University of Houston College of Pharmacy researchers have secured more than $1 million in new funding to support three separate studies targeting sepsis, Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, and depression in patients with sickle cell disease.
While the projects address different conditions, each is aimed at improving patient outcomes through new approaches to prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
New drug delivery system for sepsis
Assistant professor and Presidential Frontier Faculty member in the Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Fanfei Meng, has developed a promising new nanomedicine for the treatment of sepsis and septic shock-life-threatening conditions that remain among the leading causes of death in hospitals worldwide. His team is now pursuing patent protection for the technology.
Our preliminary studies have been extremely encouraging. The nanoparticle formulation reduced drug toxicity, preserved potent antibacterial activity, broadly suppressed inflammatory signaling, and achieved complete survival in a preclinical model of severe sepsis."
Fanfei Meng, Assistant Professor and Presidential Frontier Faculty member, Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Houston College of Pharmacy
Sepsis develops when the body's response to a bacterial infection becomes dysregulated, triggering widespread inflammation that can lead to organ failure and death. Because antibiotics alone are often not enough, Meng developed a nanoparticle that simultaneously delivers two complementary therapies: an antibiotic to eliminate bacteria and an immunomodulator that calms the body's overactive immune response.
The nanoparticle represents a dual approach that could overcome a longstanding challenge in sepsis treatment.
Harnessing the power of AI to identify dementia treatment
Tiansheng Wang, assistant professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Health Outcomes and Policy is using artificial intelligence to accelerate the search for dementia treatments by focusing on drug repurposing, which examines whether medicines already used for other health conditions may also benefit people at risk for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
"My project will bring together several types of information that are often studied separately: medication use and other real-world health data, genetic information, cognitive assessments, and brain imaging," said Wang. "By including these earlier indicators, we may be able to evaluate potential drug effects more accurately than by relying only on diagnoses documented in medical records."
Treatment for sickle cell disease-related depression
Onye Ononogbu, research assistant professor of Pharmacy Practice and Translational Research, is creating a new screening tool built specifically for individuals living with sickle cell disease.
Many of the physical symptoms of SCD, like fatigue, sleep disruption and appetite changes, mirror symptoms of depression, so it becomes very hard to tell whether a patient is depressed, or whether they are simply experiencing the physical reality of living with sickle cell disease.
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