2002 — 2006 |
Gerber, David A |
K08Activity Code Description: To provide the opportunity for promising medical scientists with demonstrated aptitude to develop into independent investigators, or for faculty members to pursue research aspects of categorical areas applicable to the awarding unit, and aid in filling the academic faculty gap in these shortage areas within health profession's institutions of the country. |
Hepatic Progenitors in Transplantation @ University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Candidate: This career development proposal is designed to complete formal preparation for my academic career as a transplant surgeon and independent investigator in immuno- and cellular biology. The training program has three components: formal coursework, other didactics, and an intensive mentorship to complete the proposed research plan's aims. During years 1-2: two advanced courses in immunology and two in cellular biology will be taken. These will be complemented by an intensive workshop during year 1 that will expand my basic science techniques in molecular biology. Weekly laboratory meetings and journal club activities will be ongoing. During the past two years I have focused on learning the principles of isolating stem cells and this preliminary work is part of the research plan. I will be working closely with both mentors to develop a broader understanding of the critical experiments required to isolate hepatic stem cells. This structured program will prepare me to think critically, ask questions, form hypotheses and subsequently perform innovative experiments in the transplant and cell biology field. Lastly, my clinical training as a transplant surgeon is an ideal complement to my scientific pursuits, as I have insight into developing translational projects that address pertinent clinical questions. Environment: The University of North Carolina has multiple core laboratory facilities on campus that will allow the completion of these and future experiments. They include the Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting facility, the Center for Gastrointestinal and Biliary Disease Biology that includes the Advanced Cell Technologies and Tissue Engineering Core, the Immunoassay Core, and the Confocal Facility. This proposal is supported by the Department of Surgery and allows the PI to dedicate 75% of his time on this project. The majority of the work will be carried out in the PI's lab. Research: With the ongoing shortage of organs that challenges organ transplantation and the lack of success with freshly isolated mature hepatocytes in liver cell therapy I have proposed a series of experiments based on hepatic progenitors (with their ability to proliferate), as a promising alternative. To test this hypothesis I will determine the hepatic progenitor's ability to expand and function after transplantation. Research will focus on their immunogenicity and will provide a foundation for future experiments. The specific aims are to 1) To identify the sequence of expression of liver-enriched transcription factors and hepatocyte lineage genes in hepatic progenitors during cellular expansion; 2) To determine the engraftment and migration pattern of hepatic progenitors and subsequent cellular differentiation using a green fluorescent protein (transgenic) "green" mouse; 3) Using selected transgenic mouse models (i.e. sphingomyelinase deficient, hypercholesterolemia) I will analyze the function of hepatic progenitor cells along with their ability to reconstitute a liver after injury; 4) Analyze the capacity of CD4+, CD8+ and non-T cells to initiate acute rejection of allogeneic hepatic progenitor cells.
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0.922 |
2007 — 2008 |
Gerber, David A |
R03Activity Code Description: To provide research support specifically limited in time and amount for studies in categorical program areas. Small grants provide flexibility for initiating studies which are generally for preliminary short-term projects and are non-renewable. |
Regulating Hepatic Progenitor Cell Proliferation @ University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): [unreadable] Despite progress in stem cell research numerous challenges persist including 1) maintaining the stem cells in a proliferative state and 2) directing their commitment into a specific mature cell. While we are beginning to understand the processes involved in cell differentiation there is a large body of unanswered questions with respect to the post-natal role of these cellular populations. It is postulated that there are intra- and extracellular signals that are necessary for most stem cell populations to continue self-renewal. Further comprehension into the pathways by which a select stem or progenitor cell undergoes proliferation and subsequent differentiation will provide insights into advancing the field of tissue engineering and organogenesis. [unreadable] We have previously identified a hepatic progenitor cell that persists into adulthood. After initially isolating the hepatic progenitor cell there is a period of dormancy prior to cell proliferation and colony formation. From a therapeutic standpoint it is necessary to understand the pathways and intermediate mediators involved with regulating proliferation and survival of these hepatic progenitor cells in an effort to develop clinical applications. The proposed series of experiments in this research plan will broaden our understanding of critical signals involved in stimulating and/or inhibiting hepatic progenitor cell proliferation. Our specific aims are as follows: (1) Study hepatic progenitor cell proliferation and characterize the role of cyclin proteins, cyclin dependent kinases and cyclin kinase inhibitors during proliferation; (2) Study the role of intracellular mediators including Ras, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK), MEK 1/2, ERK 1/2, AKT, p70s6k, and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) in regulating cell cycle progression and proliferation of hepatic progenitor cells; and (3) Study downstream effects of inhibitory cell cycle mediators on hepatic progenitor cell proliferation. [unreadable] Our research efforts with an adult derived liver progenitor cell population are critical steps in understanding how stem cell subpopulations can be translated into therapies. To develop novel clinical strategies we need to understand the signaling pathways that trigger the growth of these cells and leads to their maturation into functional cells. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]
