School of Medicine & Health Sciences announces more than $8 million in awards for research and service projects

GRAND FORKS, N.D.—Over the past few months, researchers at the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) have received more than $8 million in grants and other project awards from agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and the North Dakota Department of Health & Human Services.

These awards allow UND researchers across several departments to dive into new and continuing projects this spring, including studies on cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, SARS-CoV-2, aging, and more. Here is a brief round-up of research awards awarded to the faculty and staff of the School in recent months:

Late last year, Motoki Takaku, Ph.D., assistant professor with the SMHS Department of Biomedical Sciences, was awarded a 5-year NIH R01 award worth a total of $ 1.48 million. R01 grants are the most prestigious research grants awarded by the NIH. The award will help Takaku further explore how a complex of DNA and protein called chromatin affects cellular organization and function.

“When this function goes wrong, it can lead to diseases like cancer,” said Takaku. “This research aims to uncover how the smallest unit of chromatin, called a nucleosome, plays a role during breast cancer cell reprogramming. Our goal is to understand the molecular mechanism of this cellular reprogramming process, with the hope of finding a new treatment strategy for breast cancer.”

Takaku also began a collaboration with Dr. Mamoru Takada in Japan that looks to advance both researchers’ knowledge of breast cancer pathology.

“Two years ago, Dr. Takada and I began collaborating on a project about cell-free DNA in breast cancer patients, initially supported by a pilot grant from Eli Lilly Japan,” continued Takaku, noting how Takada recently delivered a seminar lecture to the Biomedical Sciences team at UND. “We have successfully secured an additional grant, amounting to approximately $170,000 for a two-year period. Our primary objective is to develop a noninvasive diagnostic strategy that can potentially guide therapy for breast cancer patients, enhancing treatment efficacy and patient outcomes.”

Likewise, Xuesong Chen, Ph.D., associate professor with the Department of Biomedical Sciences, recently was awarded two NIH grants: a 5-year, $2.3 million R01 award for a project titled “17α-estradiol and sex-differences in HAND with methamphetamine” and a 3-year $1.99 million RF1 award for a project titled "Intersection of HIV-1 Tat and SARS-CoV-2 S1 on neuroinflammation.” Both awards will help Chen continue his work to understand the molecular mechanisms whereby pathological changes in endolysosomes contribute to neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, HIV-1 associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), and long-term neurological complications in COVID-19.

“Successful completion of this research will allow us to take the next step in pursuing our long-term goal: design novel preventative and therapeutic strategies against these devastating neurological disorders,” said Chen.

For her part, Roxanne Vaughan, Ph.D., was awarded more than $1.97 million from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to continue the School’s NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (CoBRE) project focused on the epigenomics of disease. Vaughan was involved in the School’s first CoBRE award for epigenomics several years ago. This repeat award allows the SMHS to continue its study of epigenetic changes in DNA in several health conditions, from cancer to neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disease.

SMHS researchers are also engaged in multiple research projects focused on aging, including a $38,000 grant from North Dakota State University and the National Institutes of Health to Sergei Nechaev, Ph.D., to study the link between stem cells and vascular cognitive impairment in aging, and a $100,000 award to Holly Brown-Borg, Ph.D., from the NIH to organize the Sixteenth and Seventeenth International Symposia on Neurobiology and Neuroendocrinology of Aging. Along these lines, Assistant Professor in the SMHS Department of Geriatrics, Ramkumar Mathur, Ph.D., was awarded a Research Fellowship Award of $34,489 from the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation to support the project studying intestinal fibrosis.

Additional research awards include:

UND Department of Pediatrics Professor Larry Burd, Ph.D., was awarded $350,458 from the North Dakota Department of Health to support a project designed to help prevent fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in the state.
Sandeep Singhal, Ph.D., associate professor in the SMHS Department of Pathology and UND’s School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, in collaboration with Columbia University Medical Center in New York, received an award of more than $75,600 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to continue his work on exploring breast cancer biomarkers in a racially diverse population.
Associate Professor in the SMHS world-first Department of Indigenous Health, Joel Steele, Ph.D., was awarded nearly $58,000 from the Oregon Health & Science University to support the project, “The RSELVES Study: Remote Sensing Year 2.” This project extends Dr. Steele’s focus on advanced quantitative methods and the use of technology to study of Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias.
Chair of the SMHS Department of Population Health, Gary Schwartz, Ph.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., accepted more than $125,275 from West Virginia University and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to continue a project entitled “NIH RECOVER: A Multi-site Observational Study of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Adults.” The project will help epidemiologists and other researchers studying population health better understand what’s commonly known as “long COVID.”
Rebecca Quinn, grant program director for the UND Center for Rural Health, saw the arrival of $34,634 from the North Dakota Department of Health & Human Services and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to support the Center’s Pediatric Mental Health ECHO project. ECHO, or Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes, is an online model used internationally that allows community health providers to share knowledge, information, and resources from both specialist providers and their own peers using easily accessible video conferencing technology.
Finally, Colin Combs, Ph.D., the School’s associate dean for research and chair of its Department of Biomedical Sciences, received funding of more than $208,000 from the West Virginia Research Corp. to continue to his project exploring the impact sex differences have on molecular determinants of Alzheimer’s risk and treatment.

These recent projects, the bulk of which are federally funded, have attracted more than $8 million to North Dakota almost exclusively from sponsors based outside of the state. In fiscal year 2023, the SMHS received more than $34 million in research grants from federal, state, nonprofit, and private agencies.

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Brian James Schill
Director, Office of Alumni & Community Relations
School of Medicine & Health Sciences
University of North Dakota
701.777.6048 direct | 701.777.4305 office
brian.schill@UND.edu | med.UND.edu