Armed with a $2.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, University of Florida biomedical professor Ivana Parker, Ph.D., is targeting one of the most common \u2013 and dangerous \u2013 infections in women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prestigious NIH Director\u2019s Pioneer Award for High Risk, High Reward provides a five-year grant that will allow Parker to study Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) and, ultimately, offer more effective personalized treatments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis award recognizes Ivana\u2019s innovative approach in delineating the unique relationship between HIV and resident immune cells by combining AI and benchtop research using diverse clinical samples,\u201d said Cherie Stabler, chair of UF\u2019s J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gathering samples from 400 women from all walks of life and corners of the globe, Parker and her team will analyze the effects and interactions of BV on immune cells and vaginal tissue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBacterial Vaginosis is a driver of the HIV epidemic, increasing HIV risk up to 60%. BV is the most common vaginal condition among women of reproductive age,\u201d noted Parker, an assistant professor with UF\u2019s J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering with the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Symptoms can cause extreme discomfort, including burning, vaginal malodor, and itching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
BV also can increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, pre-term birth and cervical cancer, Parker said. Global BV prevalence among women of reproductive age range is up to 29%, according to the World Health Organization. The percentage is higher among African American women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are looking to understand how bacteria that live in the vagina contribute to HIV risk and the interaction of bacteria and immune cells,\u201d said Parker, who worked at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention during her postdoctoral studies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These immune cells, called macrophages, can live in tissue for a long time, and few researchers have examined the effects of BV in the tissue, Parker contends. As of now, BV is usually treated with antibiotics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re also interested in understanding how the bacterial communities are different based on where people are from, race and ethnicity, or how people live . The treatments for BV right now aren\u2019t great,\u201d Parker said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parker and her graduate students are collecting vaginal swabs from local and global participants \u2013 young and old from many walks of life. Some samples will come from partners in Ghana and South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They want to understand the nuances of diverse groups, particularly black and Hispanic women who are more susceptible to BV and recurrent BV. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe want to be able to use this to predict and create computational models, and for that, you need quite a bit of data,\u201d Parker said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn this grant,\u201d she added, \u201csuccess will be understanding the role macrophages may play in HIV risk. Are there certain bacteria that increase the macrophage\u2019s ability to be a reservoir for HIV? Success would be unveiling an important mechanism that has not been studied that allows us to understand how immune cells and bacteria interact to increase HIV risk.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parker will take all the inputs and use UF\u2019s supercomputer, HiPerGator , to predict inflammatory markers based on a person\u2019s bacterial make-up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are also trying to understand what is healthy, as well,\u201d Parker said. \u201cThat is another question. You have all these different groups of bacteria, and you have women who may have been diagnosed with BV, but they have no symptoms. They seem like they\u2019re fine.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Established in 2004, the NIH Director\u2019s Pioneer Award supports highly innovative researchers who propose bold and unusual research projects with broad scientific impacts, according to the NIH. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIvana\u2019s NIH Pioneer Award highlights the transformative potential of her work, and we are incredibly proud to support her as she advances both scientific knowledge and health outcomes for women,” Stabler said. \u201cIvana\u2019s contributions inspire our community and underscore our commitment to impactful research at UF BME.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In October, Parker also won the inaugural A. Oveta Fuller Award, which honors emerging leaders working in microbiology and immunology, infectious disease, or health disparities. A. Oveta Fuller, Ph.D., who died in 2022, was a virologist and the first Black woman hired in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were impressed with the clear parallels between Dr. Parker\u2019s work and Dr. Fuller\u2019s legacy. We are delighted that Dr. Parker shares Dr. Fuller\u2019s passion for research that impacts marginalized communities and public health,\u201d noted Beth Moore, Ph.D., the Nancy Williams Walls Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2018\u20132019, Parker was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she worked to alleviate mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Parker\u2019s other accolades include the 2023 UF 40 under 40 Award and a UF International Center Global Fellowship in 2021. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Armed with a $2.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, University of Florida biomedical professor Ivana Parker, Ph.D., is targeting one of the most common \u2013 and dangerous \u2013 infections in women.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2592,"featured_media":35755,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-templates\/single-sidebar-none.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_post":"off","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[433,453,35,45,53,55,63,57],"tags":[201,227],"class_list":["post-35751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2025issue","category-feature-story","category-featured","category-icymi","category-bme","category-magazine","category-research-grants","category-stories","tag-global-impact","tag-ivana-parker"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n