Available Projects
| Mentor | Department | Research Title | Research Description | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nausheen Ahmed | Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapeutics | BCMA therapy in allogeneic transplant recipients: Case series | This is a case series of unique rare patients. | No |
| Radwan Ajlan | Ophthalmology | Retina surgery outcome | Retrospective study _ underrepresented in medicine students are encouraged to apply for this opportunity | Maybe |
| Radwan Ajlan | Ophthalmology | Retina surgery outcome | Retrospective review | Maybe |
| Florence Aslinia | Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Motility | Case reports in Gatroenterology | Be the first or second author om case reports by reviewing the literature, writing the case report and submitting it with guidance from GI faculty | No |
| Carolyn Bates | Pediatrics | Parent Perceptions of Provider Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Weight Guidance during Child Treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia | The medical student will spearhead a research project examining caregiver perceptions of their oncology team's nutrition, physical activity, and weight-related guidance during the first year of pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) treatment. Tasks will include conducting a preliminary literature review, constructing a qualitative data analysis strategy, and taking the lead on qualitative coding with assistance from other lab members. The medical student will summarize findings in an abstract, which will be submitted to a national conference of their choice. Dr. Bates will provide mentorship, oversight, and education related to clinical research throughout the experience. | Maybe |
| Sandra Billinger | Neurology | Cerebrovascular markers and hemodynamic data for diagnosing MCI or AD and predicting disease progression | This project leverages the KU Alzheimer's Disease Research Center's Clinical Cohort where we have successfully enrolled 25 normal controls, 25 MCI and 25 patients with AD. We are conducting follow up visits on these people up to 36 months. We conduct cerebrovascular measures using transcranial Doppler ultrasound, blood pressure and CO2 (nasal cannula) during rest, paced breathing and rest. We collect MRI and amyloid PET scans. Students working on this project would help with cerebrovascular measures, data collection, data entry, data checking in RedCap as this is a multisite study and other duties as needed on the project. This project would be eligible for T32 support with the potential to expand beyond the summer. | Yes |
| Jeffrey Burns | Molecular and Integrative Physiology | Memory Complaints and Cognitive Decline | Analyze longitudinal data from the ADRC Clinical Cohort regarding cognitive complaints and their predictive value for long term cognitive decline. | Yes |
| Mario Castro | Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine | Identifying IL-13 and Cilia-Related Gene Signatures that Predict Clinical Outcomes and Lung Function in Asthma Endotypes | Asthma is a chronic airway disease with reversible airway obstruction, airway inflammation with heterogenous underlying disease pathology. Patients with severe asthma experience airway remodeling characterized by thickening of the airway walls, increased mucin production and subsequent loss of lung function. Genetic studies indicate MUC5AC and IL13 gene expression are increased in T2 severe asthma contributing to measures of airway remodeling. Previous work from utilizing RNA-seq obtained from endobronchial brushes of airway epithelial cells has demonstrated 1) cilia-related genes are decreased in severe asthma including TEK2, SPAG6, FOXJ1, DNALI1, RFX3 with a 5-gene cilia related mean correlating to poor lung function and 2) IL-13 genes increased (IL13RA2, BPIFB1 and MKI67) or decreased (OCLN, MUC5B, SCGB1A1 and BPIFA1) in severe asthma. The odds of having severe asthma increased in individuals with high IL-13RA2, high MKI67 or high BPIFB1 versus those with low gene transcription. The most well defined endotypes are Type-2 (T2) inflammation which includes allergic and eosinophilic asthma as well as non-type-2 inflammation or non-eosinophilic asthma. About 50% of all asthmatic individuals are characterized as having type-2 inflammation defined by allergic symptoms, airway hyperresponsiveness and mucus metaplasia. Type-2 inflammation is driven by type-2 cytokines including IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13 produced by Th2 immune cells, mast cells, basophils, eosinophils, and group 2 innate lymphoid cells. T2 severe asthma contributes to measures of airway remodeling including goblet cell metaplasia, mucociliary dysfunction, subepithelial fibrosis, eosinophilic inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness in humans and mouse models. This project will use various clustering including K-means, statistical and data analysis methods to define various IL-13 and cilia related gene associations with proteomic, clinical variable and lung function analysis to 1) predict outcomes including lung function, exacerbations, and progression of disease as well as 2) identify novel phenotypes within the T2 and non-T2 endotypes of severe asthma. Data analysis will be performed using a combination of machine learning, R, Graph Pad Prism and SAS software. Research will be performed in the laboratory of Dr Castro under the guidance of both Dr Castro and Dr Boomer. The translational research experience will consist of bench to bedside research, clinical and patient exposure, data entry and management, biospecimen procurement, processing and biobanking as well as exposure to a multitude of studies both pharma and NIH, equipment, and diverse personnel. Results will be presented and discussed in weekly lab meetings with a poster presented at a research conference and potential manuscript publication. | Maybe |
