Focus on Faculty

Overseeing $20 Million Programs for New Research in Medicine and Dentistry
Last year UK received over $20 million from the National Institutes of Health to support promising new researchers working for the first time as principal investigators on their own research. Overseeing these Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grants are two RCTF endowed professors—Jeffrey Ebersole, the Alvin L. Morris Professor in Oral Health Research, and Louis Hersh, the George Schwert Professor in Biochemistry. COBRE grants will enable the university to create programs focused on faculty development and recruitment that will advance UK's standing as a research institution.

Dr. Ebersole, associate dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Dentistry and director of the Center for Oral Health Research, will work with 13 new researchers and their senior faculty mentors on projects investigating how oral diseases affect other health problems, including atherosclerosis, gestational diabetes, and viral/bacterial interactions in chronic disease.

Dr. Hersh, the College of Medicine's senior associate dean for Basic Science Affairs and molecular and cellular biochemistry department chair, will work with five assistant professors focusing on the molecular level of disease such as diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer's. "The COBRE grant lays the groundwork to further enhance UK research. The work done through the grant will help the university attract top graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty, create a rich research environment, and make UK more competitive as it competes for future research funding," says Hersh.

Leading Library Administrator and Researcher Recruited with RCTF Endowed Chair
"The RCTF William T. Young Endowed Chair was a key factor in my decision to accept UK's offer to be dean of libraries," says Carol Pitts Diedrichs, who came to UK in 2003 from Ohio State University. Diedrichs was a tenured professor at OSU with a national reputation in the field of library collections and technical services, had served 13 years as editor-in-chief of the top journal in the field, and was one of 13 founders of the OhioLINK consortium, considered the premier statewide library consortium in the country. Diedrichs says the RCTF chair has enabled her to expand her research into digital preservation of library resources. Under her leadership, the UK Libraries have recently gained prominence as one of only six library systems in the country that received funding for participation in the first phase of a National Endowment for the Humanities and Library of Congress program to digitize 20,000,000 pages from U.S. newspapers. The NEH indicated particular interest in the UK project, naming it as the only one of the six institutions to do the work in-house.

Working Toward Better Treatment of Traumatic Spinal Cord and Brain Injury
UK's Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC) is focused on effective treatments for the estimated 11,000 Americans who suffer a spinal cord injury each year, and the 247,000 Americans who are currently living with spinal cord injuries. SCoBIRC is also working on therapies to improve survival and neurological recovery in the 1.5 million who sustain traumatic brain injuries. UK SCoBIRC researchers and clinicians from a variety of disciplines work together in the search for drug treatments to limit secondary spinal cord or brain damage that occurs during the first few hours after the injury, and therapies that will lead to either regeneration of damaged nerve cells or repair of their myelin sheaths—insulating envelopes that surround the core of a nerve fiber or axon and facilitate the transmission of nerve impulses—which are essential for recovery of function.

SCoBIRC is led by Dr. Edward Hall, an endowed chair and distinguished researcher recruited from Pfizer, who developed the first-approved drug for treatment of spinal cord injury—methylprednisolone. He and Dr. Patrick Sullivan are working on the discovery of drugs to protect nerve cell energy production, which is essential for post-traumatic survival and functional recovery. Dr. George Smith and Dr. Alexander Rabchevsky are researching ways to stimulate spinal cord regeneration and recovery while preventing abnormal nerve sprouting that leads to chronic pain, high blood pressure and muscle spasticity in the majority of spinal cord injury patients. Each of these SCoBIRC investigators holds an endowed chair that was made possible with RCTF funds.

SCoBIRC faculty and faculty associates are currently working on research funded in excess of $20 million from the National Institutes of Health, the Kentucky Spinal Cord & Head Injury Research Trust, various foundations, and the pharmaceutical industry.

Working to Make a "Smart Pill" for Diabetics
Dr. Sylvia Daunert is visualizing a "smart pill" for diabetes, but it's not the kind you swallow. Instead it's a matchstick-sized device implanted in the abdomen that automatically releases medication to combat each dangerous surge in blood glucose. "The smart pill technology is 'smart' because it delivers only the amount of drug that is needed each particular time," says Daunert, UK Gill Eminent Professor of Analytical and Biological Chemistry. Daunert's smart pill technology unites 11 years of research on biosensors made from genetically engineered proteins with drug delivery and nanotechnology. The proteins that make up the device will detect the concentration of the target biomolecule involved in blood glucose release and respond accordingly, by opening up vials to release more or less of the drug. Her research has been supported by five federal research agencies and the Army. Daunert has formed two Lexington-based companies. One is developing smart pills that treat diseases such as diabetes and Crohn's disease. The other company is marketing proteins for a variety of applications such as smart pills, environmental sensors, medical imaging, and disease management.