Search Results

The goal of this study is to better understand how drinking alcohol may lead to oral cancers. Acetaldehyde, a chemical formed when the body breaks down alcohol, is believed to play an important role. This study will measure acetaldehyde and DNA damage levels in the mouth of participants after a low dose of alcohol. The levels will be compared between three groups, all having different degrees of risk for developing oral cancer, in order to identify DNA damage that might be crucial to cancer formation.

Alcohol Study - alcohol-study@umn.edu

This study looks at the use of an implanted brain stimulator for people who have treatment resistant depression. The change in brain function by EEG and symptoms of depression will be examined. This study is open to people 22-55 years old with Medicare or Medicare Advantage insurance.

Interventional Psychiatry Lab Study - ipl@umn.edu

This is a study of individuals older than 18, undergoing abdominal surgery, and are amenable to fat samples being collected during their surgical procedure, with the option to participate in other tests that can provide information on insulin sensitivity and fat distribution. This study is trying to figure out how fat tissue is related to an individual's health status and health conditions, and the analysis of the aging of cells that make up the human body.

Shannon Jannatpour - sjannatp@umn.edu

This study will compare the effectiveness and durability of intensive behavioral counseling vs. medical management plus low-intensity behavioral counseling on BMI, body fat, cardiometabolic risk factors, and quality of life in adolescents with severe obesity. We hypothesize that Wegovy (semaglutide) plus low-intensity behavioral counseling will elicit superior reductions in BMI (primary efficacy endpoint) and body fat and greater improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors and quality of life compared to intensive behavioral counseling at 56 weeks.

Nina Jacobs - njacobs@umn.edu

In this study we want to find out more about weight loss and how diet and medications can affect weight loss. This study will last for up to 58 weeks. There are two phases to the study: - A weight loss phase with prescribe meals that lasts 6 weeks. - A study medication/placebo phase that lasts up 52 weeks. You will not know if you are receiving the medication or the placebo.

Nina Jacobs - njacobs@umn.edu

To evaluate the ability to achieve high-level donor hematopoietic engraftment (defined as neutrophil recovery by Day +42 post-transplant and ≥ 80% donor cells on the myeloid fraction of peripheral blood at Day +100 post-transplant) using related and unrelated BM, PBSC, or UCB grafts following a reduced intensity conditioning regimen based on targeted-exposure busulfan, fludarabine +/- serotherapy in patients with inherited metabolic disorders and severe osteopetrosis.

Paul Orchard - orcha001@umn.edu

No current studies have examined in vivo glenohumeral kinematics during the overhead volleyball spike despite the high prevalence of spike-related shoulder pain. The extreme shoulder positions achieved by volleyball players during the spike motion may contribute to unique deformations that could result in structural change or pathology of the rotator cuff and long head biceps tendons. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which GH kinematics differ between SAB and a simulated volleyball spike at a self-selected position of ball contact.

Aaron Hellem - hell0255@umn.edu

The researchers aim to prove that Qigong practice can result in reduced or relieved neuropathic pain, improved mood, life satisfaction, self-efficacy, enjoyment to move, and community integration; and decreased fear of movement, use of medication or health care services for adults with spinal cord injury.

Ann Van de Winckel - avandewi@umn.edu

This is a prospective, observational multicenter study to collect blood from patients with mucopolysaccharidosis type IH (MPS-IH) undergoing laronidase therapy and a stem cell transplant.

Paul Orchard - orcha001@umn.edu

Humanitarian Use device application for DBS therapy for dystonia

Kelly Ryberg - rybe0010@umn.edu

The goal of this study is to provide comprehensive longitudinal assessments of a cohort of PD patients before, during, and after DBS surgery, including neurological, neurophysiological, and neuropsychological data.

Kelly Brown - ksbrown@umn.edu

We are looking at measures of frailty (including an assessment questionnaire and other data from the medical record) and the relationship to outcomes from cardiac or vascular surgery. The questionnaire will take about 10 minutes to complete and we will contact you by phone once every three months for one year after your surgery.

Frail Heart Study - frailheart@umn.edu

The proposed research will measure and compare differences in visual performance and associated neural processing in participants who do or do not experience Visual Snow Syndrome, using a series of well-established psychophysical and imaging paradigms.

