RSU Attracts Nearly 2m EUR in Call for Fundamental and Applied Projects

The evaluation of applications for the previous year’s Latvian Council of Science’s call for fundamental and applied projects was completed in December 2021. Seven projects, including one collaborative project, from the project applications submitted by Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) will be funded. The funding comes to a total of EUR 1,809,969.50 that will be allocated to RSU to carry out various scientific research over a three-year period.

One of the projects is the clinical medicine project submitted by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology is led by Assoc. Prof. Natālija Vedmedovska: Role of metabolome, biomarkers and ultrasound parameters in successful labour induction. It has globally become increasingly necessary to induce (stimulate) childbirth to prevent health problems for the mother or child in later life. The results of the project will help researchers understand the factors that result in successful inductions so that delivery care can become more personalised. This would result in safer procedures for the mother and baby that reduce the frequency of unnecessary and inappropriate manipulations. Identifying and addressing the factors that adversely affect the likelihood of natural births will help to reduce the number of caesarean sections, one of the challenges of modern delivery care.

Funding was also granted to the clinical medicine project: Discovering biomarkers of disease progression and variability in Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy (by Asst. Prof. Viktorija Ķēniņa, Department of Biology and Microbiology), which was previously supported by internal RSU grants. The Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease group is characterised by chronic motor and sensory polyneuropathy. There are currently no biomarkers available to predict the course and severity of the disease. Identifying them in clinical trials would allow for a more accurate assessment of treatment effectiveness. The disease is genetically and clinically very diverse and there are still uncertainties about what affects the different courses of the disease has in different patients, but the answers will improve the care and quality of life of patients.

Professor Ludmila Vīksna from the Department of Infectology will lead the clinical medicine project SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 contexts for pathologies of the hepatobiliary system, their histological, biochemical, radiological and clinical characteristics and possibilities of preventing these pathologies. This project will be implemented as a continuation of the COVID-19 mitigation project funded by the Latvian Council of Science in 2020 that has been implemented by RSU. The aim of the project is to investigate liver and bile duct changes in patients with COVID-19, including its long-term course, and to identify factors influencing hepatobiliary involvement in COVID-19. The project will develop clinical algorithms that would enable earlier identification of liver and bile duct problems in patients with COVID-19, as well as preventive measures. The burden on the healthcare system of COVID-19-related liver problems will be assessed, leading to appropriate policy recommendations.

Assoc. Prof. Kārlis Trušinskis from the Department of Internal Diseases will lead the project The role of clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential as a potential driver of cardiovascular diseases and its association with clinical outcome. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide imposing a huge socio-economic burden on societies and health systems. Thus, there is an urgent need for personalised methods for timely and accurate prediction of the risk for CVD. Clonal Hematopoiesis of Indeterminate Potential (CHIP), the accumulation of somatic mutations in leukocytes, is increasingly emerging as one of the previously unidentified risk factors for the development and progression of CVD. The aim of this project is to investigate the role of clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential in the development of three most common cardiovascular diseases – coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, and dilated cardiomyopathy – and relation with the clinical outcomes thereof. The project will contribute to personalised disease risk prediction and risk stratification.

Assoc. Prof. Klāvs Sedlenieks from the Faculty of Communication will lead the social science project (Re)moving Ties: Relatedness in Contemporary Mobile Work Regimes. The aim of the project is to explore how contemporary labour policies interact with relationships in people’s lives. The project will explore the policies of different organisations in depth, comparing environments where mobile employees are able to travel with their families with those where employees are not given this opportunity. Researchers will follow the formation and transformation of transnational relationship networks of mobile workforce and how mobility affects not only them, but also their relatives (e.g. children). The project not only addresses current academic and theoretical issues, but will also provide the basis for creating a working environment fit for people’s lives.

In collaboration with the Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital, Maria Issagouliantis, a researcher at the Institute of Microbiology and Virology, will lead the basic science project Human papillomavirus genome associated correlates of disease progression and treatment response for cervical neoplasms and cancer. The aim of the project is to genotype human papillomavirus with high carcinogenic risk in healthy and diseased cervix and to identify common genotypes, characterise the evolution of dominant strains, epitope drift and host DNA damage due to human papillomavirus integration. The results of the project will improve the early diagnosis of human papillomavirus-associated cancers, leading to better treatment and improved quality of life for patients.

Anda Slaidiņa, senior researcher at the Department of Prosthetic Dentistry, and Laura Neimane, Assoc. Prof. at the Department of Conservative Dentistry and Oral Health and the Baltic Biomaterials Centre of Excellence, together with researchers from the Institute of Electronics and Computer Science, will participate in interdisciplinary project A Deep Learning Approach for Osteoporosis Identification using Cone-beam Computed Tomography. The aim of the project is to develop an innovative method for osteoporosis risk detection in craniofacial cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans using an end-to-end deep machine learning approach or artificial intelligence. CBCT is a non-invasive examination widely used in dentistry. The approach proposed in the project will create an AI-based method to detect increased osteoporosis risk in women earlier and more accurately, contributing to early treatment and prevention of osteoporotic fractures.