CTRU Announces Seed Grant Awards for FY20

The Georgia CTSA Clinical Research Centers (GCRCs) site at the University of Georgia (UGA), known as the Clinical and Translational Research Unit (CTRU), has recently awarded seed grants to 8 investigator teams to start new clinical and translational research studies using CTRU resources. The CTRU is excited to work with these principal investigators and their studies in the coming year:

  • Benjamin Brainard: Examination of Transmission of Multi-Drug Resistant Gram Negative Bacteria between Companion Animals and Human Owners.
  • Leidong Mao: Microfluidic isolation of clusters of circulating tumor cells from metastatic breast cancer patients.
  • Sheba MohanKumar/P.S. MohanKumar: Sensitive, cost-effective, microfluidics-based assay for detecting breast cancer biomarkers.
  • Jarrod Mousa/Ted Ross: Vaccine-elicited antibody responses to the hemagglutinin protein in HIV-positive individuals.
  • Balazs Rada: Association of autoimmunity with diabetes in cystic fibrosis.
  • Becky Stone: REMEDY (Remote Outpatient Temperature Monitoring for Early Detection of Febrile Neutropenia after Chemotherapy) Study.
  • Gregory Strauss: Mechanisms of Amotivation in Youth at Clinical High-Risk for Psychosis.
  • Janani Thapa: Pilot study on technology-enhanced health coaching intervention for low-income patients with multiple chronic conditions.

Dr. Brainard’s study is a collaboration between Georgia CTSA investigators at UGA and Emory University. Researchers in UGA departments of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery and Infectious Diseases will be working together with researchers in the division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine. The long-term goal of their research is to prevent the spread of multidrug resistant bacteria in the community. By better understanding the exchange of bacteria between humans and pets following a multidrug resistant gram negative bacteria infection and the factors that influence transmission, the research team aims to use these factors to inform infection control practices.