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)

Solmaz Amiri (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
University of North Texas/National Institutes of Health, AIM-AHEAD
“Machine Learning-Driven Identification of Social Determinants of Health associated with Age at Diagnosis and Hospitalization among American Indian and/or Alaska Native and Hispanic Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias”
This grant provides funding for principal investigator Solmaz Amiri to participate in the Fall 2023 Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD) Program. Supported by the National Institutes of Health, AIM-AHEAD seeks to establish coordinated partnerships to increase the participation and representation of researchers and communities currently underrepresented in the development of artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) models and to enhance the capabilities of this emerging technology. The funding provided will support Amiri in conducting a study that will use machine learning to examine associations between a large set of social determinants of health with two health outcomes related to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) and Hispanic patients: age at diagnosis and rate of hospitalization. AI/ANs and Hispanic people experience cognitive decline related to memory loss at higher rates than whites, and it is hypothesized that combinations of social determinants of health are associated with these two health outcomes. This research may inform policy efforts to improve the social determinants of health associated with age at diagnosis and rate of hospitalization to improve the timely detection and management of dementias.

Ofer Amram (PI); Pablo Monsivais; Solmaz Amiri – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Dept. of Nutrition & Exercise Physiology/Community Health
Evergreen Social Impact/Andy Hill CARE Fund
“Evaluating the effect of rapid expansion of telehealth on breast cancer screening inequities”
Non-whites and residents of rural areas and poorer communities die from breast cancer at much higher rates, despite overall mortality rates from breast cancer declining over the last three decades. Breast cancer screening is key to reducing disease and mortality rates for breast cancer. An earlier study by the WSU team showed that racial and socioeconomic gaps in screening widened during the COVID-19 pandemic. More routine patient contact with primary care providers (PCPs) is associated with increased use of screening services. However, non-white and rural populations have reduced access to PCPs. Telehealth can increase access, and its availability has rapidly expanded during the pandemic. However, many of the populations that have higher rates of cancer mortality also experience barriers to adopting telehealth, such as lack of high-speed internet, lower ownership of digital devices, and lack of digital literacy. This study will use clinical data from a large, not-for-profit healthcare network in Washington state to examine the use of routine cancer screening services in relation to patient characteristics before, during, and after the roll-out of telehealth services during the pandemic. Findings from this study will be used to inform recommendations for improving access to cancer prevention services.

Dedra Buchwald (PI); Clemma Muller; Luciana Hebert; Gary Ferguson – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging
“Community Health and Aging in Native Groups of Elders (CHANGE)”
Led by co-PIs at WSU and Northern Arizona University, this five-year grant provides funding to provide an inclusive research training curriculum to a diverse cohort of nine scientists pursuing careers in community-based participatory research on aging with Native people. These junior faculty will conduct pilot studies for which they will receive support through mentoring; professional development; and integration into a network of scientists, alumni, and community partners. Known as Community Health and Aging in Native Groups of Elders (CHANGE), the new program builds on the success of the Native Elder Research Center, which Buchwald led for 25 years. It draws from a consortium of mentors and partners at other institutions, including the University of Minnesota, Oklahoma State University, the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, and the University of Washington. CHANGE will ultimately help address the limited availability of data on disparities related to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) in American Indians/Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, who are at especially high risk of ADRD and make up a rapidly increasing share of Americans aged 65 and older.

Franck Carbonero (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Dept. of Nutrition & Exercise Physiology
Nutraberry/US Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture
“Analyzing Nutritional Benefits of Micronized Defatted Berry Seed Powders Using an in-vitro Model of the Human Gut Microbiome”
Berry seeds are rich in fiber and polyphenols, nutrients that are thought to have health benefits in chronic diseases associated with overweight and obesity. Nutraberry has developed a method of micronizing defatted raspberry seeds. Micronizing breaks the seeds down into very fine particles that could be incorporated into a variety of foods. Ellagic acid and ellagitannin are two polyphenols found in defatted raspberry seeds that are metabolized by the gut microbiota into compounds known as urolithins, which are associated with a wide variety of beneficial health effects. Ellagic acid and fiber may interact to enhance the production of urolithins. Funded by a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded to Nutraberry, this study will test the ability of the micronization process to increase beneficial gut microbes in human stool and enhance the production of urolithins by gut microbes. The study will determine and compare the ellagitannin, ellagic acid, and urolithin content of five test breads before and after an in-vitro fermentation process. This includes two breads that contain defatted raspberry seed micronized to 5 or 15 microns, bread that contains non-micronized defatted raspberry seeds, bread made from refined grains only, and a fiber-enriched wholewheat bread. The findings may provide a rationale for creating health-promoting functional foods containing micronized defatted raspberry seeds.

