Damage-Reducing Stroke Drug from University of Montana Spinoff, Sinapis Pharma, Moving To Human Trials

University of Montana researchers have learned that low doses of methamphetamine given to rodents after strokes reduce brain damage and impairment by 50 percent or more. Now a UM research spinoff company, Sinapis Pharma http://www.sinapispharma.com/ , intends to start human Phase I clinical trials of the drug application in coming months.

"We have had fabulous results with rodent models," said David Poulsen, a research associate professor in UM's Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and chief scientific officer for the new company. "If we have comparable results with people, this could become the standard of care."

On the street, meth is a dangerous, addictive illegal drug. However, the Food and Drug Administration first approved prescription methamphetamine for clinical uses in 1944, and now it is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obesity and narcolepsy. Poulsen and his postdoctoral student Tom Rau have since discovered the protective effect of low-dose meth for strokes.

"The drug already has been approved for treating ADHD in children and obesity in adults as an oral dose," Poulsen said. "What we are doing is giving the drug in an IV form, so this is a new formulation that's being administered for a new application - stroke. This has never been done before."

Sinapis Pharma will file an Investigational New Drug application with the FDA in February, and Poulsen expects Phase I trials to begin shortly thereafter and be completed by summer. During the trials, researchers test the new drug on a small group of people (20 to 80) to evaluate its safety, determine dosage and identify side effects.

"Basically we give them the drug in an IV and draw blood from them every couple of hours and monitor their blood pressure and heart rate and such," Poulsen said.

He expects the Phase I trials to go smoothly because methamphetamine has been around a long time, and there is a lot of documentation about what humans can and can't handle. "We don't have to deal with a lot of the steps and hurdles encountered with the development of a new drug," he said.

If Phase I goes well, the process will move to Phase II, when patients experiencing strokes at hospitals will be asked to give informed consent to test the drug.

"Some people will say no, and some will say yes, and some won't meet the criteria," Poulsen said. "We are talking about hundreds of patients for this kind of trial, so we would do it at large metropolitan areas across the United States, but I would like St. Patrick Hospital (and Health Sciences Center in Missoula) to be one of the places we recruit patients. I know I would want the drug if I was having a stroke."

The researcher hopes to start Phase II trials by the end of the year.

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'Chicks in Science' event aims to crack stereotypes on science/technology careers for girls

 

MSU BILLINGS NEWS SERVICES - Women make up 46 percent of the American workforce but hold just 25 percent of the jobs in engineering, technology and science, according to the National Science Foundation.

In an ongoing effort to encourage girls to explore those career options, Montana State University Billings will host the third annual "Chicks in Science" event, a one-day science and technology extravaganza that provides hands-on and minds-on interactive activities to introduce girls in grades 4-8 to various careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

It will be held on Saturday, Feb. 13, at Alterowitz Gym at the MSU Billings main campus from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, but is especially designed for young girls. 

Kim Schweikert, Kids on Campus and outreach coordinator with the MSU Billings College of Professional Studies and Lifelong Learning, said the event is designed to expose girls to the fun aspects of science and math and encourage them to pursue educational studies in these areas. With about 50 booths featuring professional women currently working in those careers, girls also have a chance to build relationships, she said.

"Just as importantly, this reminds girls that you can be a cool chick and be smart at the same time," Schweikert said.

Last year, the event drew more than 1,200 participants.  Schweikert said the goal this year is to have even more participants.  There will be several door prizes, plenty of chocolate and even some free manicures.

This year's "Chicks in Science" will feature 50 booths with hands-on activities and each booth will have a woman who works as a professional in science- or math-related industry or academic field. This will provide one-on-one contact with important role-models who are also mothers, grandmothers, sisters and daughters with varied interests and life goals, Schweikert said.

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MSU receives $1.37 million to create "viral tree of life"

 

Montana State University researchers are looking more closely at the most abundant form of life-like entities on earth--viruses.

This fall, the university received a grant of $1.37 million over five years from the National Science Foundation. The money will allow faculty members and students at MSU to broaden the understanding of the viral world and its relationship to cellular life.

"We are known for finding bizarre viruses," said Mark Young, professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology and the grant's principal investigator.

Young and his team will be using molecular technology to identify and categorize viruses from extreme environments around the world, primarily very hot and very acidic places. They are looking for viruses with no known relatives.

They will collect hundreds to thousands of viruses and try to match their genetic material to genes scientists have already categorized. When Young and his group find a virus whose genes do not match known genes, they will know they've found something special.

