Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University

LOS ANGELES, July 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The St. Baldrick's Foundation, the largest charity funder of childhood cancer research grants, is proud to announce the newest round of research grants totaling $9.4 million. The grants will support 23 projects with a goal to find better treatments for childhood cancers. The grants were made possible by the generous support and donations from dedicated donors and volunteers who work hard to Conquer Kids' Cancer. St. Baldrick's is dedicated to advancing the fight against childhood cancers by supporting the most promising research initiatives. These new grants emphasize the commitment St. Baldrick's has to discover cures by providing essential funding for critical research at every stage of the journey, from early discovery to advanced clinical trials. Grants were awarded to:  Alabama University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham Research grant: Emily Johnston, M.D. California Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte St. Baldrick's Scholar: Rui Su, Ph.D Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles Extended Scholar: Babak Moghimi, M.D. St. Baldrick's Scholar: Wendy Hsiao, M.D. University of California San Diego, La Jolla Research grant: Anusha Preethi Ganesan, M.D., Ph.D Colorado University of Colorado Denver, AMC and DC, Aurora Extended Scholar: Kelly Faulk, M.D. Georgia Emory University, Atlanta Continuing Consortia (additional year): Christopher Porter, M.D. St. Baldrick's Scholar: Hunter Jonus, Ph.D Massachusetts Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston Research Grant: Benjamin Kann, M.D. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Research grant: Jun Qi, Ph.D Minnesota University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis Extended Scholar: Tianzhong Yang, Ph.D. Missouri Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis St. Baldrick's Scholar: Yang Li, Ph.D Research grant: Mark Rutherford, Ph.D New York Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Ithaca St. Baldrick's Scholar: Meng Wang, M.D., Ph.D Pennsylvania Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia St. Baldrick's Scholar: Daniel Zheng, M.D. The Children's Oncology Group Foundation, Philadelphia Douglas Hawkins, M.D. Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Research grant: Fange Liu, Ph.D Tennessee St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis Extended Scholar: Kelsey Bertrand, M.B.B.S. Texas Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Research Grant: Carl Allen, M.D., Ph.D University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston St. Baldrick's Scholar: Palaniraja Thandapani, Ph.D Virginia Virginia Tech, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Roanoke, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Extended Scholar: Cheng-Chia Wu, M.D., Ph.D Washington University of Washington, Seattle St. Baldrick's Scholar: Lisa Force, M.D. Washington D.C. Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington D.C Research Grant: Gary Kupfer, M.D. Since 2005, St. Baldrick's has granted over $352 million to fund the best childhood cancer research, wherever it takes place. The next set of grants will be announced in November, supported by donations made between now and October. To learn more about the research these specific grants support, check out the St. Baldrick's blog. For more information about St. Baldrick's Foundation grants or ways to get involved, please visit StBaldricks.org. About St. Baldrick's Foundation Every 2 minutes, a child somewhere in the world is diagnosed with cancer. In the U.S., 1 in 5 will not survive. The St. Baldrick's Foundation, the largest charity funder of childhood cancer research grants, has awarded more than $352 million to researchers to Conquer Kids' Cancer. When you give to St. Baldrick's, you don't just give to one hospital – you support every institution with the expertise to treat kids with cancer across the U.S. St. Baldrick's ensures that children fighting cancer now — and those diagnosed in the future — will have access to the most cutting-edge treatment, by supporting every stage of research, from new ideas in the lab to the training of the next generation of researchers, to lifesaving clinical trials. St. Baldrick's has played a role in virtually every advancement in the field over the past 25 years and remains essential in advancing progress and fostering innovation in childhood cancer research. Visit StBaldricks.org and help #ConquerKidsCancer. SOURCE St. Baldrick's Foundation

New Market-Driven Approach to Patient Engagement, Clinical Trial Design, and Diverse Trial Recruitment Accelerates Innovation and Health Solutions American Association of Kidney Patients Expands Research and Policy Impacts WASHINGTON, June 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the oldest and largest independent kidney patient organization in the U.S., and Bayer were recently honored with the national 2024 Reuters Pharma Award in Driving Health Equity. AAKP and Bayer were recognized for a new market-driven approach to patient engagement, clinical trial design, and diverse trial recruitment that accelerates kidney innovation and expands consumer choice of kidney health solutions. For Bayer, AAKP developed and engaged a Standing Patient Council that provided a systematic co-development approach to trial design, trial site selection, trial-related information and forms, and recruitment and retention strategies. The Standing Patient Council was representative of the diverse kidney disease population and their insights shaped tactics used to successfully enroll Black and Hispanic kidney patients at sustained levels that exceeded clinical trial expectations. The AAKP and Bayer joint award submission was entitled "Defining the Value of Patient Engagement through Patient Advocacy Groups: Bayer's New Blueprint for Clinical Trial Development and Recruitment/Retention Strategies to Drive Patient Diversity Solutions." AAKP President Edward Hickey, III, stated, "AAKP is very proud of the patients who participated in the Standing Patient Council and clinical trial as well as our shared recognition by Reuters with a 2024 Pharma Award. Our partnership with Bayer has been highly successful and we appreciate their ongoing commitment to kidney medicine and their