Dawn DeWitt (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Empire Health Foundation
“2023 Consortium of Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships (CLIC) Conference”
This grant provides funds toward the organization of the 2023 Consortium of Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships (CLIC) conference, which was hosted by the WSU College of Medicine on the Spokane campus in September 2023. Specifically, the grant supported efforts made to center social justice and community partnership topics into the conference programming and facilitate the inclusion of faculty, students, and community members who are Native American or belong to other groups that are underrepresented in medicine. CLIC is a community of international medical educators and innovators engaged in developing, implementing, and studying Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC) models to facilitate innovations in core clinical training for future physicians. WSU’s community-based medical school curriculum requires that all students spend their third year completing a LIC, which helps support empathy, student-patient relationships, and clinical skills development.

Denise Dillard (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
Southcentral Foundation/National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
“Dietary and Genomic Predictors of Anti-Platelet Response (APLT)”
Antiplatelet drugs such as aspirin are the standard of care for men and women at risk of thromboembolic events, including deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and some strokes and heart attacks. Thromboembolic events occur when a blood clot breaks loose, travels through the bloodstream, and blocks a vein or artery. Both genetic and dietary factors contribute to interindividual differences in the basal function of platelets and their response to antiplatelet drugs. The goal of this study is to determine the extent to which genetic variation and dietary consumption of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids modify platelet structure, function, and antiplatelet drug response. The knowledge gained in this study can be used to improve therapeutic outcomes in underserved American Indian and Alaska Native populations receiving antiplatelet therapy.

Devon Hansen (PI); Hans Van Dongen; Stephen James; Matthew Layton – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Sleep and Performance Research Center
Google
“Objective Fatigue Measurement with Phone-Based Eye Tracking”
This contract funds a study aimed at determining whether Google’s smartphone-based gaze-tracking algorithm can accurately quantify objective fatigue. Using human volunteers in a controlled laboratory setting, the researchers will induce various degrees of sleep-loss-related fatigue over periods of prolonged wakefulness, comparing the algorithm’s output to independent objective assessments of fatigue. In addition, the researchers will explore the potential of a fatigue assessment that incorporates multiple measurements—including facial features, pupillary constriction, voice analysis, typing analysis (cadence, error rate, and so on), mental acuity, and ocular measures—during simulated driving performance. They will also explore whether features of sleep as monitored by wearable and contactless devices could predict next-day neurocognitive performance as measured by existing tools used to assess subjective sleepiness and impairment from sleep deprivation.

Katherine Hirchak (PI); Lisa Thomas; Sara Parent; Michelle Peavy – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/PRISM
Seattle Indian Health Board/Washington State Health Care Authority
“Seattle Indian Health Board – PRISM CM Training Proposal”
The WSU Promoting Research Initiatives in Substance Use and Mental Health (PRISM) Collaborative partners with communities to develop, test, and disseminate community-driven interventions to improve the lives of individuals living with substance use and mental health disorders. This grant involves a partnership with the Seattle Indian Health Board to develop and implement a contingency management model. Contingency management is a behavioral intervention that uses tangible incentives such as gift cards or small prizes to promote abstinence from addictive substances. The goal of this project is to provide treatment providers at each site with training on the background of contingency management and its proper implementation, as well as with on-going technical support. Materials on contingency management will be adapted to the unique needs of the Seattle Indian Health Board patient population.

Clark Kogan (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
US Department of Agriculture/Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
“Statistical Methods for Risk-based Surveillance Strategies”
This award provides funding for the principal investigator to assist the US Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Veterinary Services (VS) unit with Bayesian modeling and simulation. VS has limited resources for animal disease surveillance and can no longer rely on traditional sampling schemes that call for large sample sizes to achieve traditional surveillance metrics. Its Surveillance Design and Analysis (SDA) unit has developed a novel statistical model to estimate the sample size required for disease testing to achieve a specific level of disease detection power based on the probability of disease freedom from the previous year. However, the model does not account for biosecurity measures implemented on farms and other factors, which in turn does not encourage farms to adopt such measures. Kogan will use his expertise to help the SDA unit estimate the reduction in the necessary sample size for disease testing based on biosecurity measures in place at the farm. The work will help VS safeguard U.S. animal health and promote the animal and animal product trade with other countries in a cost-effective manner.

Luciana Mascarenhas Fonseca (PI); Naomi Chaytor – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging
“Intraindividual cognitive variability in aging adults with Down syndrome: associations with Alzheimer’s disease plasma biomarkers, neuropathology and clinical dementia”
This NIH Pathway to Independence Award funds a study to examine cognitive measures for the early prediction of dementia in individuals with Down syndrome. Individuals with Down syndrome are at higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease compared to the general population and are considered an ideal target population for anti-Alzheimer’s disease therapy trials. However, there is no reliable pre-symptomatic measure that can predict dementia onset in this population. As part of a research partnership that involves six universities in three countries, the research team will use data from the Alzheimer’s Biomarker Consortium-Down Syndrome study to determine whether intraindividual cognitive variability—a measure of variability in neuropsychological test performance within a person at a single timepoint—can be used to identify early, pre-symptomatic signs of Alzheimer’s disease in adults with Down syndrome. The findings from this study may lead to the availability of less-invasive ways to detect the early signs of neurodegeneration in people with Down syndrome, which would allow for earlier intervention and for the inclusion of individuals with Down syndrome in anti-Alzheimer’s disease trials. As such, this study has the potential to reduce the impact of dementia on individuals, their families, and society.

Michael McDonell (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/PRISM
University of California Los Angeles/ California Department of Health Care Services
“DHCS CalAIM Training Contract – Contingency Management”
This contract provides funding for the WSU Promoting Research Initiatives in Mental Health and Substance Use (PRISM) Collaborative to support UCLA and the state of California in implementing training in contingency management. Contingency management is a behavioral intervention that uses tangible incentives such as gift cards or small prizes to promote abstinence from addictive substances. UCLA and the state of California are developing and implementing a contingency management model for psychostimulant drugs—such as methamphetamine and cocaine—for use by clinicians throughout the state of California. The WSU PRISM team will help develop and implement the model and provide training and technical support to treatment providers at each site.

Michael McDonell (PI); Sterling McPherson; Naomi Chaytor – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/PRISM
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
“Assessing the Clinical and Cost-Effectiveness of a Virtual PEth-based Contingency Management for Adults with AUD”
This grant funds a five-year research project to test a novel telehealth treatment for alcohol use disorder. The treatment is based on contingency management, a behavioral intervention that uses gift cards and other small prizes to reinforce abstinence from substances. Abstinence is verified through testing, but currently used methods to determine abstinence via telehealth are costly and burdensome. This new study will determine abstinence based on phosphatidylethanol (PEth), a blood-based biomarker that can detect alcohol use for up to 28 days. Participants in this randomized trial will receive either six months online cognitive behavioral therapy for alcohol use disorder and telehealth PEth-based contingency management or be in a control group that receives the online cognitive behavioral therapy along with reinforcers for submitting blood samples, without the requirement of abstinence. If the study confirms earlier findings from a pilot trial that the telehealth PEth-based model increases abstinence and is cost effective, this intervention could reach millions of Americans with alcohol use disorder that cannot or do not seek in-person care due to stigma or inconvenience.

Sterling McPherson (co-PI); Michael McDonell (co-PI); Andre Miguel – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/PRISM
Managed Health Connections, LLC/National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
“Automated Contingency Management System for Reduction of Alcohol Use”
Only 15 percent of those with alcohol use disorder receive treatment. Contingency management—an intervention that uses incentives such as gift cards to encourage abstinence from substances—has been shown to be an effective approach for reducing alcohol use in problematic drinkers. With funding from a Small Business Innovation Research Program grant provided through the National Institutes of Health, the WSU team will work with Managed Health Connections, LLC, to develop and test an advanced contingency management system for the reduction of alcohol use. The system will combine mobile technology, geospatial mapping, and biomarker measurement with individual goal setting and EMA feedback. The goal is to provide a feasible and effective contingency management platform that will allow individuals and their healthcare providers to monitor drinking, reduce alcohol consumption, and better understand factors related to alcohol use (such as correlations between mood, location, and so on). The intervention will be tested in a randomized, 12-week clinical trial that will compare rates of biochemically verified alcohol use, self-reported drinks per day, and heavy drinking days between the contingency management group and a control group receiving standard treatment.

Matthew Nelson (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Providence Centralia Hospital
“Staff Assignment at Providence Centralia – Nelson”
This contract provides funding to enable Matthew Nelson, PharmD, to devote 50 percent of his time to Providence Centralia Hospital programs. His primary responsibilities at the hospital include working with Centralia’s pharmacy department staff on the development and implementation of innovative clinical pharmacy services, participation in quality improvement initiatives, staff education and training, establishing an independent clinical research program, supervising pharmacy students, and participating in the WSU-affiliated pharmacy residency program.

Bhagwat Prasad (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
AbbVie Inc
“Proteomics-based research initiative on non-CYP enzymes 4.0 (PRINCE 4.0)”
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. AbbVie is one of five pharmaceutical companies supporting the PRINCE program for the 2023-2025 grant period.

Jean-Baptiste Roullet (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Succinic Semialdehyde Dehydrogenase Deficiency Association
“Natural History of Succinic Semialdehyde Dehydrogenase Deficiency (SSADHD), a Heritable Disorder of GABA Metabolism”
This award funds 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 30 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 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.

Hui Zhang (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute
“Mechanism of double-negative T cells in antitumor immunity to breast cancer”
Breast cancer is now the most common cancer globally, accounting for about one in every eight new annual cancer cases worldwide. Breast cancer that metastasizes—or spreads—to other parts of the body is incurable once tumors become resistant to chemotherapy. Cancer immunotherapy is used to successfully treat many types of advanced cancers, including triple-negative breast cancer. However, immunotherapy drugs work better in some cancers than others and do not work in all patients. This five-year study will try to decipher the mechanism of a type of immune cells known as double-negative T cells in promoting antitumor immunity in breast cancer, based on earlier research in mice that suggests that these cells could potentially help inhibit the development and growth of triple-negative breast cancer. Ultimately, this research could be used as a basis for the development of more effective cancer immunotherapy approaches to treat and cure patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Jiyue Zhu (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
US Department of Defense, Defense Health Agency
“Identify novel approaches for melanoma prevention using mouse models with humanized telomeres”
Telomeres are the protective caps of chromosomal ends. In adult humans, telomeres get shorter every time cells multiply. This ultimately causes cells to lose their ability to proliferate, a process known as replicative aging. In cancer cells, telomerase lengthens telomeres to compensate for their loss during cell proliferation, preventing the cells from dying. In laboratory mice, telomerase regulation does not work the same way as in humans, which has limited the use of mouse models to address fundamental questions about the cancer disease process. The telomerase gene is a main target of mutations in melanoma. The goal of this project is to develop a novel melanoma mouse model with humanlike telomeres and determine the timing of genetic mutations critical for melanoma development. Findings from this study could provide a basis for the development of new approaches for melanoma prevention and treatment.

AWARDS FOR ONGOING WORK

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

Ofer Amram (PI); Pablo Monsivais; Solmaz Amiri – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Washington State Department of Health
“Environmental Health Disparities Map”
This contract provides renewal funding for WSU researchers to develop the Washington Environmental Health Disparities map as outlined in the Health Environment for All (HEAL) Act, which was passed in 2021 as a step toward eliminating environmental and health disparities among communities of color and low-income households. The map is a free online tool that ranks the cumulative risk each neighborhood in Washington faces from environmental factors that influence health outcomes. Specifically, this project will involve the creation of a pesticide exposure variable for inclusion in the map, based on data from the United States Geological Survey’s National Water-Quality Assessment Project and United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The researchers will also develop a method to track changes in environmental health inequities for inclusion in the interactive display hosted on the Washington Tracking Network.

Amanda Boyd (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
University of California, Los Angeles/American Heart Association
“Community Engaged, mHealth and Data Science to Enhance Clinical Trial Diversity and Cardiometabolic Health”
This subaward provides continued funding for postdoctoral fellow Juliana Garcia to conduct a study aimed at identifying key factors that facilitate or hinder American Indian participation in clinical trials. The ultimate goal of this work is to increase clinical trial participation in this underrepresented population. The study will leverage an existing randomized controlled trial titled “Cognition After Obstructive Sleep Apnea Treatment Among Native American People” (CATNAP). Within that trial, the researchers will conduct a study to estimate clinical trial awareness and identify factors associated with participation in clinical trials in a national sample of American Indians. They will then develop and test the effect of a novel randomized controlled trial, “Research is Ceremony,” on study enrollment and retention among 225 American Indian CATNAP participants. Findings from the study will help advance the science of diversity in clinical trials and may be broadly applicable to other populations.

Dedra Buchwald (PI); Clemma Muller; Patrik Johansson – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
National Institutes of Health; National Institute on Aging
“Natives Engaged in Alzheimer’s Research”
This award provides continued funds for a five-year grant to establish and operate the Natives Engaged in Alzheimer’s Research (NEAR) Center, an innovative program to better understand and mitigate health disparities related to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) experienced by US Native populations. American Indians and Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are known to have a high prevalence of ADRD risk factors such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes. At the same time, improved life expectancies have resulted in a tripling of their populations’ share of people aged 65 or older over the last 50 years. Together, these two factors are expected to have a major impact on Native communities and the healthcare systems that serve them. Led by WSU, the NEAR project brings together six major universities, 11 tribes, and 12 Native partner organizations to engage in research to reduce the clinical, social, and economic burdens associated with ADRD in US Native populations. The project also engages a nationwide network of eight satellite centers directed by researchers who are members of the Native communities being studied.

Frank Carbonero (PI); Patrick Solverson – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
“Investigating the role of microbiome and metabolome in the prebiotic and urinary tract infection preventative effect of cranberry juice”
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common bacterial infections in women. Cranberry consumption has long been suggested to prevent and even treat UTI, but recent reviews of the literature have found that the evidence to support this practice was suggestive at best. This continuing study will test the hypothesis that the vaginal microbiome is strongly influenced by the gut microbiome and will determine whether inter-individual differences in gut microbiome composition may be at the root of the difficulties to confirm cranberry consumption as protecting against UTIs. The researchers will look at the relationships between the gut microbiome and vaginal microbiome and examine how cranberry consumption affects the gut microbiome, metabolome, and ultimately the vaginal microbiome. The findings of this study may be used to pursue long-term, nutritional studies using other dietary elements—such as prebiotics or probiotics—to optimize the beneficial effects of cranberries and reduce UTI risk.