Schallmo Lab Study - schallmolab@umn.edu

To evaluate 3 year progression free survival (PFS) rate of high-risk neuroblastoma patients after treatment with a tandem consolidation of Thiotepa/ Cyclophosphamide and PBSC rescue followed by Carboplatin/Etoposide/ Melphalan (CEM) and PBSC rescue, as compared to historical controls of a single CEM consolidation course with PBSC rescue.

Holly Franceen - hfrancee@umn.edu

1.1 Purpose: This protocol will carry out Aim 2 (Experiments 1 and 3) of Udall Project 2, leveraging the novel (on-label, FDA-approved) local field potential measuring capability of the Medtronic Percept™ PC DBS system to study the effects of globus pallidus internus and globus pallidus externus (GPi, GPe) DBS on: the wash-out and wash-in dynamics of motor behavior and local field potentials (LFPs) and correlations between fluctuations in gait and LFPs during activities of daily living (recorded over 4 weeks).

Kristin Garland - garl0038@umn.edu

This protocol will characterize the effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) location (both adverse and beneficial) on motor signs in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). This information can be used to inform future DBS protocols to tailor stimulation to the specific needs of a patient. If targeted dorsal GP stimulation is shown to significantly improve motor features that are typically resistant to dopamine replacement therapy, these experiments will likely have major impact on clinical practice by providing a potential strategy to these medically intractable symptoms.

Kelly Ryberg - rybe0010@umn.edu

This is a single center, open label, Phase I clinical trial of bioactive curcumin with high phenolic extra virgin olive oil (HP-EVOO) to treat cutaneous neurofibromas (cNF) in Neurofibromatosis, type 1 (NF1) patients (aged 18 years or older).

Pavlina Sverak - svera004@umn.edu

In this protocol, we will enroll pediatric, adolescent and adult patients diagnosed with adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD). These patients will include probands diagnosed by newborn screening and their relatives subsequently diagnosed, as well other patients who are diagnosed with ALD due to other presenting signs and symptoms and subsequently were confirmed to have ALD. We will ask consenting subjects to provide a medical history (with verification via medical records), to participate in a semi-annual health survey and provide consent to collect biospecimens. The overarching goal of this work is to engage with families affected by ALD and to assemble a resource of clinical, medical, and biological data that will allow of to better understand the natural history of ALD, and how this is affected by newborn screening. The initial focus will be on patients within Minnesota, but participation will be open to any family interested in the study, as this will be web-based. This registry and biobank, together with other research conducted in tandem, will possibly provide information describing the natural history of ALD and outcomes with interventions. It is anticipated that the data collected will further our understanding of the natural history of the disease, basic biology of adrenoleukodystrophy, diagnosis and outcomes. Ultimately, this research may lead to new avenues for early diagnosis and development of safer and more effective therapies for ALD.

Rachael Eye - eye00002@umn.edu

This is a prospective study aimed at quantifying walking and balance in Parkinson's Disease patients in the clinical setting. To accomplish this, we will use a portable motion capture system that is widely used to study biomechanics in humans. Once quantified, we want to test the effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) frequency in patients who already have DBS systems in place. Thus, our objectives are: 1. Develop an anonymized database of quantitative postural responses and gait of PD patients. 2. Develop software that can quantify the postural response and gait of PD participants using only standard video camera footage. 3. Test the effectiveness of bilateral high and low frequency STN-DBS on the postural responses and gait of PD patients using the portable motion capture system. 4. We will passively record thalamic LFPs from patients with Medtronic Percept DBS devices while the DBS is OFF, set to low frequency, and set to high frequency.

Thomas Lisko - tlisko@umn.edu

This is a study to assess the safety and efficacy of PR001A, an Aden-associated (AAV9) viral vector to treat neuronopathic Gaucher disease type 2 (GD2) in infants. PRA001A will be administered via suboccipital injection to the cisterna magna during a single neurosurgical session. GD2 is a fatal disease of early infancy that does not have any therapeutic options beyond palliative care. This study will enroll infants 0-24 months of age.

Brenda Diethelm-Okita - dieth001@umn.edu

The purpose of this study is to look at a different type of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) that may reduce negative side effects while still providing relief from symptoms of major depression.

