BME professor awarded five-year NIH grant

Dr. Caterina M. Gallippi, associate professor in the Joint NC State-UNC Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been awarded a five-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Project Grant (R01), the premier configuration of support that the NIH gives to independent investigators.

NIH will provide up to $300,000 per year for the project entitled “DP ARF Ultrasound for Monitoring Muscle Degeneration in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.”

The objective of the project is to demonstrate that the Double Pulse (DP) Acoustic Radiation Force (ARF) ultrasound delineates changes in muscle composition and function in individual dystrophic muscles, from early stages through late stages of disease development, that correlate to time and loss of the ability to walk or move.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy, one form of muscular dystrophy, involves rapidly worsening muscle weakness.

Gallippi will collaborate with Drs. Joe Kornegay, Hongtu Zhu and James Howard, professors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The R01 is the original and oldest grant mechanism used by the NIH. The grant provides support for health-related research and development based on the mission of the NIH.