| Mario Castro | Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine | Role of Secretory Proteins in the Severity and Endotypes of Asthma-- Sticky Situation | Patients with severe asthma experience airway remodeling characterized by thickening of the airway walls, increased mucin production and subsequent loss of lung function. Previous work from the Castro laboratory has demonstrated evidence of airway remodeling as determined by 1) increased epithelial and laminar reticularis thickening, 2) decreased number of ciliated cells that correlated to asthma severity, 3) an increased quantity of mucin (Muc5AC) goblet cell metaplasia and 4) increased and decreased secretory genes using RNA-seq of endobronchial airway epithelial cells in severe asthma as compared to healthy subjects. Bactericidal/permeability-increasing (BPI)-fold-containing family are a family of secretory proteins highly glycosylated and specifically expressed in the respiratory tract. BPI-family member B 1 (BPIFB1) also known as long palate, lung, and nasal epithelium clone 1 (LPLUNC1) and BPI-family member A 1 (BPIFA1) also known as short palate, lung, and nasal epithelium clone 1 (SPLUNC1) are two splice variants identified in nasal epithelium of various lung diseases including COPD and Asthma. Interesting IL-13 a Th2 type cytokine that induces mucin (Muc5AC) has been shown to regulate SPLUNC1 in nasal epithelium. Additionally, both LPLUNC1 and SPLUNC1 are believed to perform surfactant-like functions in addition to regulating an epithelial sodium channel involved in normal mucociliary clearance and liquid homeostasis, ENaC. Another important secretory protein called CC16 (Uteroglobin) has been shown to be decreased in BAL and Serum of asthmatics. Decreased levels of CC16 in urine and BAL have been associated with poor lung function in children and adults with asthma. CC16 is produced by club cells, not goblet cells, and has important anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties in the lung. The role of IL-13 in CC16 expression and secretion in asthma has not been defined, however, an inverse relationship has been shown in mouse models and humans with asthma. We hypothesized that BPIFB1, BPIFA1 and CC16 are regulated by IL-13 in the lower respiratory tract and contribute to airway remodeling and poor lung function in severe asthmatics. Preliminary data from Dr Castro’s laboratory has detected LPLUNC1 in endobronchial biopsy tissue in conjunction with Muc5AC in severe asthmatics. Muc5B and Splunc detection in endobronchial biopsy tissue has been increased in healthy compared to severe asthmatics. RNA-seq data has suggested that MUC5B and CC16 transcript are inversely correlated to asthma severity while Muc5AC and IL-13 transcript are directly correlated to asthma severity. Laboratory experiments will be performed to determine the 1) role of IL-13 in mediating expression and secretion of these secretory proteins using the hBEC ALI culture system, 2) expression and localization of these secretory proteins in endobronchial biopsy tissue using IHC and IF and 3) levels of these secretory proteins across the severity and endotypes of asthma in BAL, sputum, serum, plasma and urine using ELISA. The project will 1) test the expression of secretory proteins in relation to IL-13, 2) elucidate whether these various secretory proteins are produced and co-localize to the same airway cell type in endobronchial biopsy tissue, and 3) identify the types and localization of secretory proteins expressed in biological fluids to determine if these secretory proteins can be utilized as biomarkers for asthma severity and endotypes in relation to healthy subjects. Data analysis will be performed using a combination of Image Pro 10, Graph Pad Prism and SAS software. Research will be performed in the laboratory of Dr Castro under the guidance of both Dr Castro and Dr Boomer. The translational research experience will consist of bench to bedside research, data entry and management, biospecimen procurement, processing and biobanking as well as exposure to a multitude of studies both pharma and NIH, equipment, and diverse personnel. Results will be presented and discussed in weekly lab meetings with a poster presented at a research conference and potential manuscript publication. | Maybe |
| Mario Castro | Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine | The Mechanism of Action of Dupilumab an FDA Approved Biologic on IL-13 induced Airway Remodeling in Asthma | Patients with severe asthma experience airway remodeling characterized by thickening of the airway walls, increased mucin production and subsequent loss of lung function. Previous work from the Castro laboratory has demonstrated evidence of airway remodeling as determined by 1) increased epithelial and laminar reticularis thickening, 2) decreased number of ciliated cells that correlated to asthma severity, 3) an increased quantity of mucin (Muc5AC) goblet cell metaplasia and 4) dupilumab blocks mucin production and increases cilia production in vitro using the ALI model system. Previous reports have illustrated the importance of type 2 cytokines in the immune response and inflammation in asthma. In particular, the addition of IL-13 to either healthy or asthmatic human tracheal and bronchial epithelial cells (hTECs and hBECs, respectively) has increased the production of mucin and decreased epithelial resistance (TEER) in air liquid interface (ALI) cultures. We propose that the addition of exogenous IL-13 in suboptimal doses will function as a 1) differentiation signal that differentiates healthy and non-severe asthmatic hBECs to severe asthma-like and 2) remodels healthy or non-severe hBEC differentiated epithelium to a severe asthmatic phenotype. Dupilumab, an FDA approved biologic to treat individuals with severe asthma, blocks the common IL-4Rα that IL-13, IL-4, and IL-33 require for downstream signal transduction. This project will take advantage of an in vitro model where primary human bronchial epithelial cells (hBEC) are grown on trans-well inserts then differentiated into a pseudostratified epithelium termed air-liquid interface where the apical surface is air, and the basal surface is media (ALI) mimicking the environment of the lung. These ALI cultures can be used to study airway remodeling in vitro. Addition of Dupilumab to these hBEC ALI cultures will 1) test receptor specificity by blocking the common IL-4Rα that IL-13 requires for downstream signal transduction, 2) elucidate IL-4Rα-independent IL-13 signals that propagate cellular differentiation pathways, and importantly 3) answer whether severe asthmatic hBECs cultures can be restored to a non-asthmatic phenotype in the presence of dupilumab. Airway epithelial cells collected by endobronchial brushes from healthy, non-severe and severe asthmatics will be cultured at ALI and undergo differentiation on trans-well inserts using the Stem Cell PneumaCult commercially available system. Primary hBEC ALI cultures will be treated with low and high doses of IL-13 in the presence and absence of Dupilumab over the course of differentiation and post differentiation. Laboratory assays will include 1) measuring epithelial barrier electrical resistance (TEER) 2) assessing cilia function by Cilia Beat Frequency (CBF) using light microscopy and proprietary software 3) determining the composition of the airway epithelium via immune-fluorescent staining of various receptors (IL-13R, EGFR), cellular markers (Basal, Clara, Occludin/Z0-1), mucin (Muc5AC, Muc5B), secretory proteins (hPLUNC, LPLUNC, CC16), Cilia (α-tubulin, Foxj1) as well as 4) proliferation (Ki67, p-EGF) and apoptosis (TUNEL, Caspase). Data analysis will be performed using a combination of Image Pro 10, Graph Pad Prism and SAS software. Research will be performed in the laboratory of Dr Castro under the guidance of both Dr Castro and Dr Boomer. The translational research experience will consist of bench to bedside research, data entry and management, biospecimen procurement, processing and biobanking as well as exposure to a multitude of studies both pharma and NIH, equipment and diverse personnel. Results will be presented and discussed in weekly lab meetings with a poster presented at a research conference and potential manuscript publication. | Maybe |
| Ronald Chen | Radiation Oncology | Prostate cancer patient outcomes | This is a clinical research project (not laboratory) where students will review patient medical records to collect data on outcomes of prostate cancer patients | No |
| Branden Comfort | General & Hospital Medicine | Assessing symptom burden of post covid patients | Between 10-30% of people who develop COVID go on to develop post covid conditions. At KUMed, the Post COVID Clinic has been seeing patients since January 2021. We are doing a symptom analysis of our patients. | No |
| Branden Comfort | General & Hospital Medicine | Reducing Disparities in Diabetes Control in Black/African American Patients | Black and African American patients have worse control rates for diabetes (A1c < 9%) compared to White and Caucasian patients. In the general internal medicine clinic at KU, 73% of White/Caucasian patients are at goal versus 67% of Black/African American patients. The purpose of this project is to (1) do a formative assessment to learn factors that may contribute to this disparity and (2) develop an intervention based off of the results. | No |
| Branden Comfort | General & Hospital Medicine | Reducing Disparities in Diabetes Control in Latino/Hispanic Patients | Hispanic/Latino patients have worse control rates for diabetes (A1c < 9%) compared to White and Caucasian patients. In the general internal medicine clinic at KU, 73% of White/Caucasian patients are at goal versus 65% of Hispanic/Latino patients. The purpose of this project is to (1) do a formative assessment to learn factors that may contribute to this disparity and (2) develop an intervention based off of the results. | No |
| Branden Comfort | General & Hospital Medicine | Reducing Disparities in Hypertension Control in African American Patients | In the general internal medicine clinic, our White/Caucasian patients achieve higher control rates for hypertension (65%) than our Black/African American patients (56%). The aim of this project is to perform a formative assessment through chart review and focus groups for why this disparity exists and then to develop an intervention. | No |
