American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funding

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law in February 2009, includes significant funding for research and development from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other federal agencies. Most of the funds allocated by the stimulus bill are to be used within two years, although the benefits are expected to be far-reaching in terms of new discoveries, jobs, education, equipment and facilities.

This following list highlights Yerkes research funded to date by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the stimulus bill.

Fighting chronic viral infections by traffic control – John Altman, PhD

Emory researchers recently discovered that a drug that keeps white blood cells bottled up in lymph nodes helps mice overcome chronic infection by a meningitis virus. Now they plan to study how the drug works and test whether it is effective against other viruses. The bottling-up strategy might be a tool for fighting chronic infections such as HIV and hepatitis C.

Yerkes Challenges and Champions Summer Program – Elizabeth Buffalo, PhD

The program’s goal was to provide a summer job experience that would lay the foundation for attracting high school students, especially underrepresented minorities, to scientific careers. Six students from the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology and three high school teachers participated in the first of a two-year program.

Using biomarkers to identify therapeutic targets for Huntington’s disease – Anthony Chan, DVM, PhD

The development of transgenic Huntington’s disease (HD) monkeys is expected to lead to greater understanding of the underlying biology of HD and to the development of potential therapies. The project will focus on developing biomarkers using HD monkey peripheral blood as HD progresses. Thus, potential therapeutic targets will also be identified.

Interrupting brain circuits that drive cocaine craving – Daniel Manvich

Drug-associated cues play a major role in relapse to drug addiction. The current project documents that activation of specific protein targets in the brain can prevent cue-induced relapse. The results will lead to the development of drugs that target the neurotransmitter glutamate as potential medications to treat cocaine addiction. (Student research funding)