Taubman Emerging Scholar Rajesh Rao, MD, is leading a new clinical trial of a stem cell treatment for patients with dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Eighteen patients in the trial will receive as many as 250,000 specially engineered cells derived from adult retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. The experimental cells are injected under the macula,…
Research supported in part by the Taubman Institute has developed new findings about the immune systems of patients with the autoimmune disorder lupus erythematosus. Investigators including Taubman Emerging Scholars Michele Kahlenberg, MD, PhD, and Johann Gudjonsson, MD, PhD, note in a recently published paper that the normal-appearing skin of lupus patients contains the same inflammatory…
Taubman Institute Innovation Project finds new use for heart rate data By Morgan Sherburne Michigan News If you become ill with COVID-19, your smartwatch can track the progression of your symptoms, and could even show how sick you become. That’s according to a University of Michigan study that examined the effects of COVID-19 with six…
Kanakadurga (Durga) Singer, MD has been elected to a one-year term as vice chair of the university’s Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA). SACUA advises and consults with the president, provost and other executive officers of the university on issues that affect faculty interests. Dr. Singer is the Valerie Castle Opipari, MD Professor of…
Grace Wu, managing director of the Taubman Institute, has received the 2022 Research Staff Leadership Recognition Award from the U-M Office of the Vice President for Research. Ms. Wu, who was appointed managing director in 2017, is among 10 honorees university-wide by the program that spotlights those who play a key role in supporting research…
The Taubman Institute is proud to congratulate Taubman Scholar Arul Chinnaiyan, MD, PhD, on his receipt of the 2022 Sjöberg Prize for his distinguished cancer research. Dr. Chinnaiyan, a Taubman Scholar since 2011, is honored for the discovery of recurrent gene fusions in prostate cancer, which have led to a better understanding of how prostate…
Taubman Institute director Charles F. Burant, MD, PhD has been elected to the latest class of fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Dr. Burant, an endocrinologist and physician-researcher, was selected for his distinctive molecular and metabolomic research on insulin resistance, therapy for diabetes and management of obesity combined with stimulation…
Karen McLean, MD, PhD, has received a $50,000 collaborative grant from the Michigan Ovarian Cancer Alliance. Dr. McLean, a Kenneth and Frances Eisenberg Emerging Scholar, is a surgeon and physician who cares for patients with gynecological cancers. Her laboratory focuses on understanding why ovarian cancers grow and spread, with particular attention to the impact of…
The American Skin Association presented one of its 2021 Research Achievement Awards to Johann Gudjonsson, MD, PhD, a Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg Emerging Scholar. Dr. Gudjonsson Dr. Gudjonsson clinical focus is on complex medical dermatology, particularly patients with severe inflammatory skin diseases including psoriasis. Dr. Gudjonsson’s primary research focus is basic immunological and genetic research…
Sami Barmada, MD, PhD, is the co-investigator on several new funding awards, two R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health, a Department of Defense grant focusing on ALS, and a collaborative grant from the Target ALS foundation. Dr. Barmada, a Danto Family Foundation Emerging Scholar, is an associate professor of neurology who studies ALS…