| Branden Comfort | General & Hospital Medicine | Reducing Disparities in Hypertension Control in Latino/Hispanic patients | In the general internal medicine clinic, our White/Caucasian patients achieve higher control rates for hypertension (65%) than our Latino/Hispanic patients (54%). The aim of this project is to perform a formative assessment through chart review and focus group interviews for why this disparity exists and then to develop an intervention. | No |
| Branden Comfort | General & Hospital Medicine | Reducing Disparities in Influenza Vaccine Rates in Black/African American patients | Influenza is a deadly viral infection that disproportionately afflicts Black/African American patients compared to White/Caucasian patients. One major barrier is the disparity that exists in annual influenza vaccine rates in Black/African American patients (41.2%) vs White/Caucasian patients (51%). The aim of this project is to develop a deeper understanding for barriers to getting influenza vaccines in Black/African American patients by doing a formative assessment in chart review and focus groups. After the formative assessment, the goal is to develop an intervention to reduce this disparity. | No |
| Ann Davis | Pediatrics | Center for Children's Healthy Lifestyles & Nutrition | Our Center (www.chlnkc.org) has a number of multidisciplinary faculty conducting research in all aspects of children's healthy lifestyles, from bench to bedside. The student will interview with the Center Director to learn more about which faculty match best with their interests, and then be assigned to a specific faculty member with whom to develop and conduct an independent project based upon ongoing work on the team. | Maybe |
| Hannes Devos | Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation Science, and Athletic Training | Differential Diagnosis of Parkinsonian Disorders using Virtual Reality Eye Tracking | In Orlosky et al, 2017 (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7829437), we created and showed proof-of-concept of a new Virtual Reality (VR) eye tracker to assist in the differential diagnosis of Parkinsonian disorders. We modified the VR eye tracker with a user-friendly front- and back-end and are applying machine learning algorithms to automatically detect Parkinsonian syndromes. For this Summer project, we look to recruit 10 patients with Parkinsonian syndromes and 10 healthy individuals to test our modified VR eye tracker. The student will be asked to participate in recruitment, data collection, data cleaning, and analyses. There are opportunities for co-authorship on a publication that may stem from this research. | No |
| Navneet Dhillon | Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine | Role of non-coding RNAs in virus associated vascular injury | Differential expression of mRNA and long-noncoding RNAs will be examined in the plasma derived extracellular vesicles from HIV - PAH patients and/or from COVID-19 patients . further the effect of theses vesicles will be tested on pulmonary vascular cells. | Yes |
| Hao Gao | Radiation Oncology | Deep learning application of radiation dose prediction for cancer treatment | Dose prediction can be used to select between different radiation treatment modalities, for which deep learning is a power tool of data mining. This project will evaluate deep learning based dose prediction. | No |
| Hao Gao | Radiation Oncology | Deep learning application of synthetic CT for cancer treatment | Synthetic CT refers to the simulation of CT images using other modalities, such as cone-beam CT and MRI. Because CT is essential for accurate dose calculation, this project will evaluate deep learning based synthetic CT for dose calculation and treatment monitoring of cancer treatment. | No |
| Hao Gao | Radiation Oncology | Deep learning application of target segmentation for cancer treatment | The segmentation or delineation of treatment targets and organs-at-risk is crucial for cancer treatment using radiation therapy. This project will evaluate deep learning based auto-segmentation. | No |
| Hao Gao | Radiation Oncology | Treatment planning studies of proton ARC radiation therapy for cancer treatment | Similar to photon VMAT, proton ARC is a novel radiation therapy (RT) technology that could become a major proton treatment modality in the near future. This project will evaluate proton ARC in comparison with IMPT via treatment planning studies. | No |
| Hao Gao | Radiation Oncology | Treatment planning studies of proton FLASH radiation therapy for cancer treatment | FLASH, the irradiation with ultra-high dose rate, is an emerging radiation therapy technology that can further spare organs-at-risk biologically via the so-called FLASH effect. This project will evaluate proton FLASH in comparison with CONV (IMPT with conventional dose rate) via treatment planning studies. | No |
| Hao Gao | Radiation Oncology | Treatment planning studies of proton minibeam radiation therapy for cancer treatment | Proton minibeam radiation therapy (pMBRT) is a spatially fractionated radiation therapy (SFRT) modality for proton therapy, which can further spare organs-at-risk biologically via peak-to-valley dose ratio optimization. This project will evaluate pMBRT in comparison with IMPT via treatment planning studies. | No |
