UC Davis awards grants for chronic-disease research - Sacramento Business Journal:

UC Davis awards grants for chronic-disease research
Sacramento Business Journal - 2:49 PM PDT Thursday
by Kathy Robertson
Staff writer

Asthma, hepatitis, lymphoma, tuberculosis and mental health are the focus of the first grants awarded by a newly established research center at the University of California Davis designed to ramp up research on chronic disease and get it to market more quickly.

Six grants of varied amounts totaling almost $200,000 were awarded out of a pilot university fund to get the research going, UC Davis officials announced Thursday.

The grants jump-start local participation in a $100 million annual national research initiative announced early this month by the National Institutes of Health. The goal is to get academic medical centers to share their research and put it to use at the bedside more quickly.

UC Davis will get $24.8 million over the next five years to expand its existing research program and establish the UC Davis Center for Clinical and Translational Research on Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento.

"We aren't wasting any time in getting to work," Ann Bonham, executive associate dean for research and education at the UC Davis Health System said in a prepared statement.

Grants were awarded to the following faculty members at the university school of medicine:

* Nicholas Kenyon is testing whether a natural amino acid can help decrease the intensity of asthma episodes
* Debora Paterniti will share information on ways to reduce disparities in mental health services for minority and rural populations
* Lorenzo Rossaro is testing the safety and effectiveness of using telemedicine to consult with patients with Hepatitis C
* Mark Zern is working on new tools to diagnose a common form of liver disease
* Joseph Tuscano is looking at the potential of a using a cultured soy-shiitaki extract in treating cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and
* Kathryn DeRiemer will continue her work on new methods of tuberculosis diagnosis.

"Moving forward with the pilot projects and funding is key to encouraging unique collaborations among scientists from a variety of disciplines," Jill Joseph, one of two principal investigators at the new center, said in a prepared statement. "We want to set the pace for what is truly an innovative way of advancing healthcare for patients everywhere."