Grant and Contract Awards

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NEW & TRANSFER AWARDS

(New grants, funding transferred from a PI’s previous institution, and NIH competitive renewal funding)

Tyler Bland (PI); Boyang Wu – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Washington Research Foundation
“Repurposing anti-muscarinic drugs for lethal chemoresistant prostate cancer”
This funding provides support toward the commercialization of a new therapy to treat metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, an incurable disease that leads to the death of over 30,000 U.S. men every year. The therapy is based on findings from the research team that chemoresistant prostate cancer highly expresses genes that are implicated in muscarinic acetylcholine receptor signaling. The new therapy repurposes anti-muscarinic drugs currently used in the clinic to treat irritable-bowel syndrome and overactive bladder in combination with chemotherapy to effectively eliminate chemoresistant prostate cancer. The funds will help the researchers work toward completion of preclinical studies that involve consolidating the efficacy of the new therapy in chemoresistant prostate tumor rodent models.

Zhaokang Cheng (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
“Mechanisms of cardiac chemosensitivity”
Heart toxicity associated with the use of doxorubicin and related chemotherapy drugs is thought to be responsible for cancer survivors’ increased risk of developing heart disease. This new study builds on earlier findings by the PI that a protein called CDK2 plays a critical role in doxorubicin-induced heart damage and that suppressing CDK2 levels alleviated damage to cardiac muscle cells following treatment with doxorubicin. The study will look further into the mechanisms, uncover the connection between CDK2 and FOXO1, and determine the role of FOXO1 in doxorubicin-induced toxicity. This work may lay the foundation for developing new treatment strategies against heart-toxicity from doxorubicin and other anthracycline drugs.

Dawn Dewitt (PI); Barbara Richardson; Matthew Layton; Brenda Bray; Jae Kennedy; Janet Purath; Marian Wilson; Tracy Klein; Connie Remsberg; Elizabeth Wood; Craig Fisher; Janet Walker; Chris Martin – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/College of Nursing/College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
US Department of Health Resources & Services Administration, Bureau of Health Workforce
“Cornerstone: Rethinking Education on Substance use through inter-Professional Education and Rural Community Training (RESPECT)”
This award funds a five-year project to train faculty, students, and rural primary care providers in Washington State on interprofessional education approaches to caring for patients at risk for opioid use disorder. The program will build on an interprofessional curriculum that was previously created and piloted by the core WSU project team. The curriculum is a team-based facilitated interprofessional education simulation that uses standardized patients to enhance student learning about providing care to patients taking opioids. It will be used to train faculty and students in a variety of health professions disciplines—including medicine, nursing, physician assistant, pharmacy, social work, and chemical dependency—as well primary practice teams at rural clinic sites across Washington State. The curriculum will be tailored, implemented, and continuously evaluated across five years’ time with an active examination of changing policies and best practices on opioid use for pain and opioid use disorder.

Jonathan Espenschied (PI); Jeffrey Haney – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
US Department of Health Resources & Services Administration
“ESFCOM/PRH Rural Family Residency Family Medicine Program”
This award funds the development of a new rural residency program in family medicine in collaboration with Pullman Regional Hospital, a critical access hospital located in rural Whitman county. The program will address the rural health care needs and rural workforce shortage by effectively training family medicine physicians to practice in and meet the clinical needs of our rural and underserved communities. As part of this project, the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine will create a new, sustainable, ACGME-accredited, rural family medicine residency; develop a sustainability plan that includes ongoing funding to support training once the program is accredited; and track program graduates’ career outcomes over time to determine retention in rural and underserved communities.

Amber Fyfe-Johnson (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
National Institutes of Health; National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
“Health outcomes in preschool; INnovations for obesity prevention. (HOP-IN)”
This project involves a study of children’s health outcomes in an outdoor preschool model. The ultimate goal is to determine the model’s capacity for the prevention of childhood obesity, which disproportionally impacts underserved and minority populations and is a critical public health treat and a major risk factor for heart disease later in life. The study is being conducted in partnership with Tiny Trees, an outdoor preschool in Seattle, Washington, that reserves half of its enrollment capacity for children who are eligible for free or reduced tuition based on family income. The WSU team will recruit 100 children ages 3-5 who attend Tiny Trees and 100 children from the Tiny Trees waitlist who are currently attending a traditional indoor preschool. They will collect data on physical activity, sleep, body mass index, gut microbiome, and academic performance over the course of the three-year study period and compare findings across the two groups. In addition, they will perform a cost-benefit analysis to evaluate the short- and long-term cost-benefit of the Tiny Trees outdoor preschool model.

Jason Gerstner (PI); William Vanderheyden; Christopher Davis – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
“Characterizing evolutionarily conserved mechanisms underlying sleep, clocks, and memory”
Scientists have long been working toward understanding the function of sleep. Adaptive processes, such as synaptic plasticity, learning, and memory, are sensitive to sleep loss, which may provide important clues for identifying the physiological function of sleep. Cellular and molecular processes that are critical for sleep function within nervous tissue also may not be restricted to neurons, but may include glial cells, which are known to regulate metabolism, sleep, and cognitive function. Changes in the interactions between neurons and glial cells, particularly around synapses related to activity- and energy-dependent demands during wakefulness, are key sites to investigate the functional aspects of sleep. As part of this project, the researchers will conduct studies in evolutionarily diverse species that integrate the 24-hour rhythm of rest-activity cycles with changes in sleep need. The goal is to identify cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie activity-dependent changes in synaptic activity, are sensitive to sleep, are critical for cognitive function, and are conserved across the different species.

Janessa Graves (PI) – College of Nursing
University of Washington/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
“Injury Health-related Equity across the Lifespan (iHeal)”
This award provides funding for WSU faculty to offer expertise and support to an Injury Control Research Center at the University of Washington-affiliated Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center. The center is focused on injury prevention related to prescription opioids, suicide, falls among older adults, and pediatric concussions. The WSU team will support the new center’s research core, and the PI will also serve as co-investigator on a project evaluating state policies and suicide training.

Luciana Hebert (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
University of Chicago/Tara Health Foundation
“Research Consortium on Religious Healthcare Institutions Study of Private Employer Insurance”
This awards funds research on how private employers constrain or facilitate their employees’ access to reproductive healthcare through insurance plans with and without religious restrictions; in what ways this matters to employees; and what the most influential levers for change are in the employer arena. The principal investigator will conduct a nationally representative survey of S&P 500 company employees about their insurance features and related preferences, as well as key informant interviews with HR and investor relations personnel at S&P 500 companies. The ultimate goal is to understand employees’ experiences, preferences, and priorities with regard to reproductive health care and religious restrictions in employer-based health insurance.

Kimberly Honn (PI); Hans Van Dongen; Matthew Layton – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Sleep & Performance Research Center
FEDEX
“Validation of Face-, Eye-, and Activity-Tracking Technologies for Operational Fatigue Detection”
In this project, WSU faculty will conduct a laboratory sleep deprivation study to collect data for the calibration and validation of face- and eye-tracking technology and the validation of activity-tracking technology for use in detecting fatigue in operational settings.

Kimberly Honn (PI); Hans Van Dongen – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Sleep & Performance Research Center
Transport Canada
“Fatigue Sciences Advisor”
This award provides funding to provide the Rail Safety Division of Transport Canada with expert advice and support related to proposed amendments to the Work/Rest Rules for Railway Operating Employees. The researchers will evaluate whether the proposed rules respect the principles of fatigue science; are scientifically defensible; and will reduce the likelihood of operating employee fatigue in the rail industry.

Lois James (PI); Stephen James – College of Nursing
US Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice
“Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating a Police Fatigue Risk-Management Strategy for the Seattle Police Department”
This award funds a project aimed at better understanding the problem of fatigue in law enforcement. In partnership with the Seattle Police Department (SPD), the WSU research team will establish a thorough understanding of the cumulative effects of shift-work schedules, overtime, and secondary employment on police performance, safety, health, safety, and quality of life. This information will be used to develop and implement a fatigue risk management strategy for SPD’s 1,500 officers and measure its effectiveness at improving safety, performance and health.

Amanda Lamp (PI); Greg Belenky – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Sleep and Performance Research Center
Helicopter Association of Canada
“2019 Literature Review and Summary Recommendations – Helicopter Association of Canada”
This project involves a review of relevant literature and the development of summary recommendations for the Helicopter Association of Canada in preparation for new fatigue risk management regulations being implemented in the next few years in Canada.

Andrea Lazarus (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Health Sciences and Services Authority of Spokane County
“Request for Start Up Support for Bhagwat Prasad”
This award provides start-up funds for capital equipment to help support a new faculty member in the WSU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Bhagwat Prasad. Prasad recently joined the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences as a tenure-track associate professor. His research involves the building of computer models that help predict variability in drug disposition—how a drug is absorbed, metabolized, and excreted—and drug response. This work has the potential to help reduce the number of animal and clinical studies needed to study new drugs.

Luis Manriquez (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Greater Columbia Accountable Community of Health
“Student Stipends for Mobile Clinic Needs Assessment”
To provide services to people who are either not engaged with existing healthcare services or are not receiving adequate follow up, the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine is developing a mobile medicine program that will include four mobile clinics based at each of its clinical campuses in Spokane, Tri-Cities, Vancouver, and Everett. This award funds stipends for medical student interns to work with WSU faculty to carry out a needs assessment to guide the development of the mobile clinics. The needs assessment is focused on healthcare providers, social services providers, schools, WSU Extension, public health officials, elected officials, and community organizations in Asotin, Garfield, Columbia, Walla Walla, Franklin, Benton, Yakima, and Klickitat Counties, as well as on the Yakama Indian Reservation.