sophisticated understanding of the longstanding unmet patient needs for advanced therapies to prevent, slow, and cure this devastating disease. Together, we have demonstrated a common sense and market-driven approach to respectfully and substantively involve all kidney patients in the research and clinical trials that may impact their lives and livelihoods. We hope more companies follow our example and lean forward to involve the diverse kidney patient community in all aspects of the product development lifecycle." Hickey is a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran and has served as a senior staff professional in the U.S. House of Representatives and as a senior appointee in multiple presidential administrations. In 2019, as the groundbreaking Executive Order on Advancing American Kidney Health was announced, AAKP declared the next ten years, 2020 to 2030, as The Decade of the Kidney™ to maintain growing momentum behind the bipartisan national policy commitment to address the unmet kidney patient needs. During The Decade of the Kidney™, AAKP and its allies have also moved to hold federal government officials accountable for policies that foster, and not hinder, greater research, development, and patient access to new kidney drugs, diagnostics, and devices. AAKP has publicly targeted barriers caused by federal government regulatory and payment decisions, referred to as Government Determinants of Health (GDoH) as well as coverage and payment decisions made by insurers that either knowingly or unwittingly interrupt, delay, or deny timely patient access to new innovations. In America and across the globe, kidney patients and advocacy organizations have broadened their impact on innovation through alliances with like-minded research professionals, kidney medicine experts, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, and investors who view their insights as a catalyst for transcending status quo, high mortality kidney care. Through its Center for Patient Research and Education, founded in 2014, AAKP has built unique capacities to rapidly fulfill academic, government, and medical device and pharmaceutical industry requests to engage kidney patient experts. The Center supports AAKP's efforts to speed up the utilization of unique patient insight data across both the product development lifecycle and within regulatory and payment decisions. Since its launch, AAKP has dramatically expanded its membership databases, social media recruitment, and analytics tools. The organization now services dozens of requests every year for clinical trial awareness and recruitment campaigns, patient advisory boards, technical evaluation panels, focus groups, patient surveys, clinical research, and public policy research. AAKP leaders and staff provide expert advice to organizations and companies on how to work meaningfully with patients as co-investigators and partners and offers online training for patients on how to be equally effective collaborators. AAKP has forged strong partnerships with numerous universities and academic centers involved in kidney-related studies. AAKP patients are presently involved in research at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Washington, Emory University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, University of Michigan, Duke University, Wake Forest University, University of Minnesota/Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, Northwestern University, University of California San Francisco, Vanderbilt University, University of California Los Angeles, University of Minnesota, Virginia Tech, University of Texas Health San Antonio, and various other institutions. Through the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), AAKP patient advocates have been involved in nearly every PCORI-funded kidney research effort since PCORI authorization in 2010 and reauthorization in 2019 (read now). At the federal level, AAKP patients are impacting research and development initiatives across the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Department of Defense (DOD) via the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) and other DOD activities. Further, AAKP has been actively involved in patient engagement initiatives and the development of patient insight data alongside the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and multiple other federal agencies. To facilitate greater veteran involvement in kidney research and innovation and to support the VA kidney medicine program in the U.S. Congress, AAKP launched its Veterans Health Initiative in 2017 and developed a formal partnership with the VA in 2023 that aims to improve health outcomes and enhance the overall quality of life for Veterans with kidney diseases. AAKP leaders and AAKP Ambassadors are also closely involved in leading national kidney innovation partnerships and consortiums including the Kidney Health Initiative (KHI), a partnership of the FDA and the American Society of Nephrology (ASN); the KidneyX Innovation Accelerator, a partnership of the ASN and HHS; and the Kidney Precision Medicine Project (KPMP), a scientific consortium funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (NIDDK). The KPMP is America's largest taxpayer-supported kidney science initiative. Together, these efforts are resulting in significant advancements in kidney care through science, new precision medicine, artificial organs, and human centered product design. Globally, since 2019, AAKP has organized patient consumers and advocacy organizations to support research and clinical trials through AAKP Global™, which includes its Annual Global Summit on Kidney Disease Innovations, a partnership event with the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. The Global Summit has evolved into the largest patient-led kidney disease innovations conference in the world and has tens of thousands of attendees across 100 countries. The 6th Annual Global Summit, titled "Vox Populi: The Time is Now to Prevent and Cure Kidney Diseases" will be held virtually July 16-17, 2024. Registration is now open. In the United States alone, there are an estimated 37 million people who have chronic kidney disease, including 800,000 with kidney failure, and whose kidney care costs the American taxpayer over $100 billion per year. Those costs do not include the additional expense to the nation and patient stemming from