The University of Kentucky Alzheimer’s Disease Center in conjunction with the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) is soliciting pilot grant applications focused on dynamic basic and clinical science studies of aging, AD, and related dementias. Each of the awards is intended to provide seed funding that will facilitate the initial testing of novel hypotheses that will lead to national-level funding of an expanded research plan based on the pilot work. Please see attached document for details.

Surgeons aren't often chosen to participate in the John N. Insall Traveling Fellowship the first time they apply for consideration, but that wasn't the case for Dr. Stephen Duncan, assistant professor of orthpaedic surgery. Beginning in October, Duncan will travel to 11 centers, in 10 cities, across two countries to learn more about orthpaedic surgery and research.

One undergraduate psychology course changed William Stoops' life.

Originally Stoops planned to major in French, but after taking more psychology classes and getting involved in intensive, hands-on research, he decided in his senior year to devote his professional life to the study of the behavioral effects of drugs.

The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship(VACE), part of the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics, announced that one of its Fall 2017 Bootcamp teams, OptiMol Enzymes, has been accepted into the Clean Energy Trust Competition in Chicago, on F

Dr. Changcheng Zhou and fellow departmental and UK colleagues, including Drs. Yipeng Sui, Zun Liu, Se-Yhung Park, Sean Thatcher and Phil Kern, have published in the new journal JCI Insight, a sister publication of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

According to a paper recently published in Cell Reports, labs from Case Western Reserve and the University of Kentucky's Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC) were able to demonstrate the existence of a parallel neural network that could potentially restore diaphragm function after spinal cord injury.

This ghost network operates entirely separate from the brain, which has long been considered the only organ capable of directing respiratory function, and appears able to instruct the diaphragm to contract when properly activated. 

The American Heart Association has awarded a University of Kentucky and Baylor University research partnership $3.7 million to study aortic disease.

UK and Baylor were one of four teams nationwide to receive the honor, which coincides with the establishment of the American Heart Association's Vascular Research Disease Network.

Abstracts and mentor nominations are now being accepted for the 13th Annual Spring Conference of the University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science. Abstracts are due Monday, March 5, and mentor nominations are due Monday, Feb. 26.

The conference will be held Friday, April 13, 2018, at the Lexington Convention Center. The theme is “Opioids: Addressing the Public Health Crisis through Translational Science.” More details are available here.

Abstracts

NIH has updated its policy on Certificates of Confidentiality for NIH-funded and conducted research.  To read the full announcement, click here. 

[From National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute]