# BLRD Merit Review Research Career Scientist Award

> **NIH VA IK6** · JAMES A. HALEY VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2023 · —

## Abstract

This proposal seeks to renew Research Career Scientist Award held by Dr. Shyam S Mohapatra,
at the James A. Haley VA Hospital in Tampa, Florida since 2007. He is a Distinguished Health
Professor and the Director of the Division of Translational Medicine- Center for Research and
Education in Nanobioengineering at the VA-affiliated academic center- the University of South
Florida. With ~235 publications, 40 patents, an h-index of 53 and an i-index of 161, he is recognized
nationally and internationally for his contributions to the field of nanoscale biomedical diagnostics
and therapeutics in relation to viral infections, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and cancers. He has
received substantial extramural research support including awards from the NIH, DOA, ONR,
Department of Veterans’ Affairs and Florida Department of Health. He is the recipient of several
international/national awards and recognitions. Dr. Mohapatra has been a research investigator at
the VA Hospital (Medicine) since 1996 and has been continuously funded with the Merit Review
Award focused on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection since 1999. Current and ongoing
research activities to be supported by this RCS Award are as follows.
 Project #1. a) Develop new prophylactic, or therapeutic approaches involving broad antiviral
and anti-inflammatory compounds formulated using novel nanoscale technologies, which are
effective against COVID-19 and other respiratory viral infections. The currently proposed Merit
Review project aims to develop a simple, smart and translatable nanoscale system that combines
novel targets for antiviral- and replication and inflammation inhibitors. He currently leads two
additional projects, as a multi-PI. This proposal aims to characterize novel virus-neutralizing particles
that may serve as prophylaxis and/or therapy. b) Also, based on his recent experience in artificial
intelligence (AI)-enhanced imaging, and preliminary data with COVID-19, he was funded by CSRD
to examine the potential to clinically diagnose and prognose COVID 19 by AI-aided chest CT.
 Project #2. Investigate and test a novel targeted oncolytic viro-cell therapy (OVT) for lung
cancer using the mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) infected by RSV, which is harmless for
immunocompetent individuals. Thus, it is planned to use a 3D multicell tumoroid and biopsy-derived
cultures in vitro and mouse model of lung cancer in vivo to evaluate the safety and efficacy of OVT.
The project to data has attracted industry collaboration, which might lead to clinical trials.
 Project #3. Investigate the potential of a novel combinatorial therapeutic approach in a
mouse CCI model of moderate TBI that includes (i) a treatment to reduce inflammation (local and
systemic) using a nano-formulated siRNA against a recently discovered target, CCL20, and (ii) a
second treatment to promote neuroregeneration by MSC therapy.
 VA Impact: These highly innovative applications of nanomedicine approaches taken
together are expecte...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10594022
- **Project number:** 5IK6BX006032-02
- **Recipient organization:** JAMES A. HALEY VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Shyam S Mohapatra
- **Activity code:** IK6 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-04-01 → 2029-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10594022

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10594022, BLRD Merit Review Research Career Scientist Award (5IK6BX006032-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10594022. Licensed CC0.

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