workforce dropout, disability, and dependency caused by this chronic illness and the burdens associated with obsolete, status quo technologies found in dialysis care. Immunocompromised kidney patients and immunosuppressed kidney transplant recipients were among the hardest hit by COVID-19 and despite advances in related therapeutics, they remain at high risk of infection. About the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP): Since 1969, AAKP has been a patient-led organization driving policy decisions related to kidney patient care choice, protection of the doctor-patient relationship, and medical innovation. In 2018, AAKP established the first and largest U.S. kidney voter registration program, KidneyVoters™. Over the past decade, AAKP patient advocates have helped advance lifetime transplant drug coverage for kidney transplant recipients (2020); the Presidential Executive Order on Advancing American Kidney Health (2019); new job protections for living organ donors under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) via the U.S. Department of Labor (2018); and Congressional legislation allowing HIV-positive organ transplants for HIV-positive patients (2013). Follow AAKP on social media at @kidneypatient on Facebook, @kidneypatients on Twitter, and @kidneypatients on Instagram, and visit for more information. MEDIA CONTACT: Jennifer Rate Director, Communications and Digital Operations [email protected] (813) 400-2394 SOURCE American Association of Kidney Patients

Scientists studying ultra-processed foods have created a new tool for assessing the rewarding and reinforcing properties of foods that make up 58 percent of calories consumed in the United States. The foods have been linked to a wide range of negative health outcomes. Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC scientists studying ultra-processed foods have created a new tool for assessing the rewarding and reinforcing properties of foods that make up 58 percent of calories consumed in the United States. The foods have been linked to a wide range of negative health outcomes. The research, which was published in April in the journal Appetite, provides a collection of carefully curated images of minimally processed and ultra-processed foods matched on 26 characteristics, including macronutrients, sodium, dietary fiber, calories, price, and visual characteristics such as a color and portion size. The work was based on the NOVA classification system -- "nova" means new in Portuguese -- which groups foods into four categories based on their level of processing. Nutrition researchers at the University of São Paulo in Brazil developed the scale while studying the country's sharp increase in obesity rates. The scale has its detractors. "A major criticism of the NOVA scale is that it's difficult to use or that foods are classified differently by different people," said Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, corresponding author and assistant professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. "We found that people with education in nutrition generally agreed on the food classifications, providing some data that it might not be a valid criticism." What they did The NOVA system assigns food to four categories: unprocessed or minimally processed, such as fresh fruit, legumes, or plain yogurt; processed culinary ingredients, such as cooking oils, butter, and salt; processed foods, which combine the two above through simple methods suc as cheese, canned vegetables, or freshly baked bread; and ultra-processed foods, such as soft drinks, flavored yogurt, processed meat, and most packaged breads, made through industrial processing and additives rarely found in a home pantry. To develop the picture set, a team of psychologists, neuroscientists, and registered dietitians selected foods to represent either minimally processed or ultra-processed foods. The foods were prepared in a lab, visually represented through professional photography, and controlled for consistency. Researchers also gathered price, food weights, and nutritional information -- calories, macronutrients, sodium, and dietary fiber -- for the food in each image. Study participants rated images across a range of qualities to generate a final set of 28 pictures matched across 26 characteristics. To objectively measure NOVA classification, researchers recruited 67 nutrition professionals and asked them to classify the foods as minimally or ultra-processed. "With this food picture set we can start to infer that any differences between food pictures is due to the degree of food processing, and not all these other factors that we know are potentially impactful," said Zach Hutelin, the study's lead author and a Fralin Biomedical Research Institute-based graduate student in the translational biology, medicine and health Ph.D. program. Why this matters Ultra-processed foods are linked with increased risk of developing obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. They represent more than half of calories consumed in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom and have been identified as a global threat to public health. "There is very little experimental research on ultra-processed foods, and part of what's been holding us back is better tools for measuring and assessing their effects," said DiFeliceantonio, who is also associate director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute's Center for Health Behaviors Research. "The more tools we can provide, the more we can learn." The Virginia Tech team is making the pictures and associated data accessible through the Virginia Tech Data Repository of the Virginia Tech University Libraries. This will allow scientists to test hypotheses in behavioral economic and neuroimaging studies. In the DiFeliceantonio lab, the photos are being used with functional MRI to reveal associated brain activity, with the images isolating the effects of food processing from other characteristics. The study was funded by a National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, and a grant from the Seale Innovation Fund, which supports innovative pilot research projects at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. DiFeliceantonio received a grant from the fund to investigate metabolic, neural, and behavioral data to better understand how our brains process nutrient availability and food preference.