Michael McDonell (PI); Sterling McPherson – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
“Peth-Based Contingency Management to Reduce Alcohol Use and Improve Housing Outcomes”
Most homeless people must refrain from using alcohol to obtain and maintain housing. This award funds a study to test the feasibility and efficacy of using a novel alcohol use detection method based on phosphatidylethanol (PEth) as part of a contingency management intervention to reduce alcohol use in formerly homeless individuals who are now housed. The ultimate goal is to see whether PEth-based contingency management could prevent alcohol-associated homelessness in these individuals. PEth can detect alcohol use for up to 28 days, allows for the development of a contingency management intervention that can reinforce maintenance of long-term abstinence. Currently used contingency management interventions for alcohol use are based on urine ethyl glucuronide tests (uEtG), which detect alcohol use in the past two to five days only.

Michael McDonell (co-PI); Elizabeth Weybright (co-PI); Liat Kriegel; Matthew Layton; Sterling McPherson; Barbara Richardson; Luis Manriquez; Brittany Cooper; Anamaria Martinez; Jennifer Leach; Joy Lile; Gary Varrella; Alison White; Lonnie Nelson; Marian Wilson; Wendy Williams-Gilbert; Janet Purath; Tracy Klein – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/College of Nursing/College of Agricultural Human & Natural Resources/WSU Extension
US Dept. of Health & Human Services, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration
“WSU Center for Rural Opioid Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery (CROP-TR)”
This award funds the establishment of the WSU Center for Rural Opioid Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery, which will expand ongoing collaborations between WSU Extension and faculty experts in three WSU colleges to provide training and technical assistance to reduce the burden of opioids in rural Washington communities.

Lonnie Nelson (PI); Dedra Buchwald; Clemma Muller – College of Nursing/Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
National Institutes of Health; National Institute on Aging
“URBAn Native Elders (URBANE): Risk and Protective Factors for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias”
This award funds a study of the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and their risk and protective factors in American Indian and Alaska Native people living in urban areas. The work is being conducted out of WSU Health Sciences’ Partnerships for Native Health research program, part of its Institute for Research and Education to Advance Community Health (IREACH). Working with partner organizations, the study will recruit 1,200 men and women ages 55 and older from five geographically diverse metropolitan areas with large American Indian and Alaska Native populations.

Lonnie Nelson (PI); Clemma Muller – College of Nursing/Community Health
National Institutes of Health; National Institute on Drug Abuse
“Counseling for Harm Reduction and Retention in Medication-assisted treatment – Cherokee Nation (CHaRRM-CN)”
This award funds a project aimed at culturally adapting an existing harm-reduction substance use counseling approach focused on improving retention of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in American Indians with opoid use disorder. MAT is the use of FDA-approved medications—such as buprenorphine and naloxone—in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies to treat substance use disorders, such as opioid use disorder. The culturally adapted approach will be implemented within the Cherokee National Health System, with the goal of testing its efficacy at improving 6-month MAT retention, reducing substance-related harm and illicit opioid use, and increasing Native enculturation compared to a control group who will receive treatment that uses the standard substance use counseling approach.

Oladunni Oluwoye (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health
“Improving Engagement among Families Experiencing First-Episode Psychosis”
This award funds career development and training activities aimed at enhancing the investigator’s expertise in the development, implementation, and evaluation of engagement interventions to help improve family engagement in coordinated specialty care programs that address first-episode psychosis. The first episode of psychosis is a critical point to initiate mental health care among individuals over the course of their illness, and family members play a key role in facilitating care. However, coordinated specialty care programs that address first-episode psychosis generally report low levels of family engagement, and this indicates an urgent need for effective interventions to improve family engagement.

Oladunni Oluwoye (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Yakima Health District
“Interagency Agreement between WSU and Yakima Health District”
This contract provides funds for the PI to support the efforts of the Yakima Health District and Yakima County in the areas of epidemiological support, health communication, and community outreach and the design and development of research proposals. The partnership for 2019-2020 will focus on the surveillance of communicable and non-communicable diseases, as well as the conducting of a community needs assessment.

Bhagwat Prasad (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Genentech
“PRINCE: Proteomics-based Research Initiative for Non-CYP Enzymes (Genentech)”
This concerns grant funding being transferred from the PI’s previous institution. This grant provides funding for the PRINCE (Proteomics-based Research Initiative for Non-CYP Enzymes) program, a research collaboration between WSU and the pharmaceutical industry to elucidate the role of non-cytochrome P450 (non-CYP) enzymes in the disposition, efficacy, and toxicity of drugs. The overarching objective is to develop physiological models to predict drug disposition, which could help reduce the number of animal and clinical studies needed before new drugs can be approved. Genentech is one of three pharmaceutical companies participating in the PRINCE program.

