Project Grant R43AG067894

This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) will fund the development of a novel Alzheimer's disease therapeutic using targeted nanoparticles. The $504,732 award to Aphios Corp, a minority-owned biotechnology company, will support two phases of research. In Phase I, the company will nanoencapsulate an anti-CCR5 drug in targeted and non-targeted nanoparticles, characterize the formulations, and evaluate their impact on in vitro models of brain...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) provides $455,009 to The General Hospital Corporation (doing business as Massachusetts General Hospital) to develop a novel [18F]-labeled amphiphilic PET probe that can cross the blood-brain barrier and track CD206+ microglia/macrophages in Alzheimer's disease. The goal is to create a non-invasive imaging method to detect anti-inflammatory M2-like microglia and macrophages, which play a key role in...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) provides $374,000.00 to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to develop and evaluate a novel hematopoietic stem cell-based chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) macrophage therapy for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The key objectives are to: 1) Optimize an AB-targeting CAR-macrophage (CAR-M) therapy for in vitro efficacy against AB aggregates and reducing neuroinflammation, and 2) Investigate the safety...

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) awarded a $949,062 Project Grant (CFDA 93.866) to Somatoceutics LLC to develop a non-toxic, peptide-based nanomaterial (SMC-101 nanotubes) for delivering drugs across the blood-brain barrier to treat Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. The objectives are to optimize the nanotubes for drug-loading and transcytosis across a blood-brain barrier model in vitro, and then evaluate their toxicity and ability to deliver the drug galantamine to the central...

This federal Project Grant award of $759,095.00, provided by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) under the Aging Research program (CFDA 93.866), will support research to develop a non-invasive, MR image-guided, focused ultrasound-mediated gene delivery strategy to efficiently transfect microglia and inhibit the SHIP-1 protein. The goal is to enhance microglial phagocytosis of amyloid-beta and improve neuronal health to potentially treat Alzheimer's disease. The award will fund the...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) will provide $794,981 to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to investigate the use of blood-brain barrier permeability and brain microstructure as biomarkers for predicting and monitoring amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) and treatment outcomes in Alzheimer's disease patients prescribed anti-amyloid immunotherapies. The study aims to integrate advanced MRI techniques into...

This federal Project Grant award of $835,417, provided by the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research), aims to develop novel lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulations for the delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics to the brain for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The key objectives include: 1) synthesizing novel blood-brain barrier (BBB)-crossing lipids, 2) formulating a library of LNPs, and 3) elucidating their trafficking pathways across the BBB. Additionally, the...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) provides $426,250 to Wake Forest University Health Sciences to develop and evaluate a novel positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracer, [11C]TM-N1324, to measure levels of the G-protein coupled receptor GPR39 in rodent models and postmortem human brain tissues of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The project aims to establish the utility of this PET imaging approach for quantifying GPR39, which is implicated...

The U.S. National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) awarded a $349,908 Project Grant under the Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health program (CFDA 93.286) to Evanesc Therapeutics, Inc. to develop a non-invasive medical device designated "EvaPERMEA" that uses low-power radio frequency evanescent waves to temporarily permeabilize the blood-brain barrier. This innovation aims to improve the delivery of therapeutic...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) to Tauvision, Inc. provides $493,384 to develop an eyedrop-based, non-invasive diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease. The project aims to optimize a fluorescent compound that can label pathological protein aggregates in the eye and be imaged using standard ophthalmology equipment, allowing for a direct measurement of central nervous system biomarkers. In Phase 1, the researchers will improve the...