Research Translates to Treatment

Doctors and researchers at West Virginia University are advancing patient treatment options and winning more funding for their scientific work.

Visvanathan Ramamurthy, PhD, a researcher at the WVU Eye Institute, has received a five–year, $1.65 million grant from the National Eye Institute to study childhood blindness in hopes of finding treatment options to improve blind children’s quality of life.
WVU Eye Institute Awarded $1.65 Million Grant to Study Childhood Blindness

Patients suffering from hearing loss involving the outer and middle ear resulting from birth defects, ear infection or hereditary causes could benefit from a hearing device implant.

Stephen Wetmore, MD, Department of Otolaryngology chairman, performed the University’s first bone anchored hearing aid surgery in March 2007.
Surgically Implanted Hearing Devices Now Offered at WVU

Researchers at WVU have discovered a gene pattern for identifying a patient’s odds of breast cancer recurrence. The newly identified 28-gene signature pattern predicts recurrence and spreading, according to researcher Lan Guo, PhD of WVU’s Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center.
Genetic Makeup Predicts Recurrence of Cancer, WVU Researchers Find

The Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center at WVU is the only facility in the state to participate in a nationwide study of a new breast cancer drug, Lapatinib, recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
FDA Approves Drug Used in WVU Study

Kimberly Williams, PhD, a research assistant professor in Community Medicine at WVU, has received a National Institutes of Health grant to perform a study on exploring yoga therapy. Williams might lead study participants to experience a reduction in pain-related measures when compared with those participants who continue to receive standard medical practice.
WVU to Study Yoga’s Effect on Chronic Low Back Pain