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By receiving the Clinical and Translational Science Award, the University of Minnesota is now required by NCATS and NIH to ensure an acknowledgment of the CTSA in any publications that result from UMN CTSI assistance with a project.

How to acknowledge CTSA support
All publications resulting from the use of CTSI resources are required to credit CTSA by using the text below.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health Award Number UL1TR000114. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

When to acknowledge CTSA support
Please note that assistance is not limited to monetary support (e.g., pilot grant funds), but also includes use of CTSI space, consultation with CTSI faculty or staff, and use of any CTSI Internal Service Organization services (Project Management, Clinical Research Coordinators, Nursing and Nutritional Services, Biostatistical support, and Regulatory assistance such as IND/IDE support, clinical trial monitoring, or ClinicalTrials.gov support).

The University of Minnesota and the University of California - Los Angeles Clinical and Translational Science Institutes have teamed up to support three new pilot projects that address health disparities and health systems problems in Minnesota and southern California.

The Cross-Institutional Award for Health Disparities Research and Health Systems Change funds research where community-based organizations participate fully with faculty in the research process, and projects include co-Principal Investigators from both UMN and UCLA.

Please join us in congratulating the recipients of this inaugural round of funding!

• William Riley, UMN, for the HIE Use project with Hector Rodriguez and Jeffrey McCullough, UCLA
• Joshua Chodosh, UCLA, for the Alzheimer's Disease project with Joseph Gaugler, UMN
• Robert Jones, UMN, for the Dental Caries/Obesity project with Francisco Ramos-Gomez, UCLA

Medical School Assistant Professor Aaron Kelly, PhD, and Jennifer Abuzzahab, MD, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, received a Community Collaborative Grant from CTSI in 2010 to study the effects of the drug exenatide on extreme pediatric obesity. On Monday, February 4, the encouraging results of that study were published online in JAMA Pediatrics. 

Exenatide is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist currently approved for adults with type 2 diabetes. Dr. Kelly and his team conducted a three-month, placebo-controlled trial followed by a three-month open-label extension where medication was offered to all participants. 22 individuals between 12 and 19 years of age completed the trial. Participants who received exenatide experienced a greater reduction in BMI compared with placebo (-2.7 percent), and a further reduction in BMI during the open-label period (cumulative reduction of 4 percent). The team also observed a reduction, though not statistically significant, in systolic blood pressure. 

The authors conclude that "...data from the current study provide evidence that GLP-1 receptor agonist treatment reduces BMI and elicits a potentially meaningful reduction in SPB in adolescents with severe obesity." Kelly's team collaborated with Kyle Rudser, PhD, of the CTSI Biostatistical Design and Analysis Center to complete the analysis and interpretation of the data; Rudser is also an author of the JAMA Pediatrics article. 

The CTSI Community Collaborative Grants are meant to generate pilot data for further research and funding. The authors discussed future directions for this line of research, concluding that future clinical trials should be conducted over a longer duration and should look at other health outcomes, beyond BMI and systolic blood pressure. The study was covered by Reuters and U.S. News and World Report, among others.

Congratulations to the recipients of CTSI's Fall 2012 Translational Grant Awards! This round of awards, designed to facilitate the highest quality translational research, was dedicated to junior investigators at the University of Minnesota.

Funded investigators will partner with a Project Development Team from the CTSI Office of Discovery and Translation (ODAT) that will provide project mapping and translational research expertise to facilitate the achievement of specific metrics and endpoints.

Peter Dosa, PhD, College of Pharmacy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Institute for Therapeutics Discovery and Development
Development of novel therapeutics for glaucoma

Michael Linden, MD, PhD, Medical School, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
Identifying immunophenotypic markers suitable for clinical laboratory testing for early identification of bortezomib resistance in human multiple myeloma

Ann Parr, MD, PhD, Medical School, Neurosurgery Department
Autologous OPCs for transplantation into human spinal cord injury

Valerie Pierre, PhD, College of Science and Engineering, Department of Chemistry
Siderophore aptasensors for immediate point-of-care diagnosis of urinary tract infection

Visit the CTSI website to learn about current and future funding opportunities.

The CTSI Office of Discovery and Translation (ODAT) announces a new pilot funding opportunity for junior investigators conducting early stage translational research, which is defined as research focused on transitioning a basic science discovery to the clinical setting. Awardees will partner with a Project Development Team (PDT) that will provide project mapping and translational research expertise to facilitate the achievement of specific metrics and endpoints.

Applications are due September 17.

View the Request for Applications (RFA) to learn more.

Questions? Contact Sandra Wells, PhD, Assistant Director, CTSI Office of Discovery and Translation at (612) 625-3073 or smwells@umn.edu.