| Aditi Gupta | Nephrology and Hypertension | Changes in depression, physical function, smell, and serum biomarkers after kidney transplantation | In this project students will learn about the improvement in several factors after kidney transplantation. They will review existing literature, familiarize themselves with the analysis (they are not expected to do the analysis themselves), learn about scientific writing and write manuscripts (with a lot of guidance and help). | Maybe |
| Steve Herrmann | Physical Activity & Weight Management | A Multi-Component Weight Loss Intervention to Improve Outcomes of Total Knee Replacement | Weight loss is recommended prior to Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA), however, there is limited data to support the effectiveness of weight loss to reduce surgical complications/risk and improve functional outcomes. This project will evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a multicomponent weight loss program on TKA outcomes. | Maybe |
| Megan Hiles | General & Hospital Medicine | Virtual Care and Physician Wellness | We will look at how the implementation of a new virtual care clinic impacts quality of care and physician opinions regarding flexibility and autonomy | No |
| Megan Hiles | General & Hospital Medicine | Onboarding as a tool to improve physician wellness | Looking at the impact of a new physician onboarding program on physician wellness | No |
| Jessica Kalender-Rich | Geriatric Medicine | Age Friendly Health System Implementation | The Age Friendly Health System framework centers around the 4M's: What matters most to the patient and then finding ways to optimize their medications, mobility, and mentation to help them reach their matters most. This project will involve data review around this new innovation as it is implemented looking at several data points. | No |
| Jessica Kalender-Rich | Geriatric Medicine | Reducing readmissions through targeted transitions of care work. | Older adults are at higher risk of readmission for a variety of clinical and social reasons. We seek to decrease readmissions through changing clinical protocols and interventions including communication across the continuum of care. | No |
| Liskin Kruse | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | Interpreting amino acid changes for personalized medicine | Doctors can now easily and cheaply order genome sequencing for their patients. However, it remains extremely difficult to determine which of a patein's >10000 amino acid changes are medically relevant. We are carrying out the foundational biochemistry and biophysics experiments in order to, long term, build better computer models that can determine whether an amino acid change will have a medically relevant functional change. | No |
| Eugene Lee | Urologic Surgery | Outcomes of malignant hydronephrosis | Determine the outcomes of patients who undergo urinary diversion due to non-urologic cancer hydronephrosis | No |
| Laura Martin | Population Health | Brain Activation and Exercise | Examine changes in brain activation in reward and decision-making tasks among individuals enrolled in a 9-month exercise program | No |
| Terence McIff | Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine | Antibiofilm characteristics of a novel bone cement for Orthopedic surgical applications. | This project entails growth and evaluation of biofilm on the surfaces of various bone cements. The students will work on various models including the development of an animal model of implant infection. Cell curture experience is desired. | Yes |
| Terence McIff | Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine | Development of novel staple system for the hand. | We have patented a novel type of staple used for fusion and fracture repair. The staples are currently used by several orthopedic implant companies, but we foresee the need for the development of a system for use in hand surgery. The student would work with me to appropriately size and design a set of staples and instruments for hand surgery. Such staples are generally made of memory metals. Research on specific applications for staples in the had and then design variation to meet those specific needs would be our goal. | Yes |
| Terence McIff | Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine | Evaluation of novel Antimicrobial peptides for use in orthopedic surgery. | We have novel peptides that can be delivered by incorporation into bone cement. These are under study and evaluation for toxicity and their ability to be compatible with various types of bone cement. Experience with cell culture is desirable. | Yes |
| Melanie Meister | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Incidence of preoperative bladder testing prior to prolapse surgery | Retrospective chart review | No |
| Melanie Meister | Obstetrics and Gynecology | Incorporation of apical suspension procedure at time of hysterectomy for prolapse | Retrospective chart review | No |
| E Morris | Molecular and Integrative Physiology | Liver energy metabolism in obesity and diabetes | Assess the overall energy state and transcriptional response, particularly mitochondrial and ion channel transcriptional pathways, of the liver to energetic stress in mouse models of obesity and diabetes. | No |
