Brian Herman, Ph.D., vice president for research at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio, noted that the San Antonio Life Sciences Institute has created a framework of collaboration between the Health Science Center and UTSA.
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Contact: Will Sansom, (210) 567-2579

SAN ANTONIO (March 24, 2010) — Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) jointly have announced that they will begin nine new collaborative life sciences research and educational projects supported by $1.5 million in funding from the San Antonio Life Sciences Institute (SALSI).

Established by the 77th session of the Texas Legislature, and funded for the current biennium for $8 million, SALSI is an initiative that aims to increase the research-funding base, biomedical education programs and biomedical/biotechnology commercialization through collaborative synergies from UTSA and the Health Science Center. Target research areas include, but are not limited to, Bioengineering, Health Disparities, Medicinal Chemistry, Prosthetics/Regenerative Medicine and Neuroscience.

“SALSI has already shown itself to be a success in that it has stimulated a number of new research, educational and technology transfer collaborations between the Health Science Center and UTSA, attracted significant extramural funding and created a framework to allow efficient and effective collaboration between the Health Science Center, UTSA and other UT System institutions,” said Brian Herman, Ph.D., vice president for research at the Health Science Center.

Robert Gracy, Ph.D., UTSA’s vice president for research, added, “San Antonio is home to some of the best health sciences researchers in the world. When scientists, engineers, clinicians, educators and other health care delivery professionals from UTSA and the Health Science Center bring their different backgrounds, perspectives and skills to their work, great synergy is achieved and complex health problems can be solved.”

Funded projects
The SALSI awards will support the following research and educational initiatives:

• Microencapsulated Delivery of Oncolytic Respiratory Syncytial Virus for Targeting Prostate Tumor In Vivo
  Principal Investigators: Yusheng Feng, UTSA; Santanu Bose, Health Science Center
  Researchers will design, inject and analyze microencapsulated viruses that are proven to be effective in killing cancer cells.
  
  
• Preclinical Optimization of a Novel Antitumor Agent CB694
  Principal Investigators: Doug Frantz, UTSA; Susan Mooberry, Health Science Center
  Researchers will use classical approaches in medicinal chemistry to improve the drug-like characteristics of a variety of anti-cancer molecules that have the potential to treat human cancers. They hope to identify a new drug candidate suitable for Phase I human clinical trials.
  
  
• Whole-Spectrum Fluorescence Microscopy with Ultrafast Supercontinuum Excitation
  Principal Investigators: Jing Yong Ye, UTSA; James Lechleiter, Health Science Center
  Researchers will develop a new approach to detect multicolor fluorescent biomarkers for cellular functions and biological processes, supporting optical instrument improvements.
  
  
• Aging, Hearing Loss and the Cocktail-Party Problem
  Principal Investigators: Rama Ratnam, UTSA; Suzette Tardif, Health Science Center
  Elderly listeners are unable to understand speech in noisy surroundings. Researchers will study brain mechanisms that are impaired with aging in the peripheral auditory system.
  

  Adelita Cantu, Ph.D., M.S., RN, assistant professor of chronic nursing care at the Health Science Center, will work with Thankam Sunil, Ph.D., of UTSA on a study of health disparities and nutrition.

  
  
• Neighborhood-Level Nutritional Assessments as an Innovative Teaching Approach to Understanding Root Causes of Health Disparities
  Principal Investigators: Thankam Sunil, UTSA; Adelita Cantu, Health Science Center
  Students will gather population-level nutritional data from two targeted zip codes and study its relationship to a significant health disparity. Research provides students with a more robust understanding of the environmental determinants of health disparities which in turn will assist in the treatment of their future patients and clients.
  
  
• A Computational Proteomics Approach for Genomewide Identifying MicroRNA Targets
  Principal Investigators: Michelle Zhang, UTSA; Shou-jiang Gao, Health Science Center
  Researchers will develop and apply mathematics algorithms to analyze changes in protein levels due to microRNA transfection. MicroRNA regulates a wide range of biological processes and diseases including development, stress responses, viral infections and cancer.
  
  
• Dysregulation of Ocular Blood Flow in Glaucoma: Application of Novel MRI Technologies
  Principal Investigators: Rena Bizios, UTSA; Timothy Duong, Health Science Center
  Multidisciplinary team of researchers will identify and establish biomarkers of early glaucoma, a leading cause of irreversible blindness that could be used in the diagnosis, prevention and/or treatment of the disease.
  
  
• Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine: New Solutions to Old Problems
  Principal Investigators: John McCarrey, UTSA; Christi Walter; Health Science Center
  Funding will support “Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine – New Solutions to Old Problems,” an October 2010 conference focusing on the region’s expertise in stem cells and regenerative medicine. The nation’s leading stem cell research and regenerative medicine experts will also deliver presentations.
  
  
• Molecular Changes in Aging Breast Stroma
  Principal Investigators: Jianhua Ruan, UTSA; Rong Li, Health Science Center
  Researchers will explore age-related changes in estrogen production as a way of understanding age-associated risk for breast cancer.
  
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  The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 2 percent of all U.S. institutions receiving federal funding. Research and other sponsored program activity totaled a record $259 million in fiscal year 2009. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced 27,000 graduates. The $753 million operating budget supports six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.