In the fall of 2016, Inova Health System (Inova) and University of Virginia (UVA) announced a comprehensive research and education partnership to accelerate joint discovery and the application of translational medical research. As part of that effort, nine UVA-Inova research teams will receive $450,000 in seed funding to help launch projects that will improve the health of people of all ages and states of health worldwide. Some of the research projects funded through the program include:
- Learning how the gut microbiome – the bacteria that live inside us – may influence early childhood obesity.
- Identifying and studying potential three-drug combinations to treat ovarian cancer.
- Confirming a biomarker that may predict patients at high risk for heart disease.
- Determining whether a mindfulness-based stress reduction program to prevent excess weight gain in obese pregnant women improves outcomes for mothers and babies.
- Determining the impact of how babies are fed on their growth and the development of their gut micro biome.
- Seeking to identify gene variations that could identify patients at risk for heart failure.
- Learning how dying cells and proteins may impact diseases that affect an individual’s metabolism.
- Studying a new class of circular DNA – microDNA – along with microdeletions and how they manifest in men and women.
UVA’s Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia, which facilitates translational health research across UVA, and Inova’s Translational Medicine Institute, are helping support these research projects.
Read more about the Inova-UVA partnership in this article by the Washington Business Journal.