Bhagwat Prasad (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Merck
“PRINCE: Proteomics-based Research Initiative for Non-CYP Enzymes (Merck)”
This concerns grant funding being transferred from the PI’s previous institution. This grant provides funding for the PRINCE (Proteomics-based Research Initiative for Non-CYP Enzymes) program, a research collaboration between WSU and the pharmaceutical industry to elucidate the role of non-cytochrome P450 (non-CYP) enzymes in the disposition, efficacy, and toxicity of drugs. The overarching objective is to develop physiological models to predict drug disposition, which could help reduce the number of animal and clinical studies needed before new drugs can be approved. Merck is one of three pharmaceutical companies participating in the PRINCE program.

Bhagwat Prasad (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of Washington/National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
“Program on Genetic and Dietary Predictors of Drug Response in Rural and AI/AN Populations”
This concerns subaward funding being transferred from the PI’s previous institution. The subaward funds the PI’s bioanalytical support of a program of study aimed at identifying the causes of interindividual differences in drug response. Specifically, the researchers will look for gene-environment-drug and polygenic-drug interactions in the treatment of heart disease with blood thinners and antiplatelet medicines in American Indian and Alaska Native populations. This work may eventually lead to safer and more effective drug therapies for the treatment of heart diseases in American Indian and Alaska Native populations, as well as in the general population.

Bhagwat Prasad (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
“PBPK prediction of ontogeny mediated alteration in hepatic drug elimination”
Children absorb, metabolize, and excrete drugs differently than adults do, which means dosing of drugs for children cannot be based on the adult dose. Since establishing the safety and efficacy of drugs in children in clinical trials is not always possible, researchers are working to develop a pediatric, physiologically based pharmacokinetic model that can be used to predict how children will respond to drugs. This award—which involves a transfer of funding from the PI’s previous institution—will fund some of the groundwork toward creating such a model, including a quantitative analysis of how drug transporters and drug metabolizing enzymes are expressed in pediatric livers, compared to adult livers. The data and models generated in this study will benefit children’s health by assessing the risk associated with the use of drugs in children.

Bhagwat Prasad (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of Washington/National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
“The plasma membrane monoamine transporter (PMAT): expression and role in mIBG disposition in neuroblastoma”
This concerns a subaward being transferred from the PI’s previous institution. The work involves assistance with the development and application of novel bioanalytical methods based on liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry to quantify target proteins in neuroblastoma tissue. The PI will use a proteomics approach optimized in his laboratory to conduct this research.

Jean-Baptiste Roullet (PI); K. Michael Gibson – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Eastern Washington University/National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
“Targeting the GABA-modulator microbiota against the progression of CNS inflammatory demyelination”
This project is about finding new treatments for multiple sclerosis that will either delay or prevent the onset of disease progression. Most patients with multiple sclerosis experience an acute phase, followed by a remission that then evolves into a progressive and debilitating phase. The transition between the remitting and the progressive phases is poorly understood. Previous studies have suggested that gut microbiota—microorganisms living in our intestines—may act as a metabolic amplifier of brain inflammation and malformation of brain myelin, which decreases protective neurotransmitter concentrations in patients’ brain. In this study, the researchers will use an animal model of multiple sclerosis to test the use of genetically engineered probiotics to restore the concentration of neurotransmitter in the intestinal flora.

Ruby Siegel (PI); Salah-Uddin Ahmed – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Arthritis & Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
“Elucidating the Role of Sulfatase-2 in RA Pathogenesis”
The cytokine tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) has been shown to play a dominant role in driving synovial hyperplasia and the progressive destruction of cartilage and bone in rheumatoid arthritis. This award funds a study to test the hypothesis that the extracellular enzyme Sulfatase-2 (Sulf-2) mediates TNF-a signaling in rheumatoid arthritis RA synovial fibroblasts—specialized cells that make up the lining of your joints—promoting synovial hyperplasia, proliferation, invasion and tissue destruction in rheumatoid arthritis. The researchers will look for the mechanism of Sulf-2 participation in TNF-a signaling and investigate the potential therapeutic value of inhibiting Sulf-2-dependent pathways to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

Hans Van Dongen (PI); Kimberly Honn – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Sleep & Performance Research Center
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health
“‘Innovations in Research and Practice Improving Shiftworker Health and Safety’ – the 24th International Shiftwork and Working Time Symposium”
This award provides funding for WSU’s hosting of the 2019 International Symposium on Shiftwork and Working Time (“Shiftwork2019”) on behalf of the Working Time Society and the Scientific Committee on Shiftwork and Working Time of the International Commission on Occupational Health. Held in September 2019, the biennial conference brought to Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, an international group of scientists and other stakeholders to discuss shiftwork and working time arrangements and work toward developing strategies to mitigate the adverse health and safety consequences of shiftwork.

Mark VanDam (PI); Nancy Potter – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Dept. of Speech & Hearing Sciences
Arizona State University/ National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development
“Preventing speech and language disorders in infants with classic galactosemia”
Children with classic galactosemia—a rare genetic metabolic condition—are at high risk for severe speech and language disorders and typically start receiving lengthy courses of therapy at ages 2 to 3 years, only after communication difficulties have become evident. Given that classic galactosemia is diagnosed via newborn screening, the risk for the communication disorders is known at birth. This pilot study will evaluate the effectiveness of providing infants with classic galactosemia with a bundle of preventative speech and language services during the first two years of life, as compared to traditional therapy later on. The study will look for improvements in speech, language, and quality of life outcomes.