| Peter Niedbalski | Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine | Detecting abnormalities to the pulmonary vasculature using novel MRI methods | Damage to the pulmonary microvasculature is a common feature in a variety of lung diseases, including interstitial lung disease and pulmonary hypertension. However, it is challenging to assess abnormal pulmonary microvasculature non-invasively. Hyperpolarized 129Xe MRI offers the potential to assess these abnormalities non-invasively. During this summer research training, the student will work with Dr. Peter Niedbalski to optimize a method for visualizing microvascular blood flow and apply this technique in patients with pulmonary hypertension. | Maybe |
| Jaime Perales Puchalt | Neurology | Recruiting and serving dementia caregivers via text messages in Kansas City Missouri and surrounding areas via | This is a 6-month program for education and coaching via text message for dementia family caregivers via text messages. | No |
| Joseph Pleen | Neurology | Influence of CYP26A1 on Mitochondrial Function and Alzheimer's Disease Pathological Hallmarks in a Differentiated Neuroblastoma Cell Line | A medical student will knockdown, inhibit, and increase expression of CYP26A1 in a differentiated neuroblastoma cell. They will use Seahorse to determine the influence on mitochondrial functioning and ELISA or Western blot to detect differences in amyloid beta and ADAM10 expression. | Maybe |
| Joseph Pleen | Neurology | The Differential Impact of APOE Genotype on Insulin Treatment and Mitochondrial Dynamics in Neurons Derived from CRISPR Edited Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells | Student will differentiate IPSCs into neurons, treat the cells with insulin, and determine changes in mitochondrial functioning using Seahorse and mitochondrial dynamics utilizing western blot and/or proteomic techniques. | Maybe |
| Lauren Ptomey | Physical Activity & Weight Management | Brain Outcomes with Lifestyle Change in Down Syndrome | This is a project to develop materials for a clinical trial examining the impact of a diet intervention on Alzheimer's Disease Outcomes in adults with Down Syndrome. Student will help with intervention material development, outcome testing, and developing recruitment materials. | No |
| Lauren Ptomey | Physical Activity & Weight Management | A Dyadic Approach for a Remote Physical Activity Intervention in Adults With Alzhiermer's Disease and Their Caregivers | The objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness of 2 intervention delivery strategies for increasing moderate physical activity (MPA), real-time group video conferencing (RGV) vs. enhanced usual care (EUC), in community dwelling adults with Alzheimer's diseases (AD) and their caregiver (dyads) over 18 mos. (6 mos. active, 6 mos. maintenance, 6 mos. no contact). The primary outcome is to compare total MPA (min/wk.), assessed using ActiGraph, in adults with AD from baseline to 6 mos. Secondary aims for the Adults with AD are to compare MPA (min/wk), sedentary time (min/wk.), percentage meeting 150 min/wk. goal, functional fitness, activities of daily living (basic/instrumental), quality of life, residential transitions, and cognitive function across 18 months between RGV and EUC. Secondary aims for the caregivers are to compare total MPA (min/wk.), sedentary time (min/wk.), functional fitness, quality of life, caregiver burden across 18 months between RGV and EUC. | No |
| Kenneth Seldeen | Geriatric Medicine | HIIT@Home, NR-VETS, Bright-VETS | We are seeking assistance in conducting clinical trials. Our trials include an exercise trial (HIIT@home), a nutritional supplement study (NR-VETS), and a sleep aid technology intervention (Bright-VETS). Individuals will assist in administering interventions and assessments as well as conducting biochemical assays using blood and muscle biopsy samples. | Maybe |
| Kenneth Seldeen | Geriatric Medicine | Healthy interventions studies in animals/cell culture | We are seeking individuals to assist in our ongoing and new research projects that seek to identify healthy strategies for aging. Current projects involve High intensity interval training and nutritional supplementation and understanding the role of vitamin D in muscle health and longevity | Maybe |
| Madhulika Sharma | Anatomy and Cell Biology | The role of Notch3 and Notch4 signaling in HIV associated Nephropathy | Activated Notch signaling is associated with worse outcomes in chronic kidney diseases. We have shown that Notch3 and Notch4 are activated in glomerular, tubular and interstitial cells in kidneys of HIV associated nephropathy (HIVAN) individuals and HIVAN animal models. We generated a mouse with Notch4 deletion and found that disease was ameliorated. We observed that Notch4 was associated with increased inflammation in the kidneys but not with the glomerular pathology. When we deleted Notch3 in Tg26 mouse model of HIVAN, a striking improvement in the life span of the mice was observed. In addition, renal function, inflammation and glomerular disease were markedly improved. These findings suggest that Notch3 activation is associated with broad pathological outcomes. We conducted RNA sequencing to determine the underlying mechanism of protection mediated by Notch3 deletion. We found that macrophages were the most effected cell population. We isolated macrophages and found that Notch3 signaling was indeed activated in macrophages of HIVAN mice which contributed to disease progression. We are currently trying to find the cross talk between the kidney epithelial cells and macrophages. We have also generated data which suggests that Notch3 can in fact regulate the transcription of the HIV genes by direct binding to the HIV-LTR promoter. We will now study whether Notch 3 deletion can inhibit this binding. Collaborations with the private company "Genentech" have been developed and a therapeutic Notch3 blocking antibody has been obtained to further our studies. | Maybe |