Interventional Psychiatry Lab Study - ipl@umn.edu

The purpose of this pilot research study is to test whether a tool called “High-Resolution Manometry” can diagnose laryngeal dystonia (also known as spasmodic dysphonia) and measure how well treatment works. High-Resolution Manometry measures pressures from a small catheter that is passed from your nose into your throat. We believe that pressures in the throat might be different for people with laryngeal dystonia than for people without laryngeal dystonia, or with other types of voice disorders. If we can diagnose laryngeal dystonia shortly after symptoms start, we can get patients the treatment they need sooner.

MN Voice Lab Study - mnvoicelab@umn.edu

This is a long-term registry is designed to collect data on hypophosphatasia (HPP) to better understand the condition and learn more about the disease, how patients feel about living with HPP and effect of HPP on the patients wellbeing and health. The study will look at participant’s medical records and health questionnaires about the health status of patients. This study collects observational data from clinical care and does not involve any treatment for HPP or administration of medication for HPP.

Kyriakie Sarafoglou - saraf010@umn.edu

The primary objective for this observational study is to collect general and medical data from children, adolescents, and young adults who had pediatric onset rheumatic disease. This data will be used to evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of therapeutic agents used to treat these diseases. This information will allow investigators to accurately report and follow changes in current medication use patterns and compare these to proposed standards and current treatment recommendations. The use of a single registry will allow for more analysis of the different therapeutic agents by allowing them to be compared to each other.

Colleen Correll - corr0250@umn.edu

The purpose of the study is to test new biomarkers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) using MRI scans at 3 tesla (3T). Identifying biomarkers of a disease can lead to a better understanding of the disease as well as improved treatments.

Valerie Ferment - ferm0016@umn.edu

The objective of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the AccuCinch Ventricular Restoration System in patients with symptomatic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).

Julie Longman - longm021@umn.edu

The proposed study uses a recombinant AAV2/6 vector encoding the cDNA for human α-Gal A (ST-920). The α-Gal A produced by this cDNA has an identical amino acid sequence to the native enzyme, and also to Fabrazyme® (agalsidase beta or equivalent), a clinically approved recombinant protein product. The ST-920 construct encodes a liver-specific promoter, the human α-1-antitrypsin (hAAT) promoter and includes liver-specific regulatory elements. In addition, rAAV2/6 exhibits liver tropism thus providing the potential for long-term hepatic production of α-Gal A in Fabry disease subjects. Studies of ST-920 in a Fabry disease mouse model administered rAAV2/6 encoding hGLA cDNA by intravenous (IV) injection show generation of therapeutic circulating levels of α-Gal A. The one-time treatment with ST-920 minimizes the risk of infusion--related reactions. The goal of ST-920 is to provide stable, long-term production of α-Gal A at therapeutic levels in subjects with Fabry disease. The constant production of α-Gal A in humans should, importantly, enable reduction and potentially clearance of Fabry disease substrates Gb3 and lyso-Gb3.

Brenda Diethelm-Okita - dieth001@umn.edu

A single visit study with muscle and/or skin biopsy / blood draw, performed to determine whether a molecular or cellular defect can be attributed to cells of FSHD muscle. This study is recruiting both individuals with genetically confirmed FSHD as well as unaffected healthy (control) individuals.

Ana Mitanoska - mitan001@umn.edu

Having PTSD is associated with a higher risk of developing Cardiovascular Disease (CVD), which presents a major health risk for women, who are twice as likely as men to develop PTSD. The purpose of this study is to learn more about the mechanisms behind the relationship between PTSD and increased cardiovascular risk. Ultimately, our goal is to use the knowledge gained from this research study to help develop intervention and treatment strategies to protect the cardiovascular health of women with PTSD.

Nest Lab Study - nestlab@umn.edu

This is a prospective, longitudinal cohort study involving data collection regarding performance of children with ALD and typically developing (TD)children on neurocognitive testing and collection of neuroimaging data. The first goal of this study is to understand more about how ALD affects a child’s brain and development in childhood as they take part in their normal medical care and monitoring. This is important to identifying the best ways to detect and treat manifestations of ALD such as cerebral ALD. The second goal is to learn about how ALD affects caregivers, so that clinicians can offer better support to families in the future.

Brain Study - brainstudy@umn.edu