Naomi Chaytor (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Jaeb Center for Health Research Foundation/National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
“A Randomized Cross-over Trial Evaluating Automated Insulin Delivery Technologies on Hypoglycemia and Quality of Life in Older Adults with Type 1 Diabetes”
Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) occurs frequently in older adults with Type 1 Diabetes and is associated with altered mental status, an increased risk for falls leading to fractures, car accidents, and heartbeat irregularities resulting in sudden death. The occurrence and fear of hypoglycemia negatively affect the quality of life of individuals with Type 1 Diabetes and their families. Automated insulin delivery systems use continuous glucose monitors and smart algorithms to automatically adjust the amount of insulin delivered via a pump to the needs of the patient. Though evidence suggests these systems are effective in children and adults with Type 1 Diabetes, little data exists on the benefits and risks of automated insulin delivery technology in older adults with Type 1 diabetes. The goal of this continuing study is to assess the effectiveness of automated insulin delivery on reducing hypoglycemia and improving quality of life in older adults with Type 1 diabetes.

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 continuation award funds a study of children’s health outcomes in an outdoor preschool model. The ultimate goal is to determine the model’s capacity for preventing childhood obesity, which disproportionally impacts underserved and minority populations and is a critical public health threat 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 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.

Amber Fyfe-Johnson (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
Storer Fund at The Miami Foundation
“Health Outcomes in Preschool: INnovations for Obesity Prevention (HOP-IN)”
This award provides renewal funding to pay for a research coordinator and study supplies for an NIH-funded project to evaluate the impact of an outdoor preschool model on health outcomes and academic achievement in early childhood (see previous listing).

Jason Gerstner (PI); Carlos Flores; Christopher Davis – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Sleep & Performance Research Center
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. This award continues funding for 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 different species.

Jason Gerstner (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Sleep & Performance Research Center
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
“Equipment Supplement to Characterizing evolutionarily conserved mechanisms underlying sleep, clocks, and memory”
This award provides supplemental funding for research equipment for a project aimed at unraveling the mechanisms underlying sleep, 24-hour rhythms, and learning and memory (see previous listing).

Katherine Hirchak (PI); Michael McDonell – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
“Culturally Re-Centering Contingency Management and Behavioral Economics to Increase Engagement with American Indian Young Adults”
This award continues an NIH Mentored Research Scientist Development award for a research project to develop and implement alcohol misuse interventions for American Indian young adults. In partnership with a rural reservation community, the researchers will use community-based participatory research to culturally re-center a contingency management alcohol intervention that pairs smartphone engagement strategies with monetary rewards to increase participation and abstinence among American Indians aged 18 to 29. The re-centered contingency management plus intervention will be designed based on input from focus groups and interviews with young adults, providers, and cultural leaders and will be tested in a 12-week controlled trial. The trial will compare outcomes between individuals in a group of American Indian young adults engaging in risky drinking receiving the enhanced intervention to those receiving standard contingency management. The award will also fund professional development activities to enable Hirchak to become an independent investigator.

Liat Kriegel (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/PRISM
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health
“Risk Environments of Permanent Supportive Housing for Formerly Incarcerated People with Serious Mental Illnesses”
This award continues funding for a four-year study exploring how the geography of permanent supportive housing can support the community reentry of formerly incarcerated people with serious mental illnesses. Despite high rates of homelessness among this population, permanent supportive housing provides few strategies for navigating community integration. Housing sites are often located in areas with high poverty, substance use, and crime. Yet, they are also surrounded by public spaces that are associated with positive outcomes—such as increased self-esteem and life satisfaction, a positive orientation toward recovery, and independent employment—and that can provide access to tangible and social resources. This study will examine how individual, interpersonal, and environmental characteristics interact with different environments of permanent supportive housing to support community participation and treatment engagement and reduce psychiatric distress and substance use during community reentry. It will use community-engaged research methods, including interviews with 80 formerly incarcerated clients with serious mental illnesses living in permanent supportive housing. Study outcomes will be used to codesign an intervention in collaboration with people who have lived experiences of incarceration, serious mental illnesses, and housing insecurity as well as with providers.

Odile Madesclaire (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences/US Department for Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health
“Ājjmuurur Baamḷe Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSMES) program”
This subaward provides continued funding for WSU to work with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) to implement and evaluate a diabetes self-management education and support program targeted to Marshallese Pacific Islanders living in the US. Marshallese Pacific Islanders have some of the highest rates of type 2 diabetes in the world, with estimates ranging from 20 to 50 percent as compared to 9.4 percent in the overall US population and 4 percent worldwide. A recent needs assessment involving Marshallese participants completed by the researchers shows that fewer than 10 percent reported adhering to diabetes self-management recommendations and more than half had uncontrolled blood glucose levels. To reduce disparities in type 2 diabetes management in Marshallese communities, researchers at UAMS and WSU culturally adapted the standard Diabetes Self-Management and Support program to be family-centered and culturally appropriate for the Marshallese community. They are implementing this 10-week adapted program at sites in Arkansas, Hawaii, and Washington State, with a goal of recruiting at least 300 Marshallese with type 2 diabetes along with one family member for each participant over a three-year period.

