USC researchers awarded $3.4 million to fight age-related cognitive decline in girls



USC researchers awarded $3.4 million to fight age-related cognitive decline in girls

A workforce of researchers at The Keck College of Drugs of USC have obtained a $3.4 million federal grant to advance analysis on an progressive strategy to slowing age-related cognitive decline.

The award is from the Superior Analysis Tasks Company for Well being (ARPA-H), an company withing the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers that funds transformational analysis to deal with robust well being issues. The grant is a part of ARPA-H’s Dash for Ladies’s Well being initiative to handle important unmet challenges in girls’s well being, champion transformative improvements, and deal with well being circumstances that uniquely or disproportionately have an effect on girls. USC will obtain $3.4 million in funding over two years via the Dash for Ladies’s Well being spark observe for early-stage analysis efforts.

Younger-Kwon Hong, PhD, Chief of the Division of Fundamental Science Analysis within the Division of Surgical procedure on the Keck College of Drugs of USC, and his workforce are engaged on slowing age-related cognitive decline in girls by serving to the mind’s lymphatic system clear extra waste.

With their longer lifespans, getting old girls have a better susceptibility to dementia and neurodegenerative problems. Two out of each three sufferers recognized with cognitive decline are girls.”


Dr. Younger-Kwon Hong, PhD, Chief of the Division of Fundamental Science Analysis within the Division of Surgical procedure on the Keck College of Drugs of USC

Dr. Hong and his workforce have already found a drug that might delay the onset of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s illness by enhancing the efficiency of the mind’s lymphatic system. They consider that by clearing waste buildup within the mind, they’ll sluggish the progress of cognitive decline. Their Dash for Ladies’s Well being undertaking will take a look at the mix of that drug with targeted ultrasound remedy to speed up the elimination of waste.

“Anybody with a liked one in cognitive decline is aware of how devastating-;and terrifying-;it may be for the affected person and for everybody round them. I consider that combining focused ultrasound remedy with our drug remedy might supply hope to 1000’s of individuals. We might even be capable of refine the remedy to a easy at-home course of. This has an unlimited potential to assist individuals maintain their dignity and their connection to family members.”

ARPA-H sought options inside six matters of curiosity in girls’s well being, and obtained an unprecedented response of submissions-;greater than 1700 from 34 international locations, with solely 24 candidates receiving funding. ARPA-H launched the Dash for Ladies’s Well being in February, with First Girl Jill Biden saying the funding as the primary main deliverable from the White Home Initiative on Ladies’s Well being Analysis.

The ARPA-H Dash for Ladies’s Well being is performed in collaboration with the Investor Catalyst Hub of ARPANET-H, the company’s nationwide well being innovation community that connects individuals, innovators, and establishments to speed up higher well being outcomes for everybody. USC will work with an ARPA-H Program Supervisor and the Investor Catalyst Hub over two years to develop their proposed resolution, receiving milestone-based funds aligned to analysis actions and efficiency targets.

About The Division of Surgical procedure on the Keck College of Drugs of USC

Underneath the management of Division Chairman Vaughn A. Starnes, MD, The Division of Surgical procedure on the Keck College of Drugs of USC has developed a powerful give attention to scientific analysis. This system actively works to advertise each medical analysis and bench science, providing each monetary assist and a construction to verify researchers arrange rigorous scientific protocols. As well as, promising surgical residents might do as much as two years of pure analysis and have the chance to current their findings at nationwide conferences. 

“I’m immensely pleased with the work Dr. Hong is doing,” stated Dr. Starnes. “This began from a private curiosity and an informed hunch that he had. After we give our researchers the assist they should pursue these, it advantages our entire neighborhood.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *