{"626899":{"#nid":"626899","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Santangelo Awarded NIH Grant to Develop New Reversible Immunocontraception Method","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPhil Santangelo\u003C\/strong\u003E, professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) R61\/R33 grant valued at more than $800,000 to develop a new, synthetic mRNA-mediated reversible immunocontraception method.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECurrently, 72 percent of women who practice contraception use hormonal methods, but there is frequent dissatisfaction with these methods, due to quality of life and safety concerns. \u0026ldquo;There is a clear need for new approaches to non-hormonal female contraceptives that are easy to use by women, and have a controllable duration of action,\u0026rdquo; said Santangelo.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHis team\u0026rsquo;s reversible immunocontraception offers a non-hormonal solution, where antisperm antibodies are introduced into the female reproductive tract (FRT) and inhibit sperm function. They have identified an anti-sperm antibody with well-characterized mechanisms of action that impact fertility, and an innovative method has been identified to deliver the antibody to the FRT. They will use a synthetic mRNA-based approach to deliver their sperm agglutinating and mucus trapping antibody to the FRT.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESantangelo\u0026rsquo;s short-term goals are to optimize the approach, improve their overall understanding of the method and its biological interactions, and demonstrate pre-clinical feasibility. If successful, this method will create a new paradigm for contraception that is non-hormonal, reversible, and easy to use.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Contact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:wrich@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EWalter Rich\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Manager\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New contraception method will offer an easy to use, reversible, non-hormonal solution"}],"uid":"27513","created_gmt":"2019-09-30 17:51:03","changed_gmt":"2019-10-01 18:39:21","author":"Walter Rich","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-09-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-09-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"626897":{"id":"626897","type":"image","title":"Phil Santangelo, professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University","body":null,"created":"1569865747","gmt_created":"2019-09-30 17:49:07","changed":"1569865756","gmt_changed":"2019-09-30 17:49:16","alt":"Phil Santangelo, professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University","file":{"fid":"238688","name":"web-cropped-phil-19C10200-P19-003.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/web-cropped-phil-19C10200-P19-003.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/web-cropped-phil-19C10200-P19-003.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":615604,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/web-cropped-phil-19C10200-P19-003.jpg?itok=SuPfEEqT"}}},"media_ids":["626897"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1612","name":"BME"},{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWalter Rich\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["wrich@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}