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0.922 |
2012 — 2017 |
Tambe, Milind (co-PI) [⬀] Becerik-Gerber, Burcin [⬀] Gerber, David Wood, Wendy (co-PI) [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Sep: Creating An Energy Literate Society of Humans, Buildings, and Agents For Sustainable Energy Management @ University of Southern California
The NSF Sustainable Energy pathways (SEP) Program, under the umbrella of the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES) initiative, will support the research program of Profs. Burcin Becerik-Gerber of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Wendy Wood of the Department of Psychology, David Gerber of the Department of Architecture, and Milind Tambe of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Southern California (USC). The multi-disciplinary team of investigators will develop an energy-aware, cyber-physical multi agent framework of buildings, humans, and intelligent software agents for sustainable energy management, taking a collective, energy literacy approach to influencing building occupants, operators, designers, and engineers. The investigators will first assess behavior and preferences of building occupants, evaluate building design/system specifications, and identify building operational policies. They will then build a multi-agent model to integrate these different systems. Building on fundamental research in agents' autonomy and teamwork, the multi-agent framework will facilitate negotiations between occupants and building devices. The agents will provide feedback to the occupants and control building devices to conserve energy. Based on this integrated model, feedback about occupant energy use to building designers will be provided to shape early-stage design decisions that have the longest lasting impact on building's lifecycle footprint. The central focus is designing a multi-component model of energy consumption in office buildings in order to identify and test the optimal points of change in energy systems. Specifically, the research predicts that energy use could be optimized and occupant comfort could be maximized in an integrated way by changing occupant behavior, design/system specifications, and building operators' policies via an agent-based system. The research will be validated in an office building, where occupants lack the individual financial incentives for energy consumption. The system will be tested both in professional and student designer studios to validate the impact of the model in energy aware design decisions. The research differentiates itself by treating occupant preferences and behavior not only as input data but also as controllable variables in a broader energy system; it then harnesses a complex multiagent system to control these variables for energy savings. It also extends energy literacy into the arena of design and engineering by providing human behavior input in early design stages, as well as into the arena of building operations by dynamically controlling buildings based on human behavior and preferences.
With respect to the increasing energy needs of our country and world, this research has far-reaching impact on environmental conservation, pollution, and the economy. The primary impact of this research is identifying the key factors that create significant energy savings for buildings, resulting in monetary savings and environmental protection. The results will be disseminated through and contribute to multiple conference talks and publications. A game, in which students will compete to save the most energy, will be developed with the aim of teaching how to conserve energy in daily life. Energy-focused workshop lessons will be developed and delivered to minority-majority K-12 schools in USC's neighborhood and other children and their families. In addition, the research team will partner in research with the computer science department of California State University, Dominguez Hills, a minority majority institution.
The proposed interdisciplinary research challenges the ways that building engineers and designers, computer scientists, and behavioral scientists look at the pressing challenges of energy-efficient buildings. The research will integrate design with outside data sources and bring behavioral science to design, which in turn will trigger a design-method evolution for sustainable buildings. Through dynamic data collection, spatiotemporal information about energy use, and data on human comfort, the research will improve system optimization and adaptation through the use of intelligent software agents. The project will educate building occupants about their energy consumption and the ways that they can make concrete behavioral changes to achieve greater energy efficiency. The research brings to the problem of energy literacy an interdisciplinary approach in which cyber tools are manifested in physical space.
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0.964 |