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The motivation driving the work of Pete Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., is personal. His grandmother, Sylvia Becker, died with Alzheimer's disease, and he says his mother then grew terrified of developing the disease.
“It gives me purpose in life to attack that,” Nelson said. As an experimental neuropathologist at the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, he is guided by that motivation. “It is most every researcher’s dream to help identify and classify a disease, and then to go on and help beat it.”
The Gill Awards, given each year through the generous support of the Gill Foundation of Texas, honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of cardiovascular medicine, both through research and clinical care. The awards are based on nominations and assessment by a committee of prominent cardiovascular researchers from across the nation.
Housed in the UK College of Medicine Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology is a new professional master’s degree program that is the only one of its kind in the state of Kentucky, and the fifth of its kind in the country.
And due to its unique educational experience and strong curriculum, this new program is seeing a jump in its number of students.
Shulin Zhang, MD, PhD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, began his career as a clinical molecular geneticist when the famous Human Genome Project was in its final stages. A 23-year international research effort, the project was revolutionary as it determined the full DNA sequence of the human genome.
Jordon Burdette, a senior neuroscience and psychology major, was minutes away from presenting to a crowd of University of Kentucky scientists when the nerves set in. Her presentation, focused on cellular regeneration and spinal cord injury, was a culmination of a year of research she had worked on with her mentor, Warren Alilain, PhD, associate professor of neuroscience.
Burdette pushed through those nerves, and Dr. Alilain said she “crushed” it. She left feeling proud of her accomplishment and thankful for the opportunity to study a topic she didn’t expect to ever pursue.
Urim Geleta is only into her senior year of her undergraduate degree, yet she has already played a key role in neuroscience research at UK.
When Elizabeth Rhodus, PhD, was 16 years old, she suffered a near-fatal car accident, which left her with significant injuries that included fractures around her eye socket. Dr. Rhodus had already struggled with eye muscle problems that this accident only exacerbated.
The rural Kentucky native was admitted to UK HealthCare and along her journey, was treated by an ophthalmologist who not only provided her with exceptional care, but who also became an influential figure in her own path to a career in academic medicine.
Since he was a graduate student, Patrick Hannon, PhD, has had his eyes set on a prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant that he knew, if he received it, would enable him to make a tremendous impact in his career goal of advancing reproductive care for women.
Dr. Hannon, now an assistant professor in the UK College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, was elated to find out that this winter, he achieved his longtime goal.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 27, 2022) — The Kentucky Network for Innovation and Commercialization (KYNETIC) has opened its Spring 2022 Cycle 5 round of early-stage commercialization grants.
KYNETIC is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH) and part of the national NIH Proof-of-Concept Network.
One of the newest research teams within the University of Kentucky’s Alliance Research Initiative wants to make UK “the center of the universe” when it comes to an innovative cancer treatment.
Charles Kunos MD, PhD, director of the Markey Cancer Center Clinical Research Office, leads the Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Alliance (RPTA) with Lowell Anthony, MD, division chief of medical oncology. Alongside faculty and trainees from across the University, they are trying to improve pharmaceutical delivery for patients with cancer through radiopharmaceuticals.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 13, 2022) — The University of Kentucky is participating in a nationwide study that seeks to understand why some people have prolonged symptoms (long COVID) or develop new or returning symptoms after an acute bout of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
LEXINGTON, KY. (Jan. 11, 2022) — The world looks to The University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging for answers to the mysteries of dementia, and the elderly rely on them for help in charting their path to a healthy and vigorous senior lifestyle.
Anika Hartz never planned on becoming a scientist.
She’s a pharmacist by trade, who moved to the United States from her home of Germany in 2002 to begin her doctorate at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). At the time, she had no intention of going into science.
“Coming to the U.S. in 2002 changed my mind,” said Hartz.
Her time at the NIH was unique and it marked a turning point for her future.
Martha Sim, MD, a graduate student at the College of Medicine, knew it was possible she would witness a pandemic in her lifetime, but she did not expect it to happen so early in her research career. Yet in 2020, COVID-19 spread rapidly across the globe.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 16, 2021) — Using new methodology, University of Kentucky researchers have mapped the variations in sugar chains attached to brain proteins from deceased healthy individuals or individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.
Thus far, no effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are available. New approaches to preventing the progression of this devastating neurological disease are desperately needed.
Greg Gerhardt, PhD, is a professor of neuroscience and researcher with the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC) and Brain Restoration Center, as well as advisor for the MD/PhD program. He currently serves as co-principal investigator for the Brain Restoration Alliance in Neurodegeneration (BRAIN). In the following Q&A, Dr. Gerhardt shares more about his current projects.
Q: Why did you want to pursue a career in neuroscience research?
Grant writing is a competitive process. Without the proper resources, staff, or expertise, faculty may struggle in gathering key funding that could benefit future research projects, and ultimately, promote innovative health discoveries.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 30, 2021) — Recently published research from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and UK HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center found high rates of traumatic exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in a group of pediatric patients living with Type 1 diabetes.
By the time she became a faculty member at the UK College of Medicine, Susanne Arnold, MD, was arguably more prepared than anyone to treat Kentuckians and educate future physicians.
She was introduced to the medical field early and was surrounded by it. She recalls taking a preserved human brain to show and tell when she was in grade school (which she jokes wouldn’t happen now, though her classmates thought it was pretty cool). In high school, she shadowed physicians in a clinic, and she gained clinical experience observing autopsies before she even started medical school.