Michael McDonell (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/PRISM
WA State Health Care Authority/US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
“HCA Virtual Contingency Management Training”
This grant provides supplemental funding for WSU substance use researchers to support the Washington Healthcare Authority (HCA) in the implementation of contingency management training. Contingency management is a behavioral intervention that uses small prizes and other incentives to promote abstinence from addictive substances. The goal of this project is to provide technical assistance to clinical sites that are working to develop and implement a contingency management model for psychostimulant drugs, such as cocaine and methamphetamine.

Sterling McPherson (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
“Zonisamide for the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder in the Addiction Neuroclinical Assessment Framework”
This award continues a study to test an anticonvulsant medication named Zonisamide as a potential treatment for alcohol use disorder. A public health issue that costs the U.S. an estimated $249 billion each year, alcohol use disorder increases the risk of a variety of negative health outcomes, such as high blood pressure, liver disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and cognitive dysfunction. This new study will be a randomized controlled trial that will use Zonisamide in combination with contingency management—an incentive-based behavioral intervention—to reduce alcohol use in patients with alcohol use disorder in a primary care setting. The researchers will monitor participants’ medication adherence and test and compare their alcohol use during the treatment period. The goal of the study is to determine the effectiveness of Zonisamide versus placebo at decreasing alcohol use among treatment-seeking adults with alcohol use disorder.

Sterling McPherson (PI); – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Oregon Health and Sciences University/National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
“Tele-Collaborative Outreach to Rural Patients with Chronic Pain: The CORPs Trial”
This award provides continued funds for WSU to assist Oregon Health and Sciences University with the design, execution, and analysis of a clinical trial to test a telehealth collaborative care intervention for rural patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Findings from this project may inform future studies that could be the basis for an intervention to improve clinical and health service outcomes for patients with long-term chronic pain.

Becki Meehan (PI); Sarah Washington-Halsted – WSU Spokane Student Affairs
University of Washington
“WSU Health Sciences Spokane – 2023-2024 WA MESA Program”
This contract provides renewal funding for the Spokane Math Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) program. The program builds a pathway to college and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). MESA develops programming and initiatives to improve diversity and retention, with an emphasis on traditionally underrepresented students in STEM fields, including African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Pacific Islanders, and women.

Becki Meehan (PI); Alexander Eppel – WSU Spokane; Office of Student Affairs
U.S. Dept. of Education; Office of Postsecondary Education
“Washington State University Spokane Stevens County Upward Bound”
This grant provides renewal funding from the federal TRIO programs for the Upward Bound program. Upward Bound is designed to generate the skills and motivation necessary for success in education beyond high school among young people from low‐income families and families where neither parent has acquired a bachelor’s degree. Upward Bound provides program participants with fundamental support in their preparation for college entrance. This Upward Bound project housed at WSU Spokane focuses on four small high schools in Ferry and Stevens Counties.

Shelby Metra (PI); Philip Lazarus – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse
“Drug-drug interactions between cannabis and hydrocodone”
Misuse of prescription opioids—including hydrocodone—in combination with other illicit drugs such as cannabis has been a growing concern. Previous studies conducted in the Lazarus lab have shown that cannabinoids—a group of substances found in the cannabis plant—and their major metabolites found in the blood of cannabis users interfere with two families of enzymes that help metabolize a variety of drugs. This could lead to unintended side effects such as toxicity or accidental overdose. As part of this continuing study, the researchers will identify the cannabinoids and cannabinoid metabolites that inhibit drug metabolizing enzymes that are involved in hydrocodone metabolism. In addition, they will collaborate with associate professor Marian Wilson (College of Nursing) and others at WSU on a clinical trial to evaluate the clinical relevance of potential drug-drug interactions between cannabis and hydrocodone in humans.

Pablo Monsivais (PI); Ofer Amram; Solmaz Amiri – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Dept. of Nutrition & Exercise Physiology/Community Health
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
“Leveraging cell phone location data to measure interactions with the food environment and associated health outcomes”
Unhealthy diet is a key risk factor for chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Currently available long-term measures of diet are subject to error and bias. Access to and use of food retailers is a recognized population-level determinant of diet. One way of objectively measuring this for health research could be through Google Location History Timeline (GTL) data, which includes high-resolution geographic location data collected through Google smartphone apps. This award provides continued funds for a study to determine the feasibility of using GTL data to develop new measures of long-term patterns of food retailer use. The researchers will collect GTL data from 3,000 adults from the Washington State Twin Registry, including daily time-activity patterns from 2012 to present. They will evaluate these data against measures of food outlet use and detailed dietary intake in a subset of 288 twins, measuring how metrics of food retailer use relate to health outcomes, particularly weight status, weight change, and self-rated overall health. Having a new way to measure food access behaviors associated with diet and health outcomes could help advance the study of how the built environment influences human health.

