ACTIVE:

1. GRANT PROJECT TITLE: “CD11d antagonism for chronic inflammatory neuropathies”
FUNDING MECHANISM: National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Exploratory Neuroscience Research Grant (R21)
PROJECT NUMBER/STATUS: 1 R21 NS109644-01A1/ Funded
ROLE: Program Director/ Principal Investigator (30% effort)
DATES: 07/15/2019-07/14/2021
TOTAL COSTS: $408,375
OVERALL GOAL: To determine whether inhibition of CD11d-dependent leukocyte infiltration into peripheral nerves is a plausible therapeutic option for chronic peripheral nerve inflammation using flow-dependent human in vitro blood-nerve barrier model and a severe murine chronic neuritis model called spontaneous autoimmune peripheral polyneuropathy for investigation.

2.  GRANT PROJECT TITLE: “Validation of fibroblast-derived PI16 as a novel target for pain treatment”
FUNDING MECHANISM: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Discovery and Validation of Novel Targets for Safe and Effective Pain Treatment (R01)
PROJECT NUMBER/STATUS: 1 R01 NS116704-01/ Funded
ROLE:  Subcontract Principal Investigator/ Co-Investigator (20% effort).
Program Director/ Principal Investigator: Annemieke Kavelaars and Cobi Heijnen (The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX)
DATES: 09/30/2020-08/31/2024
TOTAL COSTS: $2,908,421 ($487,820 to UAB)
OVERALL GOAL: To validate PI16 as a novel target for the treatment of chronic pain using models and human tissues of neuropathy patients and controls and to identify the underlying mechanisms.

3. GRANT PROJECT TITLE: “Alpha-1 catenin regulation of the mammalian blood-nerve barrier”
FUNDING MECHANISM: National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Exploratory Neuroscience Research Grant (R21)
PROJECT NUMBER/STATUS:  1 R21 NS113033-01A1/ Funded
ROLE: Program Director/ Principal Investigator (30% effort)
DATES: 09/30/2020-08/31/2022
TOTAL COSTS: $408,375
OVERALL GOAL: To determine the role of α1-catenin (CTNNA1) in regulating glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF)-driven blood-nerve barrier (BNB) formation in health and disease using a human in vitro blood-nerve barrier and a microvascular-specific conditional CTNNA1 knockout sciatic nerve crush injury model.

COMPLETED:

1.  GRANT PROJECT TITLE: “CXCR3 Blockade as a therapeutic target for inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathies”
FUNDING MECHANISM: GBS/CIDP Foundation International Research Grant    
PROJECT NUMBER/STATUS: Completed
ROLE: Principal Investigator
DATES: 01/01/2008-12/31/2009
TOTAL COSTS: $25,000
OVERALL GOAL: To develop a novel human in vitro blood-nerve barrier model using endoneurial endovascular cells and study the role of CXCL10-CXCR3 interactions on T-cell migration in GBS/CIDP.

2.  GRANT PROJECT TITLE: “CCL2-CCR2 blockade as a targeted immune-modulatory therapy for inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathies”
FUNDING MECHANISM: GBS/CIDP Foundation International Research Grant    
PROJECT NUMBER/STATUS: Completed
ROLE: Principal Investigator
DATES: 07/01/2010-06/30/2012
COSTS: $40,000
OVERALL GOAL: To study the role of CCL2-CCR2 interactions and the effect of functional blockade on monocyte and T-cell migration in GBS/CIDP using a novel in vitro human blood-nerve barrier model and murine models of inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculo-neuropathies. Knockout mouse models are NOT being used in this study

3.  GRANT PROJECT TITLE: “Fibronectin peptide antagonism for chronic inflammatory neuropathies”
FUNDING MECHANISM: National Institutes of Health Exploratory/ Developmental Projects in Translational Research for Neuromuscular Disease (R21)
PROJECT NUMBER/STATUS: 1 R21 NS073702-01A1. Awarded on 09/24/2011.
ROLE: Program Director/ Principal Investigator
DATES: 09/30/2011-08/31/2014 (Includes one-year no cost extension)
TOTAL COSTS: $ 430,375
OVERALL GOAL: To determine whether inhibition of fibronectin-dependent leukocyte infiltration into peripheral nerves is a plausible therapeutic option for chronic peripheral nerve inflammation using a novel flow-dependent human in vitro blood-nerve barrier model and a severe murine chronic neuritis model called spontaneous autoimmune peripheral polyneuropathy for investigation.