Young will then classify the new viruses and create a "viral tree of life". Much like a tree of life for other life forms, this tree will show who is related to whom. Unlike the better known tree of life, the viral tree of life will almost certainly be more than one tree; it may even be a forest.

"Whereas cellular life has one common ancestor, viruses have had multiple, individual ancestors," Young said. "We don't know how many there are, but we hope to contribute to finding out how many trees are in the forest."

 

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Project A.L.S. and the Packard Center, non-profit leaders in forging productive collaborations among research scientists, will focus jointly on identifying the underlying causes of and the first effective treatments for ALS, a uniformly fatal neurodegenerative disease that is closely related to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.  Co-scientific directors of P²ALS are Robert H. Brown, Jr., M.D., D.Phil. (University of Massachusetts), Thomas M. Jessell, Ph.D. (HHMI/Columbia University), and Jeffrey Rothstein, M.D., Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins University).

 P²ALS is distinctive in that it unites key world leaders in the three disciplines that have recently transformed the landscape of ALS science:  Genetics, Stem Cell Reprogramming, and Glial-Neuron Signaling.  Through P²ALS, targeted research in these three areas will be performed in an interactive, collaborative, and transparent manner.  As such, the implications of discoveries in one area will be rapidly transmitted and tested in complementary areas, by multiple laboratories.  New observations and ideas can and will be validated or refuted with unprecedented speed. 

P²ALS  unites leading researchers from University of California San Diego, Columbia University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Massachusetts, University of Montana, Project A.L.S./Jenifer Estess Laboratory for Stem Cell Research, Salk Institute, and partner laboratories worldwide.

"Project A.L.S. is honored to join with Packard for what is arguably the most powerful partnership in the history of ALS research," said Valerie Estess, Director of Research for Project A.L.S.  "It's like Coke and Pepsi working together. Project A.L.S. is confident that that P²ALS will fuel the entire ALS field not only with ideas, but strategies and tools for treating people with ALS."

Through this merger of mind and method, P²ALS will focus on identifying the key genetic, biochemical and cellular pathways that underlie ALS and aims to define primary molecular targets for the development of new ALS therapies, within a three-year period.

"P²ALS is the most exciting undertaking in ALS research ever. The opportunity to bring a group of  highly productive creative leaders from the Packard Center with those funded by Project A.L.S.,  including iPS biology, motor neuron and glial biology, and experts in drug discovery, with a milestone driven approach provides a fantastic opportunity to synergize ALS research in a way I have never seen," said Packard's Medical Director, Jeff Rothstein.

P²ALS is grateful to Daniel and Alisa Doctoroff for leadership funding.

Project A.L.S. and Packard will remain separate entities, with a primary focus on the three-year P²ALS mission.

The ITHS is pleased to announce a Visiting Scholars Program opportunity designed to increase translational research capacity and facilitate collaborative research programs across the WWAMI states - Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho.

Purpose

The goal of the ITHS Visiting Scholars Program (VSP) grants is to build capacity for translational science across the WWAMI states and to develop new collaborations between translation scientists at institutions in the Puget Sound area and in the WWAMI states. To this end, the VSP supports investigators in developing collaborative scientific partnerships, accessing translational technologies and resources, and participating in educational programs and other activities that support translational research collaborations across programs, institutions, and states.

 Scope of VSP Award

The Scholars' experience may consist of educational components, laboratory time and training, and development of mentorships and collaborations.Although the VSP is primarily designed for investigators in the WWAMI region, at least one Visiting Scholar award will be available for an investigator in the Puget Sound region to develop a new collaboration with investigators at a WWAMI regional institution.

The VSP'sexpected outcomes include enhancing the capacity of the Visiting Scholar to seek research funding and to perform translation research through acquiring expertise, accessing new research tools, and developing collaborations between Puget Sound and WWAMI region investigators.  An expected product of the VSP is a collaborative grant proposal between investigators in the WWAMI and Puget Sound regions.

Contact
For more information about the Visiting Scholars Program, contact Josh Allen, ITHS Regional Liaison, at jallen14@uw.edu. For more information about the application process, contact ithsapps@uw.edu.

Application Process and Schedule

Proposal application instructions are available at www.iths.org/funding.

· By April 1, 2010 - Submit your application to ithsapps@uw.edu.

· By May 24, 2010 - Applications are reviewed

· Week of June 7, 2010 - Notification of award

· Week of June 7, 2010 - Funding will be available