Lieberman, DeLauro Announces Additional Funding For Yale & UConn Biomedical Research Projects
New Haven, CT – U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman and Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn. -3) announced over $1.6 million for Yale University and the University of Connecticut through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to be put towards biomedical research. The National Institute of Health directs funding to projects that focus on basic research to improve the quality of life and reduce the burdens of illness and disability.
“Yale and UConn are two national leaders in biomedical research, and I am proud that this Recovery Act funding bolsters such important projects and helps our state” said Lieberman. “The work that these universities are doing here in Connecticut impacts the entire country by understanding and treating diseases.”
“Through projects, such as these at Yale and the University of Connecticut,” said DeLauro, “we are able to advance our scientific and medical knowledge of diseases ranging from asthma to breast cancer and osteoporosis. At the same time, we are creating beneficial careers in the fields of science and medicine that will help to stimulate the economy, as well as further America’s leadership in scientific and medical research and improve the overall quality and duration of life.”
“I am very excited to see our work funded. Our lab is investigating the basic mechanisms that allow breast cancer cells to invade and spread into the surrounding tissue. We believe that our studies could lead to novel therapies to block breast cancer metastasis, which is the primary cause of death from the disease,” said Anthony J. Koleske, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and Department of Neurobiology at Yale University.
“Yale is delighted to be the recipient of five additional grants from the Recovery Act funds. The projects funded will contribute greatly to our knowledge in biomedical science, helping to improve patient care while also creating jobs and improving the health of the New Haven economy,” said Robert J. Alpern, M.D., Dean of the Yale School of Medicine.
Specifically, the two Universities will receive recovery funding for the following projects:
Yale University
Regulation of Ivadopodia Formation in Breast Cancer Cells, $309,071: to study an important biochemical pathway in breast cancer called invadapodia, which digests extracellular matrix barriers, allowing tumors to spread through the healthy tissues.
The Role of AID in Contact Sensitivity, $248,250: to develop new technology to help characterize the immune events involved in severe inflammation associated with allergic diseases, which may yield to novel therapeutic treatments.
Regulation of motility and organelle assembly at the Pseudonomas aeruginosa pole, $407,200: to study a highly anti-biotic resistant bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These studies will explore how consequential environment is to the ability of the bacterium to colonize in and infect humans.
Development of neuronal tracers to study leptin modulation of dopamine circuits, $176,875: to study how changes in body fat levels is relevant to the problems of drug addiction as well as obesity.
Novel Molecular Tools for Imaging Synaptic Dynamics, $248,250: to study how seizures can affect the development of new nerve cells in a part of the brain that is responsible for learning and memory formation.
The University of Connecticut School of Medicine
PGE2 and PTH effects on osteoblasts, $29,214: to better understand the body’s own cells responsible for the construction and destruction of bone tissue to identify new targets for therapies for osteoporosis.
Regional B Cells Modulate Airway Th2 Responses, $229,125: to study how an immune cell present in mice that is capable of inhibiting airway inflation could be applied to humans suffering from asthma