Bikash Pattnaik, PhD, Receives Two Awards from the UW Graduate School

Bikash Pattnaik, PhD
Bikash Pattnaik, PhD

Bikash Pattnaik, PhD (Assistant Professor, Division of Neonatology & Newborn Nursery), has been awarded a $69,096 Fall Research Competition grant from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education (OVCRGE) for his one-year project entitled, “Functional read-through of both arginine and tryptophan nonsense mutations using novel ELOXX compounds.” The goal of the project is to use a combination of read-through drugs from collaborative partner ELOXX Pharmaceuticals and nonsense mediated decay inhibition to develop a potential treatment for nonsense mutation associated genetic diseases. Functional defects in ion channels, due to genetic mutation or altered molecular interaction, cause various disorders commonly termed channelopathies. Specifically, mutations in inwardly rectifying KCNJ family of potassium channels can cause blindness (Leber Congenital Amaurosis, LCA16). Given such associations of ion channels with blindness, targeting mutant (nonfunctional) channels with drugs remains an attractive treatment strategy, given acceptable side effects and patient tolerability.
 
In addition to the Graduate School Fall Competition Award, Pattnaik and his lab also received a $15,000 award from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education (OVCRGE) Pandemic Affected Research Continuation Initiative (PARCI) for the project, “Molecular Therapy for Kir7.1 Channelopathy.” This one-year award will provide additional support and resources for the Pattnaik Lab channelopathy research, including mouse breeding and cell line development, that was affected by limitations in on-campus research activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.