FSU College of Medicine 2017 annual report 2017 Annual Report - FSU College of Medicine | Page 49
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Angelina Sutin, assistant professor
effective ways of treating many
in the Department of Behavioral
neurodegenerative diseases.
Gary Ostrander, associate vice
Sciences and Social Medicine, and
Sutin
Terracciano
Antonio Terracciano, associate president for research at Florida
professor of geriatrics, received a State and a professor of biomedical
$2.8 million NIH grant to search sciences at the College of Medicine,
for the origin of personality traits
Ostrander
that impact longevity. The five-year the Florida Department of Health.
study will seek to identify prenatal Ostrander and FSU Assistant Vice
and childhood neighborhood President for Research Eric Holmes
risk factors contributing to the will use human clinical trials to test
development of personality traits a drug approved and on the market
most consequential for healthy for tapeworm infections to see if it’s
aging. A better understanding of
those relationships is the first step
Megraw
million awarded by Gov. Rick
Scott to Florida State after more
than 1,000 people in Florida were
Sciences Michelle Arbeitman diagnosed with travel-related Zika
received two NIH grants totaling cases in 2016. Scott awarded 34
$2.2 million for her work in grants to 10 Florida institutions.
understanding how a person’s
Meckes
The remainder of the funding
going to Florida State involved
of complex behaviors. One grant College of Medicine scientists Tim Megraw and David Meckes.
focuses on genes and epigenetic Megraw, associate professor of biomedical sciences, received
changes causing behavioral $857,000 to understand mechanisms by which the Zika virus
differences between males and activates activity in the centrosome and to identify drugs that
females. The other looks at the interfere with the process, blocking the virus’s spread.
central nervous system and how Meckes, assistant professor of biomedical sciences, received
different neuronal connections make $200,000 to identify markers in
males and females behave differently. pregnant women that let doctors
Yi Zhou, associate professor
know if the fetus has been infected
with the Zika virus.
of biomedical sciences, received
Henry Carretta, assistant
a five-year, $1.8 million NIH
grant to study potential molecular
professor of behavioral sciences
therapies for schizophrenia. He
Tomko
Ostrander’s grant is part of $2.2
improve health outcomes.
genetic makeup influences a range
Zhou
effective in combating the Zika virus.
toward earlier interventions to
Associate Professor of Biomedical
Arbeitman
received a $1.1million grant from
and social medicine, is principal
will be looking in particular at a Carretta
brain protein that may be critical in $600,000 study funded by the Agency for Health Care
maintaining proper synaptic transmission.
Robert J. Tomko Jr., assistant professor of biomedical
investigator for a three-year,
Administration to evaluate the MEDS-AD (Meds for Aged
and Disabled) Waiver Program. The program aims to improve
sciences, received a $1.5 million NIH grant to advance the quality of pharmacological treatment among elderly and
understanding of how cells dispose of their protein waste. disabled patients with limited financial resources.
The work seeks to unlock secrets that could lead to more