| Neena Sharma | Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation Science, and Athletic Training | Chronic low back pain and sleep dysfunction: A feasibility study | Sleep dysfunction is a common co-existing issue in individuals with chronic pain conditions, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Prior experimental sleep restriction studies suggest partial or total sleep deprivation leads to new onset of pain, decreased pain threshold, and emotional distress. However, these studies have exclusively tested healthy individuals without sleep dysfunction or pain. It is difficult to draw a strong conclusion based on studies with healthy subjects because the impact of sleep disruption may be different on those experiencing chronic pain or sleep dysfunction. Individuals who already experience chronic pain and or sleep dysfunction may have underlying neural changes and are at greater risk for continuous sleep dysfunctions and further neural changes. Thus, it is critical to evaluate how sleep restriction takes shape in individuals who experience chronic low back pain and mild insomnia (CLBP+I). Testing the feasibility of a partial sleep restriction protocol in individuals with CLBP+I is the first step toward this line of research. We will enroll individuals between ages 30-60 years with CLBP+I (n=20) and age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HCs) (n= 20). Participants in both groups will undergo 5-nights of restricted sleep (20% reduction of their normal reported sleep/night) at home. Standard subjective and objective measures will be used to comprehensively assess sleep and pain (e.g. quantitative sensory testing) throughout the study period. Feasibility will be determined by tracking recruitment, retention, adherence and tolerance to sleep restriction protocol, and adverse events. Group differences will be tested pre-post sleep restriction and across the groups. | No |
| Chad Slawson | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | Characterizing changes in brain development in OGT brain knockout mice. | Student will perform biochemical and physiological characterization of mouse brains with OGT KO. | No |
| Chad Slawson | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | Understanding the role of O-GlcNAc in growth and proliferation | Students will be asked to work with mice, harvest tissue from sacrificed animals and to perform a variety of biochemical assays including mitochondrial purification, western blot, qPCR, and other assays. | No |
| Timothy Smith | Pediatrics | Perspectives on Patient Portal for Patients and Families Screening Positive for Social Determinants | Greater availability of medical documentation by patients facilitated by the 21st Century Cures Act has intersected with screening for social needs and social determinants. Little study has evaluated the perspectives of patients and families on viewing such information in the medical chart via the patient portal. The research will employ focus groups and/or redcap surveys to assess these experiences. | Maybe |
| Timothy Smith | Pediatrics | Utilization of mail-order pharmacy in patients and families with transportation and language barriers to care | Transportation and limited English proficiency represents significant obstacle to prescription completion and compliance. This study attempts to examine the attitudes and experiences of individuals with transportation and language barriers to care in pharmacy services and their interest/ current utilization of mail-order pharmacy services. Spanish- speaking student preferred but not required for language component. | Maybe |
| Timothy Smith | Pediatrics | Career trajectories for Academic Pediatrics Association (APA) Global Health Award Winner | Since 1980, the Academic Pediatric Association (APA) Global Health Award has recognized exceptional research for junior faculty from Lower and Middle Income Countries. Awardees have achieved numerous accolades including national director of heath and chair of pediatrics. The study engages past awardees to understand how impact that the award had on their professional career and will utilize brief interviews and surveys. This opportunity will allow the students to connect with leadership in child global health and the APA, the largest organization for child health researchers in North America. | Maybe |
| Timothy Smith | Pediatrics | Examining patient portal utilization in Spanish- speaking pediatric patients | Followed attitudes and experiences of Spanish- speaking regarding health system patient portal mychart | Yes |
| Jacob Sosnoff | Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation Science, and Athletic Training | Minimizing Fall-Related Injuries in Older Adults | Falls are the leading cause of accidental death and injuries in older adults. This NIH funded project seeks to examine the feasibility of teaching at-risk older adults protective movements to reduce injuries. | Yes |
