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Faculty in the News!

Pilot Project Program (PPP) award recipient Joel Richter, PhD forges ahead with his research through a new partnership

Joel Richter, PhD, the Arthur F. Koskinas Chair in Neuroscience and professor of molecular medicine, received a PPP award for his project titled "Correction of Defective Splicing in Fragile X Syndrome with Therapeutic Potential". This new partnership between UMass Chan and QurAlis facilitates further study for Dr. Richter by exploring the biology of fragile X syndrome to determine and confirm relevant targets that could enable antisense oligonucleotide-mediated correction of the syndrome. (Read full story HERE.)

Alys launches as promising new immuno-dermatology company

This new venture is co-founded by John Harris, MD, PhD. Dr. Harris, chair and professor of dermatology, director of the Vitiligo Clinic and Research Center, and director of UMCCTS Integrated Biomarkers Core will serve as Chief Innovation Officer at Alys. Alys combines the assets and platforms of six biotechs, including Aldena Therapeutics, a partner of UMass Chan Medical School. See full article HERE.

Former KL2 awardee receives $21 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)

Nancy Byatt, DO, MS’15, MBA and Christopher Sheldrick, PhD

A research team led by Dr. Byatt, pictured here with Christopher Sheldrick, PhD, has secured a $21 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to conduct a perinatal mental health equity study. She is currently the UMCCTS KL2 Program mentor, and former KL2 and Pilot Program Project awardee.

Read the full story HERE.

TL1 Trainee and lead author Katarina Ferrucci's paper published in Journal of Eating Disorders

Katarina Ferrucci, PhD, MS, PN1-NC

Dr. Ferrucci's paper titled, "Provider perceptions of barriers and facilitators to care in eating disorder treatment for transgender and gender diverse patients: a qualitative study", reports that the prevalence of eating disorders is higher in transgender and non-binary compared to cisgender people. Additionally, access to effective care is lacking compared to cisgender people.

Read the full article in the Journal of Eating Disorders here. Check out the story written by Susan E.W. Spencer, Senior Writer and Editor, UMass Chan Medical School, Department of Communications.

A Facilitation and Analysis Solution for Large Amounts of Data Sets

Alper Kucukural, PhD, and Manuel Garber, PhD

UMass Chan Medical School has licensed its bioinformatics data processing and analysis technology to Via Scientific Inc.

for commercial development. This software platform was developed by the director of Bioinformatics Core (a resource core of the CCTS),

Manuel Garber, PhD, Bioinformatics Core co-director, Alper Kucukural, PhD, and colleagues. Read full story here.

Pilot Project Grant Supports Substance Use Treatment Research Program

Ekaterina Pivovarova, PhD

Dr. Pivovarova is team leader for a pilot project taking place at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction studying substance use treatment program outcomes. The $50,000 grant from the UMass Center for Clinical and Translational Science for the pilot program will allow researchers to complete the study.

Kate’s project marks the first formal relationship between UMass Chan and the jail. This community partnership exemplifies our vision to work in collaboration with our community and a broad array of partners to improve health and health care delivery. Read full story here.

Additonal media coverage from the Worcester Business Journal can be found here and the Spectrum News video segment can be viewed here.