Two pediatrics professors awarded research grants
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has awarded research grants to two faculty members in the University of Florida College of Medicine pediatrics department.
Darlene Calhoun, an assistant professor in the division of neonatology since 1997, was awarded $25,000 for a pilot project to determine why newborns, particularly those born prematurely, are more at risk for infection.
Calhoun will explore the infection-fighting role of a component present in high concentrations in amniotic fluid and human milk called granulocyte colony stimulating factor, or G-CSF, in an effort to better understand how to reduce infection in babies. Because feeding infants human milk can cut the risk of infection by as much as 57 percent, the presence of G-CSF suggests it may play an important immunologic role during fetal development or in fighting infection.
Terry Spencer, an assistant professor in the pulmonology division since 1999, received a $50,000 new faculty grant to study causes of lung inflammation in cystic fibrosis and alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency.
Specifically, Spencer will examine the role of human neutrophil peptides in lung disease in these patients to help determine their mechanisms of damage. With that information, researchers hope to improve experimental gene therapies for the disorders. The study dovetails with other research being conducted at UF's Genetics Institute. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the National Institutes of Health also are supporting the research.
The Maryland-based Howard Hughes Medical Institute Biomedical Research Support Program seeks to expand the ability of medical schools and their faculties to do biomedical research that yields advances for patients. Applications for the grants are accepted by invitation only.