UAB Briefs: Meals for Heroes taking donations, cancer grant, new Callahan clinic
In this weekly online feature, we keep track of interesting people and events on campus at The University of Alabama at Birmingham.
We also provide updates regarding UAB’s efforts to cope with the COVID-19.
Let us know about people, events and programs on campus that deserve a mention in UAB Briefs. Email jchambers@starnespublishing.com.
And remember that the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Continue to follow all of the usual protocols and stay safe.
Feeding frontline workers
FEEDING FRONTLINE WORKERS
The Meals for Heroes campaign is again taking donations from the community to provide meals for UAB health-care workers on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19.
The campaign’s first phase, which launched April 1, raised more than $76,000 and has served more than 22,000 meals.
Meals for Heroes is a partnership between UAB Advancement and the UAB Department of Food and Nutrition Service.
“The first iteration of Meals for Heroes last year showed us just how supportive our community can be of our health care workers,” said Charlotte Beeker, associate vice president for Food, Nutrition and Guest Services at UAB Medicine. “We’re excited to welcome that support again.”
One-time or recurring monetary gifts can be made online.
Local restaurants interested in donating individual, pre-wrapped items, such as personal pan pizzas or boxed salads or sandwiches, or have questions can contact Food and Nutrition Services at 205-934-4718 or Charlotte Beeker at cbeeker@uabmc.edu.
FIGHTING CANCER
About 42,000 American were expected to die in 2020 from breast cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
Trygve Tollefsbol, a professor in the UAB Department of Biology, is part of a team on campus seeking to fight this deadly disease.
Tollefsbol has received a five-year National Institutes of Health renewal grant for $1.7 million to study the molecular mechanisms involved in preventing breast cancer from generation to generation, according to UAB News.
The grant is similar to the first five-year NIH award Tollefsbol received in 2016, and he will continue to study how a diet consisting of commonly consumed plant products can decrease the incidence and growth of breast cancer.
The renewal grant is a collaboration between Tollefsbol and co-investigators Douglas Hurst in the Department of Pathology, David Crossman in the Department of Genetics and Nengjun Yi in the Department of Biostatistics in the School of Public Health.
The investigation will determine the role of epigenetic chemistry, which involves heritable changes in gene expression not due to changes in DNA sequence, in the prevention of breast cancer from parents to their offspring.
“If we find that what parents consume in their diets can help prevent breast cancer in their offspring, this would be a major advancement for research into cancer prevention,” Tollefsbol told UAB News.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
As people begin receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, immunity monitoring will determine whether the vaccine is effective for an individual and for how long.
Benjamin Larimer — an assistant professor in the Division of Advanced Medical Imaging Research at the UAB Department of Radiology — has developed a diagnostic test designed to show whether individuals are protected against COVID-19, according to UAB News.
The technology identifies the neutralizing antibodies that, according to recent research, block the virus from infecting cells.
Current tests can mistake antibodies for other viruses, such as the common cold, for COVID-19 antibodies, leading to possible false-positive results, Larimer said.
To create the new test, he broke down the COVID-19 virus into small pieces to identify the exact locations where antibodies attach to the virus.
“Tests that specifically detect these antibodies can be used to measure whether a vaccine works, and possibly predict how long its protection will last,” Larimer told UAB News.
Larimer hopes to use his team’s technology to create an inexpensive, easy-to-use test for in-home immunity monitoring for the public.
CALLAHAN FACILITY IN TRUSSVILLE
A new UAB Callahan Eye Hospital Clinic opened in Trussville on Tuesday, Jan. 19.
The facility is located at 1960 Gadsden Parkway near Pinnacle at Tutwiler Farm, according to UAB News.
The 5,200-square-foot clinic offers patients access to pediatric and comprehensive eye care specialists, a diagnostic imaging center and an on-site optical store.
Patients will receive such services as family eye care, eye exams, cataract evaluations, glaucoma screenings, dry eye evaluation and treatment, and contact lens evaluations.
The clinic will offer Trussville residents, including those who have used Callahan in the past, with eye care in “a more convenient, timely manner,” said Rett Grover, UAB Callahan Eye Hospital and Clinics CEO.
For more information, go to uabmedicine.org/eyeclinic.