News at USA Health

The Vigil vaccine is a genetically engineered vaccine made from cancer cells acquired from patients during surgery.

Research completed at the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute suggests that aggressive uterine cancer may respond better to immunotherapy than slower growing types.

Barnita Haldar, M.D., a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the University of South Alabama Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program, recently published an article in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

University of South Alabama researchers recently received funding from local Lions Clubs that will be used to buy equipment for conducting high-quality vision research and training the next generation of vision scientists.

The article titled “Extracellular NAD⁺ enhances PARP-dependent DNA repair capacity independently of CD73 activity” outlines the importance of NAD⁺, also known as an “energy molecule.” NAD⁺ is essential for survival of every cell in the body, and plays an important role in cancer research and treatment efficacy.

Steve Lim, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, was awarded a one-year $50,000 grant to investigate the pathological contribution of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) in atherosclerosis.

The goal of the study is to help determine how to better care for women who take part in the Bridge Program.

Jon Simmons, M.D., associate professor of surgery and pharmacology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, was one of five faculty members recently awarded the 2019 USA College of Medicine Faculty Intramural Grants Research Award.

To better understand the evolution of mosquito-borne viruses, University of South Alabama College of Medicine researchers are collaborating with members of the Yale School of Public Health and its West Nile 4K Project to reconstruct a picture of how the virus has spread and adapted during the past 20 years in the United States.

Robert A. Barrington, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, received $49,730 through the 2019 College of Medicine Faculty Intramural Grants Program Research Awards to further investigate a rare lung disease.

The article, highlighted on the cover, was also selected as the editor’s choice for the edition.

Residents from the USA Health department of pathology recently presented at the American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP) annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, and the College of American Pathologists (CAP) annual meeting in Orlando, Florida.