Senthil Natesan (PI); Santanu Bose – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences; College of Veterinary Medicine
National Institutes of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences
“Molecular biophysics of integrin activation by oxysterols and rational discovery of small molecular modulators”
Oxysterols—which are derivatives of cholesterol–are involved in many processes in the human body, such as lipid metabolism, inflammation, innate and adaptive immunity, cancer, and degenerative brain diseases. Scientists have identified an oxysterol known as 25-hydroxycholesterol (25HC) as an important regulator of the immune system that is produced by immune cells in response to viral infection. This award provides continued funds for a study to unravel the molecular mechanisms by which 25HC and other oxysterols activate proteins known as integrins that help them bind to tissues and organs where they worsen inflammation. The researchers will also try to identify one or more molecules that can modify interactions between integrins and 25HC, which could potentially serve as a basis for future potential anti-inflammatory therapies for immune and infectious diseases.

Lonnie Nelson (PI); Susan Collins – College of Nursing/Community Health; College of Arts & Sciences
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 continuing project to culturally adapt an existing harm-reduction substance use counseling approach focused on improving retention of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for use in American Indians with opioid 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 Nation 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.

Lonnie Nelson (PI); Susan Collins – College of Nursing/Community Health; College of Arts & Sciences
National Institutes of Health; National Institute on Drug Abuse
“Counseling for Harm Reduction and Retention in Medication-assisted treatment – Cherokee Nation (CHaRRM-CN)”
This awards represents a diversity supplement that supports second-year clinical psychology student Emma Shinagawa. Shinagawa will conduct research within an existing project aimed at culturally adapting an existing harm-reduction substance use counseling approach focused on improving retention of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for use in American Indians with opioid use disorder (see previous listing). Her project will track participants’ engagement with various components of the adapted intervention and evaluate whether engagement to the components overall or to specific components is associated with positive treatment outcomes, such as improved MAT retention, better cultural connectedness, reduced substance-related harm, and less illicit opioid use.

Lucia Peixoto (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
“The role of sleep on chromatin and transcriptional regulation across vertebrate evolution”
This award provides continued funding for a study to test the hypothesis that one of the evolutionarily conserved functions of sleep is to influence gene expression and chromatin regulation. Chromatin is the material that packages long strands of DNA into a compact shape that fits inside cells and controls the activity of certain genes by opening and closing to allow access during transcription. It plays a vital role in learning and memory, which are critical to the survival of any species because they allow organisms to adapt their behavior based on experience. Sleep is thought to facilitate these processes. This study will use novel technology to define, for the first time, how sleep influences transcription and chromatin regulation across different cell types in two distantly related vertebrate species: the mouse and the zebrafish. Findings from this work may serve as the basis for functional studies to define mechanisms conserved across species by which sleep can modulate gene expression and chromatin remodeling.

Bhagwat Prasad (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Genentech
“Proteomics-informed in vitro to in vivo extrapolation of non-cytochrome P450 drug metabolism (Genentech)”
This grant provides renewal 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 would help address the poor in vitro to in vivo extrapolation of drug metabolism by non-CYP enzymes and could ultimately help reduce the number of animal and clinical studies needed before new drugs can be approved. Genentech is one of five pharmaceutical companies supporting the PRINCE program for the 2023-2025 grant period.

Bhagwat Prasad (PI) – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Gilead Sciences, Inc.
“Proteomics-informed in vitro to in vivo extrapolation of non-cytochrome P450 drug metabolism (Gilead)”
This grant renews 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 would help address the poor in vitro to in vivo extrapolation of drug metabolism by non-CYP enzymes and could ultimately help reduce the number of animal and clinical studies needed before new drugs can be approved. Gilead Sciences is one of five pharmaceutical companies supporting the PRINCE program for the 2023-2025 grant period.

Bhagwat Prasad (PI); Mary Paine; John White; Matthew Layton; Senthil Natesan; Clark Kogan – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences; Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
“Ontogeny of drug transport”
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 continues funding for a research project to lay the groundwork toward creating such a model. In a previous phase of this project, the research team completed a quantitative analysis of how drug transporters and drug metabolizing enzymes are expressed in pediatric livers, compared to adult livers. This phase of the study will look at the kidney, the organ that plays a predominant role in clearing about 30 percent of prescription drugs. 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.

Robert Rosenman (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/School of Economic Sciences/Community Health
Oklahoma State University/National Institutes of Health; National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
“Osage Community Supported Agriculture Study (OCSA)”
Poor diet is the number one risk factor for preventable disease in the US. Few studies have looked at the environmental determinants of diet-related diseases in American Indian communities. As part of an effort to promote traditional healthy foods, the Osage Nation based in Oklahoma is implementing the Osage Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), in which Osage citizens will receive a share of farm fresh produce each week for 6 months. This award provides renewal funding for a randomized controlled trial to test the effect of the CSA intervention on diet and health outcomes among Osage adults ages 35-75 who are either overweight or obese. Findings from this study will address sustainability and inform decisions by tribal leadership and other key stakeholders about long-term implementation and dissemination of the CSA intervention. In addition, they will inform research and policy efforts to create sustainable food access in reservations with high rates of chronic disease, as well as in urban American Indian communities where CSAs are widely available and could be tailored.

