BIDDEFORD — According to the National Eye Institute, more than five million American adults suffer from dry eye syndrome, a painful condition that occurs when the eye does not produce tears properly, or the tears evaporate too quickly. It can be temporary or chronic and caused by numerous conditions, including side effects of medications; underlying diseases, such as Sjogren’s syndrome; long-term contact lens use; or allergies, to name a few. There are currently few effective treatments for dry eye.

Dr. John Streicher, assistant professor of biomedical sciences at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, has been awarded a seed grant from the Maine Technology Institute to investigate possible pharmacological treatments for dry eye syndrome.

Research conducted by UNE professor of biomedical sciences Dr. Ian Meng has shown that activation of the TRPM8 channel in the cornea may lead to tear production without pain, and could be an effective treatment for dry eye.

Streicher, in collaboration with Meng and Dr. Cassia Mizuno, assistant professor in the UNE College of Pharmacy, submitted the MTI Seed Grant proposal to develop new drugs that activate TRPM8 channels in the cornea, which could increase tear production and treat dry eye.

The MTI award will enable the UNE research team to create new drugs predicted to activate the TRPM8 channel, test them in cell culture models, and finally test the most promising candidates in an animal model of dry eye.

New drugs found in this project will be further advanced through the drug discovery and development process for eventual use in human patients to address this debilitating condition.

Ӣ In a poster presentation in March, researchers at the University of New England, including Dr. Streicher, identified a surprising early link that could ultimately open new avenues for the treatment of chronic pain, a serious public health problem with major economic and societal costs.

The researchers found initial confirmation that a novel scaffold protein previously unassociated with the mu-opioid receptor, or MOR, regulates MOR-induced signaling activation. The MOR is the target of opioid drugs like morphine and is an important mechanism for pain regulation in the body.

Writing in a scientific poster presented in March at the 30th annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, investigators noted that decades of research aimed at discovering new, safer and more effective drugs to treat chronic pain have met with limited success.

“The most surprising result of this study was that we were able to find a novel regulatory protein that no one had ever associated with the MOR or pain, and show in cells that this protein regulates MOR signaling,” said Streicher, the senior study author.

UNE students Katie Edwards and Justin LaVigne, who are both full-time UNE laboratory technicians, and University of Maine graduate student Emmanuel Moses-Fynn, are co-authors of the study.

“Ultimately,” said Streicher, “what we hope to accomplish is to develop an array of drugs using different molecular strategies to achieve a desired effect.

“If successful, patients may one day be able to select specific drugs for difficult-to-treat chronic pain states like neuropathic pain, or to reduce specific ”“ or all ”“ side effects.”

The study was funded through a pilot project grant to UNE from the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence, a division within the National Institutes of Health.

Ӣ The University of New England will soon be investigating ways to create a culinary market for the spiny dogfish, an abundant shark in Maine and northeastern U.S. waters.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service’s Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program has funded a $245,000 grant for UNE to study the spiny dogfish.

Principal investigators on the project are Dr. Barry Costa-Pierce, chairman of the UNE Department of Marine Sciences and director of the Marine Science Center; Deputy Director Eric Brazer, Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance; and Nancy Civetta of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance.

The project has several goals: to increase domestic quota utilization for spiny dogfish, boost the consumer market for the fish, increase revenue and jobs for fishermen from North Carolina to Maine, and help restore an improved ecosystem balance.

The team projects that the domestic market for spiny dogfish could generate $12 million in economic benefit to fishermen and an additional $26 million in increased economic activity throughout the supply chain and create 470 new harvesting, processing, harvesting and wholesale jobs along the East Coast.