Uma Sundaram, MD, received a five-year $2.39 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study inflammatory bowel disease. Dr. Sundaram is the vice dean for research and graduate education at Marshall University's Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine in Huntington, W. Va.
Here are three notes:
1. The grant will fund Dr. Sundaram's research on gastrointestinal absorption of glutamine and its effects on IBD.
2. He hopes that by studying the regulation of glutamine absorption in the intestine, the study's findings can help develop better nutritional therapies for IBD.
3. This research has particular local significance for Huntington, since IBD predisposes patients to a higher rate of colon cancer. This cancer is prevalent in West Virginia, according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.