Aaron Scherer, PhD, associate in General Internal Medicine, recently received two grants that will help identify and address patient and health care provider barriers to a variety of immunization-related issues.

With a five-year $1.93M R01, Renata Pereira, PhD, research assistant professor in Endocrinology and Metabolism, and a team of researchers plan to investigate methods to increase metabolism in brown fat cells.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common liver diseases worldwide and is associated with conditions such as obesity and metabolic syndrome, which can lead to diabetes, stroke, and heart disease.

University of Iowa Health Care epidemiologist Jorge Salinas’ new normal involves detailed procedures and protocols for how to handle patients infected with COVID-19, from the time they come to the hospital to the time they’re discharged.

Dr. Isabella Grumbach will collaborate with investigators from Radiation Oncology, the Tippie College of Business, and the College of Engineering to examine the impact of radiation therapy on the small vessels of the eye after treatment for eye melanoma.

Rasna Sabharwal, PhD, research assistant professor in Cardiovascular Medicine, received a four-year, $2.1M R01 from the NIH for her project “Stress-induced cardiovascular dysfunction in dilated cardiomyopathy.”

Josalyn Cho, MD, assistant professor in Pulmonary, Critical Care and Occupational Medicine, earned a five-year, $2.6 million R01 from the NIH to investigate an immune regulatory protein, T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 3 (Tim3), and its impact on influenza infection in the lungs.

Barry London, MD, PhD, professor and director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, received a four-year, $1.8 million R01 grant from the NIH to investigate the effects of radiation on the heart.

Continuing his work with the gene SUMO2 and the protein p66shc, Dr. Santosh Kumar will use his first R01 to further explore the correlation between “SUMOylation” and atherosclerotic development, as well as the mechanism behind SUMO2lyation’s effect on arterial oxidative stress.

Chris Adams, MD, PhD, and Scott Ebert, assistant research scientist, are researching how diabetes and obesity affect muscular atrophy and have removed a specific gene in mice to affect the disease.