Astrid Suchy-Dicey (PI); Dedra Buchwald; Celestina Barbosa-Leiker; Paul Whitney – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health; College of Nursing; College of Arts & Sciences
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging
“Resilience, cultural alignment, and social support in brain aging: Data from the Strong Heart Study”
Many American Indians experience trauma and disparities in environmental and socioeconomic conditions that can worsen daily stresses and contribute to health risks. This continuing study explores associations between resilience, cultural alignment, and social support in Native people and whether these factors can mediate chronic stress and the potential that this chronic stress results in neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. This award provides continued funding for the addition of several psychosocial and neuropsychological instruments on resilience, social support, cultural identity and alignment, and cognition to the existing study protocol for the Strong Heart Study, a longitudinal cohort of American Indian adults from 13 tribal communities across the US. The researchers will study 3,000 participants who will be recruited between 2022 and 2024. Findings from the study will offer a clearer picture of the relative contributions of psychosocial, behavioral, interpersonal, and socioeconomic factors related to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Astrid Suchy-Dicey (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
University of Oklahoma/National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
“Strong Heart Study (SHS)- Field Center(s) 20001424 Task A”
This subaward provides renewal funding for the principal investigator to contribute research expertise and assistance to the Strong Heart Study, a long-running study of two cohorts that together form the largest, multicenter, prospective epidemiological study of cardiovascular disease in Native Americans. The study involves a partnership with 12 Tribal Nations who live in Arizona, Oklahoma, and the Dakotas.

Jingru Sun (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
“Neuronal and molecular mechanisms underlying neural regulation of innate immunity”
This award continues funding for a five-year project to study the neural regulation of innate immunity—the immune system we are born with—using a tiny soil-dwelling worm known as Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) as a model organism. This work will contribute to the theory that there could be a predetermined setpoint for internal immunity and that the nervous system regulates immune responses to internal or external environmental changes to bring immunity back to the setpoint and restore immune balance. Sun and her team previously identified several neuronal proteins that play a role in how the nervous system and immune system interact to fight infection and achieve specificity of the innate immune system. (Specificity, the ability to respond differently to specific pathogens, was previously ascribed only to the adaptive immune system, which develops over time through disease exposure). With this new round of funding, the researchers will delve further into the underlying mechanisms that drive these processes. Findings from these studies could benefit the development of new treatments for infectious diseases and innate immune disorders.

Elizabeth Weybright (co-PI); Michelle Peavy (co-PI); Sara Parent; Nicole Rodin; Anamaria Martinez; Michael McDonell; Brittany Cooper; Lisa Thomas – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/PRISM; WSU Extension; College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
“Northwest Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Collaborative (NW ROTAC)”
This award provides continued funding for WSU’s role in the Northwest Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Collaborative (NW ROTAC), which has been established in collaboration with Oregon State University (OSU). The center leverages the experience and expertise of two other rural opioid technical assistance centers at WSU and OSU to meet the needs of rural communities throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska that are battling the rising use of opioids and stimulants and its consequences. NW ROTAC focuses on providing training and technical assistance on substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery, including efforts to support behavioral health equity by providing culturally congruent training and technical assistance to the American Indian and Alaska Native communities and more than one million Latinx people residing in the region served by the center. The overall goal of NW ROTAC is to prevent drug use and drug poisonings, support effective substance use disorder treatment and sustained recovery, and promote mental health.

Jiyue Zhu (PI); Chris Davis – College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences; Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
National Institutes of Health, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging
“A mouse model with humanized telomere homeostasis”
This continuation award funds a five-year project to develop a new mouse model with human-like telomere homeostasis. Telomeres are the protective caps of chromosomal ends and function as an aging clock. In adult humans, telomeres get shorter every time cells multiply. This ultimately causes cells to lose their ability to proliferate, a process known as replicative aging. Some cell types—such as reproductive cells and cancer cells—are not subject to replicative aging because a gene encoding the telomerase enzyme, which helps to reset telomere length, is turned on in these cells. Mice do not experience replicative aging. They have excessively long telomeres, and telomerase lengthens telomeres in most cells in mice. These differences make animal models unsuitable for addressing many fundamental questions in human aging and cancer biology. In this project, the researchers will genetically engineer a mouse strain with limited telomerase gene activity and human-like short telomeres. They will use the mice to study how loss of telomere length contributes to human aging. Specifically, the researchers will study how short telomeres affect lifespan and explore ways to extend health span, the part of a person’s life with good health.