News

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 15, 2019) — A meeting in early 2010 sparked Dr. Ima Ebong's passion to advocate for greater minority representation in medical school — a passion that has propelled her to national recognition for her work.

Ten researchers from institutions across the U.S. have been selected to participate in the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Advocacy Training Program, a rigorous six-month program aiming to produce the next generation of science advocates. Among those chosen is Aria Byrd, a doctoral candidate in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and researcher in the Fillmore Brainson Lab. 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 3, 2018) — University of Kentucky undergraduates boarded a bus this past spring for a cross-country trip to the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. Accompanied by several adult escorts, the 89 students were traveling 12 hours to present their research at the 2018 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).

Before they even boarded the bus, this team of undergraduate researchers had made UK history.

The Kentucky Cancer Registry (KCR) has received a $2.6 million contract from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to continue its participation in the NCI’s Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program. If the NCI exercises all contract options, the contract could be worth up to $31 million over 10 years.

ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a neurodegenerative disease of some fame in the United States. Many Americans know the illness, which currently has no cure, as Lou Gehrig’s disease, after the beloved baseball player whose career and life were cut short by the condition in the 1930s and 40s. More recently, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking died of ALS. Perhaps more than anyone else, Hawking reminds us of the particular cruelty of the disease, which slowly robs a person of muscle movement while leaving their cognitive abilities intact.

 Luke Bradley, Janice Fernheimer and Gregory Luhan received the University of Kentucky 2018 Excellent Undergraduate Research Mentor Award.

Nearly 80 million Americans – one out of every four people – are infected with human papillomavirus (HPV). And of those millions, more than 31,000 will be diagnosed with an HPV-related cancer this year. Despite those staggering figures and the availability of a vaccine to prevent the infections that cause these cancers, HPV vaccination remains low in the United States.

The University of Kentucky Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center held its eighth annual Obesity and Diabetes Research Day, highlighting the work of students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty from around the region. The program features presentations from nationally recognized physician-scientists, as well as researchers chosen from abstract submissions. 

Better delivery of medications to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) is key to addressing the opioid crisis and helping the 2.6 million Americans affected by the disease.

While FDA-approved medications are effective for treating persons with OUD, including buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone, each has its own unique barriers that impact patient access to care. 

When Dr. J. Thomas Murphy moved to the United States in 2002 to practice medicine as an anesthesiologist, he'd never even heard of the opioid drug Vicodin. Originally from Canada, Murphy completed his medical education and training at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia before moving to Saudi Arabia to work as a cardiac anesthesiologist. When he came to the University of Kentucky, he saw the impacts of the opioid epidemic time and again in the cardiac operating room and would eventually feel called to join the fight.

The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center recently held its ninth annual Markey Cancer Center Research Day, highlighting the work of UK students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty from the past year.

Research Day provides an opportunity for investigators to showcase their work and also view the work of their colleagues across the campus. Markey researchers are housed all across the University, spanning eight colleges and 28 departments.

This week, it was my distinct pleasure to present the University Research Professorship Awards to 14 members of our faculty who have demonstrated excellence in research and creative work that addresses scientific, social, cultural, economic and health challenges in our region and around the world.

At a reception hosted by President Eli Capilouto at Maxwell Place, with their families, deans, associate deans for research and nominators on hand to celebrate with them, we had the opportunity to recognize and publicize the accomplishments of these scholars.

Background

On January 31, 2018, the Academic Growth Drive Team approved the recommendations of the UK BEST project to:

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been a hot topic of late as soldiers return from the battlefield and football players from the gridiron with debilitating injuries.

To date, treatment for TBI has been limited because the underlying mechanisms that cause brain damage are still poorly understood. Recently, however, science has shown increased interest in exploring ways to prompt the brain to heal itself after injury, or perhaps even protect itself as the injury occurs.

The 13th Annual Spring Conference of the University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) was held April 13 at the Lexington Convention Center. While the CCTS supports research across the spectrum of diseases, this year’s conference focused on using translational science to address the opioid epidemic.

How is research at the University of Kentucky transforming tomorrow? The UK Research 2017 Annual Report shares the economic impact of UK research, strategic plan progress, national rankings and innovative federally funded research projects in substance abuse, cancer, diabetes and obesity, cardiovascular diseases, neuroscience and aging, and energy.

The opioid epidemic has ravaged communities across the United States and few states have been harder hit than Kentucky. There is, however, a reason to have hope. Researchers, physicians and leaders in the Commonwealth and across the nation are working to find solutions that can help people enter recovery and save lives.

The University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging has been awarded a $2 million grant by the National Institutes of Health to train the next generation of dementia researchers. 

The T32 training grant, “Training in Traditional Research in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (TRIAD),” is the first Sanders-Brown Center on Aging training grant dedicated to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

 The 24th Annual Kentucky Spinal Cord & Head Injury Research Trust Symposium, was held on Thursday, May 10, 2018, in the Lee T. Todd, Jr. Building at the University of Kentucky.

Prominent researchers in the fields of spinal cord and traumatic brain injury from across the nation joined the UK Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC) faculty to share information focused on two themes: long-term consequences of neurotrauma and research along the translational spectrum.