Zhenjia Wang (PI); Santanu Bose – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences/College of Veterinary Medicine
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
“Active Drug Loading to Nanovesicles for Targeted Drug Delivery”
As part of this study, the researchers will test a new drug delivery platform based on neutrophils—a type of white blood cells that play a key role in the body’s natural immune response. Neutrophil-based nanovesicles—hollow cell membranes loaded up with drug molecules—have the same characteristics as neutrophils, which are driven by our immune system to travel to inflammatory sites to help fight infection. This study will validate and refine the new technology in an animal model of acute lung injury, a type of respiratory failure that involves inflammation in the lungs.

Wendy Williams-Gilbert (PI) – College of Nursing
WA State Dept. of Health/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
“Addictions Nursing Course under the Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention for States Grant (PfS)”
As opioid epidemic efforts are rolled out in emergency rooms, primary care, jails, and other settings, there is a need to train Washington State’s nursing workforce to screen for, help prevent, and manage populations of patients with substance use disorders. This award funds a partnership between the Washington State Department of Health, the WSU College of Nursing, and the University of Washington to develop a distance learning, continuing education course on addictions nursing under the Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention for States (PfS) grant.

AWARDS FOR ONGOING WORK

(Renewal, continued, and supplemental funding for projects awarded previously)

Salah-Uddin Ahmed (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
“MicroRNA-based therapy for rheumatoid arthritis”
There is evidence that MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate disease progression in rheumatoid arthritis. At the same time, recent studies suggest that in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and cancer there is a reduction in miRNA expression. In this continuing study, the research team will attempt to identify the mechanisms that underlie altered miRNA production in rheumatoid arthritis. In addition, they will use rodent models to determine the potential value of miRNA replacement therapy in treating rheumatoid arthritis. The researchers will specifically look at a family of miRNAs known as miR-17, as recent studies have provided evidence that miR-17 expression was significantly low in serum and joint cells and tissues of rheumatoid arthritis patients, as well as rats with a similar condition.

Greg Belenky (PI); Amanda Lamp – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Sleep and Performance Research Center
United Airlines
“Fatigue Risk Management System Route Studies”
This is renewal funding for multiple field studies of sleep and performance in pilots flying domestic, long-range, and ultra long‐range routes in commercial aviation. This contract also involved advisory roles on safety- and science-related topics. This work supports the airline’s use of fatigue risk management, a nonprescriptive approach to managing flight and duty times.

Chris Blodgett (PI) – WSU Extension, Child and Family Research Unit
Compton Unified School District
“Compton Unified School District CLEAR”
This is continued funding for the WSU Child and Family Research Unit (CAFRU) to implement the CLEAR (Collaborative Learning for Educational Achievement and Resilience) trauma-informed school response model in the Compton Unified School District in California. The intellectual property of CAFRU, CLEAR is a whole-school, trauma-informed systems change model, conducted in on-site consultation and professional development to partnering schools/school districts. CLEAR is implemented by a CAFRU staff member assigned as the CLEAR consultant in specific schools, partnering with school staff typically over a three-year period.

Chris Blodgett (PI) – WSU Extension, Child and Family Research Unit
Juneau Community Foundation
“Juneau Community Foundation CLEAR”
This is renewal funding for the WSU Child and Family Research Unit to assist with the implementation of the CLEAR (Collaborative Learning for Educational Achievement and Resilience) trauma-informed school response model in two elementary schools in the Juneau School District in Alaska. CLEAR is the intellectual property of CAFRU.

Chris Blodgett (PI) – WSU Extension, Child and Family Research Unit
Pullman School District
“Pullman School District CLEAR”
This is renewal funding for the WSU Child and Family Research Unit (CAFRU) to implement the CLEAR (Collaborative Learning for Educational Achievement and Resilience) trauma-informed school response model at Sunnyside Elementary School in the Pullman School District. CLEAR is the intellectual property of CAFRU.

Dedra Buchwald (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
University of Washington/National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research
“A Primary Prevention Trial to Strengthen Child Attachment in a Native Community”
These are renewal subaward funds for a project to test the Promoting First Relationships (PFR) program in American Indian (AI) children at a reservation in northeastern Montana. The research team will test the effectiveness of the program in improving the caregiver’s sensitivity to the child. They will also examine child attachment security to the caregiver and the child’s social and emotional functioning. The goal is to create a culturally adapted intervention to promote sensitive caregiving and child attachment security in American Indian populations, minimizing the impact of stressors on children living on the reservation, as well as fostering resilience and improving their risk outlook.