4.  GRANT PROJECT TITLE: “αMβ2 integrin blockade for acute inflammatory neuropathies”
FUNDING MECHANISM: National Institutes of Health Exploratory/ Developmental Projects in Translational Research for Neuromuscular Disease (R21)
PROJECT NUMBER/STATUS: 1 R21 NS078226-01/ Awarded on 03/01/2012.
ROLE: Program Director/ Principal Investigator
DATES: 04/01/2012-03/31/2015 (Includes one-year no cost extension)
TOTAL COSTS: $ 430,375
OVERALL GOAL: To determine whether blockade of αMβ2 (CD11b) integrin -dependent leukocyte infiltration into peripheral nerves is a plausible therapeutic option for acute peripheral nerve inflammation using a novel flow-dependent human in vitro blood-nerve barrier model and a severe murine experimental autoimmune neuritis model of Guillain-Barré syndrome for investigation.

5.  GRANT PROJECT TITLE:  “CCR5 mediated trafficking of HIV-infected mononuclear leukocytes at the human blood-nerve barrier in vitro.”
FUNDING MECHANISM: International AIDS Society Creative and Novel Ideas in HIV Research Program Grant (administered by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of AIDS Research and the NIH-funded Centers for AIDS Research)
PROJECT NUMBER/STATUS:  5P30AI27767-24 Revised (Subaward)/ Awarded on 09/25/2012.
ROLE: Program Director/ Principal Investigator
DATES: 09/01/2012-05/31/2016 (includes a two-year no cost extension)
TOTAL COSTS: $435,887
OVERALL GOAL: To determine the role of CCR5 in facilitating hematogenous monocyte and cytotoxic T-cell trafficking across the human blood-nerve barrier using flow-dependent in vitro model.

6.  GRANT PROJECT TITLE:  “Advancing PINK1 KO rat animal models of PD”
FUNDING MECHANISM: The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research Priority Target Award Fall 2015
PROJECT NUMBER/STATUS: 11380/ Awarded on 11/12/2015
ROLE: Co-Investigator (10% effort)
DATES: 03/25/2016-03/24/2017
TOTAL COSTS: $99,964
OVERALL GOAL: To determine to determine the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of the paraparesis phenotype of PINK1 KO rats to enable better-informed development and testing of therapies targeting the PINK1-Parkin pathway and to advance knowledge of the PINK1 KO rat animal model of Parkinson’s Disease.

7.  GRANT PROJECT TITLE:  “Vascular biology of the human blood-nerve barrier”
FUNDING MECHANISM: National Institutes of Health Investigator-Initiated Research Project (R01)
PROJECT NUMBER/STATUS:  1R01NS075212-01A1/ Awarded on 03/05/2012.
ROLE: Program Director/ Principal Investigator
DATES: 07/01/2012-03/31/2018 (Includes one-year no cost extension)
TOTAL COSTS: $1,711,720
OVERALL GOAL: To determine the role of glia cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and its signaling pathways in restoring blood-nerve barrier function following injury using human in vitro blood-nerve barrier and a conditional GDNF knockout sciatic nerve crush injury model.

8.   PROJECT TITLE: “Teriflunomide as a disease modifying anti-inflammatory therapy for a severe animal model of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy”
FUNDING MECHANISM: Genzyme Corporation
NUMBER/STATUS: GZ-2016-11549/ Funded
ROLE: Principal Investigator (25% effort)
DATES: 07/01/2017-10/31/2019
TOTAL COSTS: $557,686
OVERALL GOAL: To determine whether teriflunomide effectively treats autoimmune demyelination and prevents secondary axonal degeneration in a spontaneous murine model of CIDP called spontaneous autoimmune peripheral polyneuropathy (SAPP) in female B7-2 (CD86) deficient non-obese diabetic mice.