1st grants come quickly

The goal of the new UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center is to speed the transfer of new health care treatments from lab to patient. Funding for the center was announced last month, and the center wasted no time in awarding its first six grants, all from a $200,000 pilot fund for initiating innovative investigations.

The grants went to six School of Medicine faculty members. They are listed here, with their projects:

• Nicholas Kenyon, assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine -- Asthma therapy involving L-arginine, a natural amino acid that may help decrease the intensity of asthma episodes.
• Debora Paterniti, associate director of the Center for Health Services Research and associate professor of sociology -- Disseminate information on ways to reduce the disparities in mental health services for minority and rural populations.
• Lorenzo Rossaro, professor and chief of gastroenterology and hepatology -- Test the safety and effectiveness of telemedicine consultations in treating patients with hepatitis C viral infection.
• Mark Zern, professor of internal medicine -- Develop diagnostic tools for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, a common form of liver disease.
• Joseph Tuscano, associate professor of hematology and oncology -- Investigate the clinical potential of a cultured soy-shiitaki extract product in treating non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
• Kathryn DeRiemer, assistant adjunct professor of public health sciences -- Use a novel immunoassay system to diagnose tuberculosis infection and progression.

The Clinical and Translational Science Center is funded by nearly $25 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health.

-- Charles Casey, UC Davis Health System