Dedra Buchwald (PI); Astrid Suchy-Dicey – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
University of Washington/National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging
“Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center”
This subaward renews the funding for WSU’s role in an NIH center grant to establish a satellite core of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center in Seattle. The WSU team will conduct a research project that will recruit participants of the Strong Heart Stroke Study to examine stroke, vascular brain injury, cognitive function, and Alzheimer’s disease and their consequences in about 450 elder American Indians. The Strong Heart Stroke Study is a follow-up study to the Strong Heart Study, a large longitudinal cohort study examining cardiovascular disease and its risk factors in American Indians.

Dedra Buchwald (PI); Ka’imi Sinclair – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/College of Nursing/Community Health
National Institutes of Health; National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
“Diet Intervention for Hypertension: Adaptation and Dissemination to Native Communities”
This grant funds the continuation of a project to adapt an existing diet intervention designed to reduce high blood pressure for use in Native populations and disseminate it to health professionals, with the goal of reducing Native patients’ health risks related to high blood pressure. Partners in this project include the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Division of Public Health Sciences, the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, the Indian Health Resource Center of Tulsa, Native Health of Spokane, and the MedStar Health Research Institute Laboratory.

Dedra Buchwald (PI); Ka’imi Sinclair; Lonnie Nelson; Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe; Clemma Muller; Astrid Suchy-Dicey; Celestina Barbosa-Leiker; Ekaterina Burduli; Cara Carty – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/College of Nursing/Community Health/College of Arts & Sciences
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging
“Native Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (NAD-RCMAR) Research Education Component”
This award provides continued funding for the establishment of a Native Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Resource Center in Minority Aging Research based at WSU, in collaboration with the University of Colorado Denver and Stanford University. The new center will serve to better understand and mitigate Alzheimer’s disease-related health disparities in American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders by building infrastructure, bringing together resources, and recruiting and mentoring promising junior- and mid-level scientists from underrepresented minority groups to conduct Alzheimer’s disease research in Native populations.

Naomi Chaytor (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
University of North Carolina/National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research
“Prediction of Functional Outcomes from Chronic Critical Illness”
This is continued funding for WSU’s assistance in a multicenter study to measure risk factors for long-term physical and cognitive dysfunction in chronic critical illness. A substantial number of critically ill patients experience persistent organ failure leading to chronic critical illness. The majority of these patients die within a year. Many survivors must cope with severe, long‐term physical and cognitive limitations, which present a significant clinical, emotional, and economic burden. The subcontract provides funding for Chaytor to oversee cognitive and functional outcomes from the study. The project will provide new tools for patients and clinicians to understand chronic critical illness, informing bedside decision making and future medical and resource interventions for this extremely high‐risk patient group.

Glen Duncan (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine; Dept. of Nutrition & Exercise Physiology
University of Washington/National Institutes of Health; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
“Validation and application of portable particulate device in the UW Twin Registry”
This is continued funding for a two‐part study to assess the associations between environmental exposures and health outcomes, using a new wearable device for measuring environmental toxicants called the Portable University of Washington Particle Monitor (PUWPM). The study will use pairs of adult twins from the community‐based UW Twin Registry to explore the associations between exposures to air pollution, noise, and other environmental factors; physical activity, diet, psychosocial stress, and clinical outcomes such as blood pressure, height, weight, and waist circumference; and biological markers related to inflammation and stress. It may ultimately lead to new insights linking environmental, behavioral, and genetic aspects of chronic disease.

Michael Ebinger (PI) – WSU Spokane
U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration
“Washington State University Continuing EDA University Center Yr 3”
This award funds the continued operation of an Economic Development Administration (EDA) University Center at WSU. Based in Spokane, the WSU University Center for Innovation makes available university resources to the public to promote economic development in Washington State, North Idaho, and northern Oregon. It cultivates innovation and supports commercialization by providing technical assistance to small businesses and startups; conducting applied research on the market viability of products and services that drive small businesses; and assisting distressed areas within its region by identifying areas of potential economic development and helping to develop that potential into sustainable jobs. Under this new grant, the University Center for Innovation will work with other organizations in the region—such as the WSU Vancouver Business Growth Mentored Activity Program—to provide services to help new businesses form and create new jobs.

Michael Gibson (PI); Jean-Baptiste Roullet – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development
“Natural History of Succinic Semialdehyde Dehydrogenase Deficiency (SSADHD), a Heritable Disorder of GABA Metabolism”
This award provides continuing funds for a natural history study of patients with succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase (SSADH) deficiency, a rare inherited disorder that inhibits the breakdown of a neurotransmitter known as gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and is associated with developmental delays and neurological problems. The study will follow 55 patients at Boston Children’s hospital and other sites around the world over the period of five years. Through yearly assessments of the patients, the researchers will determine the natural course of the clinical presentation of SSADH deficiency, using a novel clinical severity score to quantify the most prominent clinical features of the disease. They will also determine the natural evolution of known neurophysiological and biochemical abnormalities in SSADH—such as those related to brain volume, brain GABA concentration, brain myelination, cortical GABAergic function, and blood and urine levels of GABA and related metabolites. Finally, they will try to identify neurophysiological and biochemical predictors of clinical severity. The study will provide the information needed to better predict the natural course of SSADH deficiency and monitor the success of future therapeutics, as well as lay the foundation for the addition of SSADH deficiency screening to existing newborn screening panels.

Zachary Hamilton (PI) – College of Arts & Sciences, Dept. of Criminal Justice & Criminology
Washington State Department of Corrections
“Washington State Department of Corrections STRONG-R Project”
This is renewal funding for WSU’s assistance with the creation and implementation of a set of tools to assess the risk of re-offense for felons convicted and sentenced in the state of Washington. This phase of the project consists of a pilot study to examine the impact of the new tool on the current population, the development of quality assurance procedures, and the creation of a menu of interventions. The work will help the Washington Department of Corrections guide their efforts around best practices for supervision, intervention prioritization, and resource allotment.

Stephen James (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Sleep & Performance Research Center
Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training
“Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training ‐ Training Development Assistance”
This is renewal funding for a project to assist the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training in enhancing its basic police training program. Based on prior research, James will identify decision points and behaviors in dynamic social encounters that are most likely to lead officers to making legal and legitimate decisions and to result in good outcomes. He will use a set of behavior‐based metrics previously developed at WSU as standards for testing and evaluating officer performance.

Jae Kennedy (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Administration for Community Living; National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research
“Collaborative on Health Reform and Independent Living”
This is continued grant funding for the Collaborative on Health Reform and Independent Living. The collaborative brings together disability advocates and researchers from WSU and three other institutions to evaluate the impact of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on the physical, psychological, and economic well-being of working-age adults with disabilities. The researchers will analyze data from existing surveys as well as conduct new phone and Internet-based surveys to gather data from health care consumers with disabilities and directors of Centers of Independent Living. Partner institutions in this project are the University of Kansas, George Mason University, and the Independent Living Research Utilization program at TIRR Memorial Hermann Hospital.

Jae Kennedy (PI); Elizabeth Wood – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Administration for Community Living; National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research
“Collaborative On Health Reform and Independent Living Fellowship (CHRIL-F)”
This award continues funding for a fellowship program that complements and extends the work of the Collaborative on Health Reform and Independent Living (CHRIL), a multisite Disability and Rehabilitation Research Project funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research. The program will fund three postdoctoral research positions for individuals with disabilities who are personally committed to understanding and improving health policies and services for disabled Americans. The goal is to have these postdocs go on to faculty positions at major universities or leadership roles in federal research agencies and nonprofit foundations.

Michael McDonell (PI); Oladunni Oluwoye – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Addiction
“Novel EtG Based Contingency Management for Alcohol in the Severely Mentally Ill”
This award represents continued funding for a diversity supplement for a project to determine whether modifications to an intervention known as contingency management—which uses incentives to reward positive behavior—can improve outcomes and reduce costs in heavy drinkers with serious mental illness. The supplement provides funding to support two years of research- and career development and training for research assistant professor Oladunni Oluwoye. As part of her training plan, she will expand her knowledge of web development, with the goal of developing a prototype for a comprehensive web-based contingency management tool that includes an interactive training guide for clinicians.

Sterling McPherson (PI); John Roll; Celestina Barbosa-Leiker – Elson. S. Floyd College of Medicine/ College of Nursing
University of Washington/National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse
“Clinical Trial Network: Pacific Northwest Node”
This is continued funding for a grant that supports the Pacific Northwest Node of the NIDA Clinical Trials Network (CTN). The Pacific Northwest Node is a multi-institution, multiple principal investigator effort to continue CTN’s mission to improve the quality of drug abuse treatment throughout the country through science.

Mary Paine (PI); John White; Matt Layton – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences; Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
“Mechanistic in vitro and clinical cannabis- and kratom-drug interaction studies”
This award continues funding for natural product-drug interaction studies involving two natural products: cannabinoids—a group of compounds that include tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol—and kratom, made from the leaves of a tropical opioid-producing tree. These natural products represent two of four high priority natural products studied within the Center of Excellence for Natural Product Drug Interaction Research based at WSU. The research team has previously studied green tea and goldenseal. Together, these studies will enable the development of a set of recommended approaches for natural product-drug interaction research. This will lead to improved design of future natural product-drug interaction research and, ultimately, improved decisions on the optimal management of clinically relevant natural product-drug interactions.

