Funded Projects

Rates of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) have skyrocketed during the last decade, and estimates suggest that 5% of mothers use at least one addictive drug during their pregnancy. To address this public health crisis, multiple groups—including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics—recommend universal screening of substance use in pregnancy using standardized behavioral scoring tools. Unfortunately, such tools are often biased due to subjective scoring or self-reporting errors, and fail to identify babies who did not receive proper prenatal care. This project will develop a fast and accurate NAS screening tool that pairs a simple sample preparation protocol with a high-sensitivity panel of homogeneous enzyme immunoassays recognizing five common classes of drugs: fentanyl, morphine, amphetamine/methamphetamine, cocaine, and benzodiazepines. The potential benefits of such a system include reduced length of hospitalization for unaffected newborns, accelerated time to confirmatory results (under 2 hours), faster resolution of acute withdrawal symptoms, and improved referral to family/maternal support services.

Newborn Abstinence Syndrome, which results from maternal opioid drug use prior to birth, is a serious condition that affects approximately 6% of all neonates born today in the U.S. and which is increasing rapidly in incidence because of this epidemic. Availability of a rapid screening test that can be administered at the point of care to all neonates would allow for early intervention, reducing costs of treatment and reducing pain and suffering for this vulnerable and helpless patient population. Providing a platform to accurately monitor actual levels of these drugs and their metabolites in such patients would allow better-controlled use of these pain management treatments, personalized to the needs of the individual neonate, and would reduce the probability of addiction and resulting complications, which include deleterious neurological effects. The purpose of this FastTrack SBIR project is to expand upon preliminary results that a device can sensitively and accurately detect opioids and their primary urinary metabolites in one-microliter urine samples, in less than a minute after sample introduction into the device, and adapt the device into a point-of-care instrument for use in hospitals, clinics, and other venues in which such tests are likely to be deployed.

Pain caused by degenerative joint diseases such as osteoarthritis (OA) is a major public health challenge that significantly affects quality of life for millions of Americans. There are no therapies available that offer pain relief and reverse the course of OA.  This project will use state-of-the-art technologies to create a neuronal connectivity and molecular map of the mouse knee joint, which will help identify molecular signatures that can be targeted for therapy. The research will include animals of different ages and of both sexes and test joint effects after exercise, in animals with OA, and after gene therapy that delivers an experimental OA medication directly to the joint.