John Chatham, Ph.D., Professor, Molecular & Cellular Pathology, was recently awarded an R01 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute titled, "STIM1 and its Role in Regulating Cardiac Metabolism." The award begins April 1 and will run until March 31, 2021. The project is expected to run through 2024. The process of working toward this R01 began in 2012.
Dr. Chatham outlined three specific aims for the grant. Those were to identify the full extent to which STIM1 regulates cardiac metabolism, establish the mechanisms by which STIM1 influences mitochondrial function in the heart, and determine how diabetes regulates STIM1 levels and whether loss of STIM1 contributes to the adverse effects of diabetes in the heart.
This project was originally funded by an R21 grant, with Dr. Helen Collins who came from the United Kingdom, to assist with the research as a post-doctoral fellow. Shortly after arriving she was awarded a post-doc fellowship by the UAB Comprehensive Cardiovascular Center; subsequently, she obtained a post-doc fellowship from the American Heart Association, which was followed by a fellowship from the American Diabetes Association. Collins left Chatham's lab and joined the University of Louisville last fall as an Assistant Professor.
The Pathologist magazine, a pathology-themed magazine, published the second in its series of "pandemic diaries" featuring first-person stories from pathologists and laboratory medicine professionals around the globe, describing how their labs and departments have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic. George Netto, M.D., Robert and Ruth Anderson Endowed Chair, UAB Pathology, is featured in this second installment of the series. An excerpt:
April 24, 2020
Pathologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have been a crucial part of battling the COVID-19 pandemic in Alabama.
Testing has been a major cause for concern worldwide ever since the pandemic began, but clinicians and researchers with UAB’s Department of Pathology have been working around the clock to make testing available for as many people as possible, making sure accurate results are available in a timely manner.
“Our department faculty and staff have been both proactive and nimble in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Department of Pathology Chair George Netto, M.D. “Pathologists and laboratory medicine professionals, both here at UAB and nationally, have been at the forefront of fighting this pandemic. As always, we are used to working behind the scenes; however, this event has allowed our colleagues to step up and retool their labs and staff to pivot toward tackling COVID-19.”
Sixto Leal, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Laboratory Medicine, and Director, Clinical Microbiology, Fungal Reference Laboratory and Mycoplasma Laboratory, was recently awarded a grant from the School of Medicine to support research into COVID19 testing. Leal has been working since the outset of the pandemic to convert his labs into a COVID19 testing location.
Sixto Leal, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Laboratory Medicine
Leal's proposal was titled, "Optimization of SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostic Testing Throughput and Prognostic Significance." It seeks to optimize the current assay to increase test capacity fourfold and include the detection of other viruses, such as flu and RSV on the differential diagnosis to speed the time to an accurate diagnosis for our patients and limit the need for unnecessary testing with expensive viral respiratory panels.
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