NIBIB Awards First Quantum Grant
Baylor College of Medicine Receives $2.9 Million Three-Year
Grant
The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
(NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today
announced the award of the first Quantum Grant on “Neuro-Vascular
Regeneration,” to the Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Karen K.
Hirschi, Deputy Director of the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative
Medicine, Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine
is the principal investigator on the grant. Dr. Robin Lovell-Badge,
Head of the Division of Developmental Genetics at the National
Institute for Medical Research in London is the co-principal investigator.
These investigators will coordinate the efforts within the United
States and the United Kingdom, respectively, on this multidisciplinary
international collaborative project.
The overall goal of this project is to engineer neuro-vascular
regenerative units in a laboratory environment, which can then
be implanted into the damaged cortex of stroke patients to provide
a source of neural and vascular cells that will continue to develop
and differentiate and lead to the repair of stroke-injured tissue.
The NIBIB Quantum Grants Program has been developed to make a
profound (quantum level) advance in healthcare by funding research
on targeted projects that will develop new technologies and modalities
for the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of disease.
“We are pleased to award our first Quantum Grant to Dr. Hirschi
and her team for this innovative and exciting project,” said NIBIB
Director Roderic I. Pettigrew, Ph.D., M.D. “We look forward to
witnessing the results that will be achieved in the animal studies
and, later, as these studies are translated to humans. This project
has the potential to profoundly improve the treatment of patients
affected by ischemic stroke.”
Dr. Hirschi is an expert in the field of vascular development
and she will coordinate the efforts of a highly qualified multidisciplinary
project team with complimentary expertise in developmental neurobiology,
stem cell biology, genetics, biomedical imaging, tissue engineering,
and clinical cellular therapies.
“I am delighted and honored to be working with a world-class
team of scientists, each of whom has significantly contributed
to the advancement of their fields of research, and who will now
be able to devote substantial efforts to integrating their work,
so that we can better help stroke victims by developing units for
neuro-vascular regeneration,” said Dr. Hirschi.
The Quantum Grant team within the United States includes Dr. Mary
Dickinson, Assistant Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
at Baylor College of Medicine, who was a co-developer of this project;
Dr. Jennifer West, the Cameron Professor of Bioengineering and
Director of the Institute for Biosciences and Bioengineering at
Rice University; Dr. Thomas Zwaka, Assistant Professor of Molecular
and Cellular Biology, Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor
College of Medicine; and Dr. Malcolm Brenner, Professor of Medicine
and Pediatrics, and the Director of the Center for Cell and Gene
Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine.
The Quantum Grant team within the United Kingdom will be led
by the project’s co-principle investigator Dr. Robin Lovell-Badge,
an expert in genetics and developmental biology, and includes Dr.
Jack Price, Professor of Developmental Neurobiology, and the Director
of the Centre for the Cellular Basis of Behaviour, Institute of
Psychiatry, King’s College, London; and Dr. Mike Modo, a Lecturer
in the Centre for the Cellular Basis of Behaviour, Institute of
Psychiatry, King’s College.
“Progress in science often occurs when separate disciplines collide,
each able to contribute something special towards solving a problem.
This is why I am so excited about the research that will be supported
by this award,” said Dr. Lovell-Badge. “The grant will allow us
to discover new information about stem cells in the brain, how
they can be manipulated within and outside the body and, we hope,
facilitate the development of a treatment for stroke, one of the
most common causes of disability, severely affecting quality of
life of patients throughout the world.”
The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
(NIBIB), a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, is dedicated to improving
human health through the integration of the physical and biological
sciences. The research agenda of the NIBIB seeks to dramatically
advance the Nation’s health by improving the detection, management,
understanding, and ultimately, the prevention of disease through
technology. Additional information and publications are available
at www.nibib.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's
Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and
Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting
and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research,
and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and
its programs, visit www.nih.gov. |