awarded seven pilot grants ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 to faculty members conducting a variety of innovative research projects, from a new imaging procedure for intraoperative identification of tumors to understanding HPV vaccine disparities in lower socioeconomic communities. http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/ctsc/

The pilot grants are part of a program designed to foster collaborative research and ultimately enable basic science to be translated into new prevention programs or treatments that will be widely available in all communities and for all patients. Total grant funding for this series of awards totals $160,000.

UC Davis is part of a national consortium of academic health centers working on innovative approaches to clinical research in medicine. In October, 2006, the CTSC received $24.8 million in funding over the next five years, with a portion directed to supporting these innovative pilot studies. http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/clinicaldiscipline.asp

The following UC Davis investigators were selected for pilot funding from the Clinical and Translational Science Center. The recipients will work closely with CTSC leadership for additional resources to support their collaborative research programs.

• Laura Marcu, associate professor of biomedical engineering, is working with surgeons in the Department of Otolaryngology to evaluate a novel optical spectroscopy/imaging device for intraoperative identification of tumor vs. normal tissue during surgical resection of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
  
  
• Ramsey Badawi, assistant professor of radiology, is working with others in the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering, and the Division of Rheumatology to develop molecular imaging procedures to separate responders from nonresponders to molecularly-targeted pharmaceuticals in rheumatoid arthritis treatment.
  
  
• Cristina Davis, assistant professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering, is collaborating with physicians in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine to develop a novel, clinic-based device to measure a host of compounds in exhaled breath that will allow clinicians to accurately differentiate patients with asthma from COPD and to gauge when patients are suffering acute exacerbations of their diseases.
  
  
• Joy Melnikow, professor of family and community medicine, is collaborating with a faculty member from the Department of Sociology to conduct focus groups to understand the HPV vaccine needs of low-income, low-literacy parents and their middle school (11-13 year old) daughters to help reduce disparities.
  
  
• Joshua Miller, associate professor of medical pathology and laboratory medicine, is working with others from the Department of Medical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to develop a novel method to replace the Schilling test for the clinical assessment of B12 absorptive capacity.
  
  
• Anthony Urquiza, clinical associate professor of pediatrics and mental health director of the UC Davis CAARE Center, is working with others in the Departments of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, and the Center for Reducing Health Disparities to develop and pilot a Hmong version of an English-based behavioral parenting program that has been shown to be effective in strengthening the bond between parents and children, improving parenting skills and reducing child behavior problems.
  
  
• Mark Underwood, assistant professor of pediatrics, is collaborating with faculty from the Departments of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Viticulture and Enology, and Chemistry, and the Medical College of Wisconsin, on a pilot study in premature infants to determine if components of human milk lead to increased growth versus control infants fed formula.

UC Davis is among the first 12 institutions in the United States, and one of only three in the western region, that are part of the NIH initiative for transforming clinical and translational research. The sites are considered 'discovery engines' for improving medical care by applying scientific advances to real world practice. UC Davis' new center is the academic home for multidisciplinary medical research among the university's many institutional and community partners.