| Hinrich Staecker | Hearing and Speech | Gene therapy for the treatment of sensorineural hearing loss | My research is focused on the development of treatments for sensorineural hearing loss. We are using a variety of viral vectors to introduce native genes to rescue genetic hearing losses or to apply CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to correct genetic deficits | Maybe |
| John Stanford | Molecular and Integrative Physiology | Trends in Short Term Research Conducted by Medical Students at KUMC | Many medical students engage in research the summer between their M1 and M2 years. The goal of this project is to examine trends in the number of medical students who participate in research at KUMC, the focus of their projects, publication rates, etc. Archived data from the KUMC Student Research Forum will be analyzed. Remove Many medical students engage in research the summer between their M1 and M2 years. The goal of this project is to examine trends in the number of medical students who participate in research at KUMC, the focus of their projects, publication rates, etc. Archived data from the KUMC Student Research Forum will be analyzed. | Yes |
| Felicia Steger | Endocrinology, Diabetes and Clinical Pharmacology | Intermittent Fasting for the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus | A randomized controlled trial comparing two forms of intermittent fasting (intermittent energy restriction and time-restricted eating) to improve glycemic control and weight loss in patients with type 2 diabetes | Maybe |
| Nancy Stewart | Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine | Determining Health Literacy in Insomnia and COPD | We will explore health literacy of patients in the pulmonary and sleep clinics and conduct semi-structured interviews with these patients determining their health literacy level. We will then evaluate current patient education tools on COPD and insomnia for readability and health literacy level. | No |
| Nancy Stewart | Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine | Determining Health Literacy in sleep apnea and COPD | We will explore health literacy of patients in the pulmonary and sleep clinics and conduct semi-structured interviews with these patients determining their health literacy level. We will then evaluate current patient education tools on COPD and sleep apnea for readability and health literacy level. | No |
| Isaac Sundar | Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine | Circadian clock as a key player driving pathophysiology of pulmonary fibrosis | We will utilize in vitro and in vivo models to understand the role of circadian clock during the pathobiology of pulmonary fibrosis | No |
| Isaac Sundar | Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine | Circadian clock dysregulation as a key player driving pathophysiology of obese-asthma phenotype | We will determine if over-nutrition causes circadian clock dysregulation, which in turn augments immune-inflammatory response, mitochondrial dysfunction, and steroid resistance in obese-asthma | No |
| Isaac Sundar | Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine | Food allergen-induced immune dysregulation and circadian disruption in the gut-lung axis | Utilize novel in vitro and in vivo models to determine food allergen-induced immune response, epithelial barrier function and circadian clock disruption in the gut and the lungs | No |
| Isaac Sundar | Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine | Isolation and characterization of extracellular vesicles/exosomes in asthma | We will conduct studies to isolate and characterize EVs from human plasma as well as mouse (plasma, BAL fluid and lung tissues) and validate miRNAs, proteins and lipid biomarkers from humans (normal vs. asthmatics) and mouse model of allergic asthma. | No |
| Isaac Sundar | Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine | Novel circadian clock-based small molecules role in allergen/Th2 cytokine-mediated epithelial barrier dysfunction | We plan to investigate how circadian clock small molecules/drugs can modulated barrier function in vitro in human lung epithelial cells. | No |
| John Thyfault | Endocrinology, Diabetes and Clinical Pharmacology | Sexual dimorphism in susceptibility for fatty liver | Investigate why female livers display enhanced liver mitochondrial function that is associated with protection from fatty liver, but that is removed after ovarian function (estrogen) is lost. | Maybe |
| Irina Tikhanovich | Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Motility | Epigenetic regulation of sex specific pathways in the liver | To investigate the role of H3K4 lysine demethylases Kdm5b and Kdm5c in response to alcohol in liver cells | Yes |
| Irina Tikhanovich | Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Motility | Role of C/EBP beta in maintaining liver function in a mouse model of ACLF. | To examine the mechanisms for acute-on-chronic liver failure development, role of endothelial cell dysfunction and hepatic Cebpb activation | Yes |
| Christopher Ward | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | A new polycystin-2 monoclonal antibody | Analyze a new form of polycystin-2 present in urinary exosomes. | Yes |