ASPEN is proud and honored to contribute to the careers of researchers studying nutrition therapy, metabolic support, and related clinical nutrition topics. View all Foundation grant recipients and accomplishments stemming from their Foundation-funded research.
 The ASPEN Rhoads Research Foundation would like to recognize Allison Blackmer, a recipient of the C. Richard Fleming Small Research Project Grant (2012) and Harry M. Vars candidate (2014).
The foundation grant, which funded her preliminary work evaluating the long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes of infants treated with intravenous fat emulsion reduction for the management of parenteral nutrition associated cholestasis, has directly led to ongoing research and grant funding. Blackmer will be collaborating with Dr. Meghan Arnold, clinical assistant professor of surgery at the University of Michigan, as well as multidisciplinary teams at the University of Michigan, Seattle Children’s Hospital, the University of Utah, and the University of Florida to prospectively evaluate the safety and efficacy of a reduced dose of intravenous fat emulsion on the development of parenteral nutrition associated cholestasis in addition to the long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes associated with this management approach. This work will be funded by the United States Food and Drug Administration, Orphan Products Development (OPD) grant #1R01FD005085-01A1. |
The Foundation’s recently funded research and grantees include:
- Safety and Tolerability of Intravenous Fish Oil Lipid Emulsion during Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Children. Lori Bechard, PhD, RD, LDN, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MANutritional Metabolome in Critical Illness. Kenneth Christopher, MD, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
- Phase II, Multi-center, Randomized Control Trial of beta-Hydroxy-Methyl-Butyrate (HMB) in Improving Physical Muscle Function, in Nutritionally at Risk Elderly Patients. Adam Rahman, MD, DABIM, FRCPC, Western University, London, Ontario, CA Towards Therapeutic Strategies to Improve Patient Outcome with Total Parenteral Nutrition: Clues from Cell Signaling Networks. Kate Walton, PhD, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Novel Interventions Modulating the FXR-FGF19 Axis and the TGR5-GLP Axis as Therapeutic Approaches for TPN Associated Pathologies. Ajay K. Jain, MD, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO
- Enteral Feeding Set Handling Techniques: A Comparison of Bacterial Growth, Time, Labor and Material Costs. Ashley Hayden, MS, RD, LD, CNSC, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MOThe Safety of Parenteral Nutrition Regarding Microbial Growth and Vascular Catheter-related Infection (The FACT Study). Nicole Gavin, PhD - candidate, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
The work done with Foundation grant funds is shared throughout the world through peer-reviewed publications. To date, there have been more than 115 publications based upon the recipients’ initial work from their Foundation grants, including:
- Mager DR, Yap J, Rodriguez-Dimitrescu C, Mazurak V, Ball GD, Gilmour SM. Anthropometric Measures of Visceral and Subcutaneous Fat are Important in the Determination of Metabolic Dysregulation in Boys and Girls at Risk for Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Nutr Clin Prac. 2013 Feb;28(1):101-11.
- Beckman LM, Earthman CP, Thomas W, Compher CW, Muniz J, Horst RL, Ikramuddin S, Kellog TA, Sibley SD. Serum 25(OH) Vitamin D Concentration Changes after Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013 Mar 21. DOI: 10.1002/oby.20464
- Feng Y, Teitelbaum DH. Epidermal Growth Factor/TNF-α Transactivation Modulates Epithelial Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis in a Mouse Model of Parenteral Nutrition. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2012;302(2):G236-49.
- Stapleton RD, Martin TR, Weiss NS, Crowley JJ, Gundel SJ, Nathens AB, Akhtar SR, Ruzinski JT, Caldwell E, Curtis JR, Heyland DK, Watkins TR, Parsons PE, Martin JM, Wurfel MM, Hallstrand TS, Sims KA, Neff MJ. A Phase II Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial of Omega-3 Fatty Acids for the Treatment of Acute Lung Injury. Crit Care Med. 2011 Jul;39(7):1655-62.
- Levitt DG, Beckman LM, Mager JR, Valentine B, Sibley SD, Beckman TR, Kellogg TA, Ikramuddin S, Earthman CP. Comparison of DXA and Water Measurements of Body Fat Following Gastric Bypass Surgery and a Physiological Model of Body Water, Fat, and Muscle Composition. J Appl Physiol. 2010 Sep;109(3):786-95.