Lucia Peixoto (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine; Dept. of Biomedical Sciences
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
“Shank3 in Autism and Sleep Disturbances”
This award continues funding for an NIH Mentored Research Scientist Development Award that provides the PI with funds to start a line of research on the role of sleep in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the most prevalent neurodevelopment disorder in the U.S. Sleep problems have been shown to occur at a much higher rate in ASD than in typical development. They predict the severity of core symptoms of ASD—such as repetitive behaviors and social/communication deficits—as well as associated problems, such as tantrums and aggression. This research will specifically look at the role of Shank3—a gene that has been associated with ASD. Deletion of the Shank3 gene leads to Phelan McDermid Syndrome, a rare disease that is often accompanied by ASD. This study will build on preliminary work that showed that mice with a mutated Shank3 gene slept less after they had been sleep deprived than mice that did not have the mutation. It will attempt to determine whether this is due to decreased sleepiness or difficulties falling asleep. The research would increase scientists’ understanding of the mechanism that underlies sleep disturbances in individuals with ASD and may eventually lead to new interventions that could improve quality of life for patients and their families.

Ka’imi Sinclair (PI)  – College of Nursing/Community Health
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
“Strong Men, Strong Communities: Cultural Tradition to Improve Native Men’s Health”
This is continued funding for a project to develop the Strong Men, Strong Communities program. The program provides a culturally appropriate approach to reducing the risk of diabetes in American Indian men, who experience type 2 diabetes at much higher rates than other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. The investigators will study the effectiveness of the intervention in American Indian men in three different settings—a reservation in western New York; an urban health clinic in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and a Native community center in Portland, Oregon—as compared to waitlisted control groups.

Jingru Sun (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
National Institutes of Health, National Institute for General Medical Sciences
“Neuronal and molecular mechanisms underlying neural regulation of innate immunity”
This award continues funding for a research study aimed at describing the relationship between the nervous system and the innate immune system in response to pathogen infection. The study uses a model organism known as C. elegans, a roundworm that has a simple, well-defined nervous system and an immune systems that resembles that of humans in key respects. Earlier work completed by the principal investigator in this area has found that a neurotransmitter known as octopamine works with specific proteins and neurons to suppress the innate immune response. This project will try to dissect the neuronal and molecular mechanisms that make up this immuno-inhibitory pathway. This work could lay the groundwork for new treatments for human health conditions linked to excessive immune responses, such as Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Marian Wilson (PI) – College of Nursing
University of Cincinnati/National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse
“EMPOWER”
These are continued funds for WSU’s participation in the EMPOWER study led by the University of Cincinnati. EMPOWER is a five-year study of 400 non-cancer patients who are being treated with long-term opioid therapy at the University of Cincinnati Health and Duke Health. The study will look at whether use of an online pain management program, the Goalistics Chronic Pain Management Program, could help these patients reduce the amount of prescription opioids they take. The study will compare opioid use and pain outcomes between program participants and a control group who receive treatment as usual.

Boyang Wu (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Concern Foundation
“Dissecting stromal signals to target prostate cancer microenvironment”
Affecting 1 in 8 men, prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in the U.S. Scientists are looking at the microenvironment around prostate cancer cells to find ways to prevent and treat this form of cancer. This award continues a study that looks specifically at the stromal cells that connect tissue cells in the prostate as a potential target for anti-cancer therapy. Previous research by the principal investigator has shown increased expression of a protein known as monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) in prostate cancer stromal tissue as compared to healthy patient tissue. He also found that MAOA in stromal tissue promoted prostate cancer growth, whereas genetic manipulation to disrupt the production of MAOA reduced or eliminated prostate cancer growth in mice. This study takes a closer look at the role of MAOA in reprogramming prostate cancer stromal cells and explores the potential value of targeting MAOA in prostrate stromal cells as a way to treat prostate cancer.

Jiyue Zhu (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
National Institutes of Health, National Institute for General Medical Sciences
“Repression of the hTERT gene during cell differentiation: Admin Supp for Equipment”
This award continues a research study aimed at unraveling the mechanisms by which telomerase is regulated during development. Telomerase is an enzyme that lengthens telomeres in DNA strands, which allows cells to become immortal. It plays a key role in cell aging and tumor progression. This study will look at the gene that encodes a component of telomerase known as hTERT and how the gene is repressed during cell differentiation (the process by which a less specialized cell becomes a more specialized cell type). The goal of the study is to determine how telomere homeostasis contributes to human aging and the formation of tumors.

Jiyue Zhu (PI); Shobhan Gaddameedhi – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Pennsylvania State University/Melanoma Research Alliance
“Regulation of telomerase and telomere homeostasis during AM development”
This is continued funding for a project led by the Pennsylvania State University to examine the regulation of telomere length during the development of acral lentiginous melanoma, a type of skin cancer that is most commonly diagnosed in people of Asian and African descent. Telomeres are the protective ends of chromosomes. Telomerase is the protein that lengthens telomeres, which keeps cells from dying. This study will specifically look at mutations of the telomerase gene (TERT or, in humans, hTERT), which are more common in acral lentiginous melanoma as compared to cutaneous melanoma, the most aggressive form of melanoma. The researchers will test the hypothesis that telomere-induced chromosomal instability promotes the activation of hTERT and the progression of acral lentiginous melanoma. The project will help develop unique models to study the role of the TERT gene in melanoma development and develop new approaches to control these diseases.