Jay Tischfield is the CEO and founder of RUCDR Infinite Biologics, part of the Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey at Rutgers.

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Jay Tischfield is the CEO and founder of RUCDR Infinite Biologics, part of the Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey at Rutgers. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) has awarded a five-year grant of more than $6 million to RUCDR Infinite Biologics to manage NINDS’s stem cell repository.

Photography: 
Nick Romanenko

A Gold Mine for Research
Rutgers to manage stem cell repository.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) has awarded a five-year grant of more than $6 million to RUCDR Infinite Biologics, the world’s largest university-based biorepository and part of the Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey at Rutgers. Rutgers will now manage the NINDS stem cell repository and provide a comprehensive range of stem cell-related services to researchers worldwide who are investigating diseases such as Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Huntington’s. Scientists will have better access to high-quality stem cells and other biospecimens that are essential to their work, according to Jay Tischfield, CEO and founder of RUCDR Infinite Biologics and the Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Distinguished Professor of Genetics at Rutgers.

Putting the Brakes on Double Mastectomies
Effort afoot to educate women about the preemptive procedure.

As breast cancer patients increasingly opt for double mastectomies, Laurie Kirstein, a surgical oncologist at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, wants to make sure that women understand their options before agreeing to undergo the procedure. Kirstein and colleague Sharon Manne, associate director  for cancer prevention, were awarded a $404,089 grant from the National Cancer Institute for their effort.

Removal of a healthy breast has risen fivefold in the past 15 years in women diagnosed with cancer in one breast but who have no family history, according to a 2010 study. Kirstein believes that the increase can be explained in part by celebrities undergoing double mastectomies, which has popularized the procedure; vastly improved reconstructive procedures; and lack of adequate advice from medical professionals. Kirstein and Manne are developing a web-based tool to help women make informed decisions. Kirstein pointed out double mastectomies do not remove the risk for cancer spreading—a common misconception about the procedure.

Reducing HIV Cases
School of Nursing enlisted for prevention  and treatment.

The School of Nursing in Newark and New Brunswick is taking the lead in a $6 million effort nationwide to reduce new HIV infections, a battle complicated by the aging of career HIV health care professionals and a failure to get all people living with HIV into treatment.

“Testing and treating for HIV infection need to be part of routine primary health care,” says John Nelson, director of the National Coordinating Resource Center at the school’s Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center (FXB Center), which serves a network of 16 AIDS Education and Training Center programs. “All health care providers need to consider HIV infection the same as any other chronic illness, such as hypertension and diabetes.”

The FXB Center will soon launch a national campaign to teach primary care providers practices to prevent an estimated 50,000 new HIV cases in the United States each year, many of which go undiagnosed, and to persuade HIV-infected individuals to seek treatment. The four-year program is funded by a Health Resources and Services Administration grant.

Although the death rate from HIV/AIDS has fallen dramatically, the HIV/AIDS global pandemic keeps health care workers busy continuously addressing crises. Convincing high-risk individuals to be tested continues to be a major obstacle to care, despite the success of the antiretroviral drug therapy.

— Jeff Tolvin RC’72

A Congenital Plague
Nikhat Parveen gets  funding to curb syphilis.

Nikhat Parveen, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Molecular Genetics at New Jersey Medical School, has been awarded a five-year National Institutes of Health grant worth $2.95 million to promote international collaboration on research into infectious diseases that disproportionately affect the health of people living in resource-limited countries. Parveen’s project, “Placental Colonization by Treponema Pallidum, Congenial Syphilis, and Novel Vaccine,” will investigate the molecular basis behind the transmission of  syphilis-causing bacteria from  pregnant mother to child, which is highly prevalent in Peru.