UND Department of Biomedical Sciences among top recipients of NIH grant funding

GRAND FORKS, N.D. • For the second year in a row, the University of North Dakota Department of Biomedical Sciences, housed within UND’s School of Medicine & Health Sciences, has been listed in the top three recipients of National Institutes of Health grant dollars among comparable biomedical sciences departments nationwide.

As noted by the BlueRidge Institute for Medical Research, which tabulates and ranks NIH award data annually, the biomedical sciences team at UND came in third overall for NIH dollars awarded out of more than 30 biomedical sciences departments nationwide in 2019-20. The rank matches the department’s third-place national ranking the previous year (2018-19). UND is the only Midwestern school listed in the top five for the past two years.

Researchers based at the school pulled in a record $30.8 million in 2019-20 from all external sources for projects focused not only on neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, but cancer, Indigenous health, and various infectious diseases, including COVID-19.

Grants awarded to the Department of Biomedical Sciences by the NIH in 2020 include one to assistant professor Motoki Takaku, Ph.D., to study breast cancer; a grant to assistant professor Kumi Nagamoto-Combs, Ph.D., exploring the connection between food allergens and Alzheimer’s; and multiple awards to associate professor Catherine Brissette, Ph.D., that will help her advance her work on Lyme’s disease.

Infectious disease researcher Nadeem Khan, Ph.D., helped the SMHS develop an adjuvanted COVID-19 prototype vaccine in 2020 this year was awarded a 2-year $387,750 award from the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to advance his team’s new vaccine for bacterial pneumonia.

“The NIH gave us the dollars to evaluate those vaccines, to study them and determine whether they can protect against pneumonia and sepsis,” Khan said. “We’ll be comparing them with existing vaccines and testing their efficacy in the market. We hope to complete this work in the next two years and, by 2023, transition these findings to clinical trials.”

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX, PART 1

The Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers rose 2.6% for the 12 months ending March 2021, according to the most recent number by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the largest over-the-year increase since August 2018. Food prices advanced 3.5% over the past 12 months, while energy prices increased 13.2% over that period. Prices for all items less food and energy rose 1.6%.

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX, PART 2

Continuing the trends in the Consumer Price Index, prices for food at home increased 3.3% over the past 12 months. All six major grocery store food group prices advanced over the period, with increases ranging from 1.6% (dairy and related products) to 5.4% (meats, poultry, fish, and eggs). According to the latest information from the bureau, prices for food away from home rose 3.7 %, as the 6.5% advance in prices for limited services meals was the largest 12-month increase since data were first collected in 1997. Within energy, prices for gasoline rose 22.5% for the year ended March 2021, while natural gas prices increased 9.8%, and prices for electricity rose 2.5%. Fuel oil prices advanced 20.2%.

Air Traffic Passenger Data

U.S. airlines carried 61% fewer scheduled service passengers in February 2021 than in February 2020, according to preliminary data filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics by 22 airlines that carry more than 90% of the passengers. The latest number available show that February was the fifth straight month of year-over-year declines slightly above 60%. The large airlines carried 26.5 million passengers in February 2021 (preliminary), compared to 67.6 million passengers in February 2020 and 3.0 million in April 2020, which was the lowest monthly total in BTS records dating back to 1974. The previous low was 14.6 million passengers in February 1975.

-61% -59% -73%

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

TOTAL DOMESTIC INTERNATIONAL

Source: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics