Research News

The Carver College of Medicine DNA Facility has recently added 2 new instruments to support investigators in translational and personalized medicine studies.  An Applied Biosystems SOLiD v3.1 Genome Sequencing System and a Fluidigm EP1 System for genetic analysis have both been recently installed and are available for use.

The Applied Biosystems SOLiD v3.1 Genome Sequencing System is a high throughput “short-read” genome sequencer capable of giving greater than 200 million 35 to 50 base sequence reads yielding 10 billion bases per sequencing slide.  The SOLiD sequencer is ideally suited for studies involving resequencing, targeted resequencing, ChipSeq, microRNA discovery and quantification, RNAseq (gene expression), and methylation patterning.  Click to continue »

Six Carver College of Medicine Investigators have been awarded grants as part of new “challenge” and “GO” programs offered by the National Institutes of Health.  Together, the seven grants represent over $7 million in new funding.

Investigators receiving challenge grants include: Click to continue »

Several Carver College of Medicine  faculty members have been successful in receiving American Recovery and Reinvestment (ARRA) funds through National Institutes of Health awards.  As of September 30, CCOM had received over 75 awards worth over $24.5 million in first-year funding.  This includes 30 new competitive renewals and over 40 supplemental funding awards. Click to continue »

The University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine announces internal funding opportunities for Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust Medical Research Initiative Grants and Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust Collaborative Pilot Grants.  Applications for each will be accepted through Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 6:00 pm. Click to continue »

The Carver College of Medicine Biomedical Research Store has recently launched a new website.  The new site, at www.medicine.uiowa.edu/corefacilities/biostore/ allows investigators to view the Store’s inventory and after logging in, view product pricing.

Located on the second floor of Eckstein Medical Research Building, the Biomedical Research Store provides molecular and cell biology enzymes, reagents and kits commonly used in molecular biology and tissue culture studies.  Store products are available at walk-up windows from 8:30-11:30 am and 1:00-4:00 pm.

Francois Abboud, M.D., University of Iowa faculty member, has been appointed to the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space: Animal and Human Biology Panel, which operates through the National Academies.

The Space Studies Board and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board organized the group to establish priorities and provide recommendations for life and physical sciences research in microgravity and partial gravity for the next decade and beyond. The congressionally mandated study may play a role in developing key exploration capabilities and revitalizing NASA research in biological and physical sciences. Click to continue »

The University of Iowa Department of Microbiology together with the Carver College of Medicine will host E. Peter Greenberg, PhD on October 15 as part of the Distinguished Biomedical Scholars Lecture Series. Greenberg’s talk, “The Social Life of Bacteria,” will also be the first annual Michael A. Apicella Endowed Lecture in Microbiology. Distinguished Biomedical Scholars Lecture Series features a monthly seminar by a top-tier physician/scientist performing high-impact research in their field. Click to continue »

The Carver College of Medicine wishes to congratulate the following new grant recipients from September 2009 Click to continue »

A five-year, $5 million grant to establish a Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Visual Loss was awarded to the Iowa City Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center by the Veterans Affairs Division of Rehabilitation Research and Development.

The center will be led by Randy Kardon, M.D., Ph.D., UI professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences and director of neuro-ophthalmology. Kardon, who also holds the Pomerantz Family Chair in Ophthalmology, is a VA staff physician. Michael Abràmoff, M.D., Ph.D., UI associate professor of ophthalmology and computer and electrical engineering and VA retinal specialist, will be associate director. Click to continue »

The blood brain barrier is generally considered an obstacle to delivering therapies from the bloodstream to the brain. However, University of Iowa researchers have discovered a way to turn the blood vessels surrounding brain cells into a production and delivery system for getting therapeutic molecules directly into brain cells.

Working with animal models of a group of fatal neurological disorders called lysosomal storage diseases, the UI team found that these diseases cause unique and disease-specific alterations to the blood vessels of the blood brain barrier. The scientists used these distinct alterations to target the brain with gene therapy, which reversed the neurological damage caused by the diseases. Click to continue »