A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh) of UPMC and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers have been awarded a $12.8 million grant to improve the diagnosis and predict the therapeutic response of several lung diseases.

The five-year grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health establishes Children's and the University of Pittsburgh as a Specialized Center of Clinically Oriented Research in Pediatric Pulmonology.

The award is designed to facilitate rapid translation of basic research findings into therapies for specific and troublesome diseases.

One focus of the research will be to understand why and how Aspergillus (a group of ubiquitous molds) causes lung damage in patients with suppressed immune systems. This is particularly important for the health of children because this mold can cause significant lung damage in cystic fibrosis and asthma patients, according to the researchers.

In other grant news:

• The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health has approved funding of $400,000, with a potential for an additional $400,000 after Aug. 31, 2007, to BioForce Nanosciences (Ames, Iowa), a subsidiary of BioForce Nanosciences Holdings.

The funding will be used to support the second phase of development for surface patterning tools (SPT). SPT molecular ink cartridges are used in the company's core technology, the Nano eNabler benchtop molecular printing system.

"The next phase of our SPT cartridge development program focuses on the improvement and expansion of the capabilities and throughput of the devices," said Curtis Mosher, vice president of research and development. "SPT cartridge loading and cleaning in place are primary objectives of the ongoing program."