Cooperative Venture

Donations

If you would like to make a tax-free donation, processed by LDS Philanthropies, to help support undergraduate and graduate research on either of these projects, please contact:

Jim Welsh

LDS Philanthropies Representative for the College of Life Sciences
801-422-4447 (office), 801-473-7646 (cell), or jim.welsh@byu.edu(email)

Inform Mr. Welsh that you would like to donate to the "Busath Influenza Drug Project" or the "Busath Chronic-Pain" project and he will direct you how to make out and mail your donation. If you prefer to donate immediately, you can do so here but you will need to search for and use the "Life Sciences Research - BYU" donation category and then notify Mr. Welsh for which of these two projects you want your donation to be used.

Influenza Antiviral Research Lab

Influenza Antiviral Research Lab Pandemic influenza deriving from highly pathogenic bird flu is a constant threat in today's world. With current mortality rates of H7N9 and H5N1, it is conceivable that up to 10% of the world's population could be wiped out in a single flu season (January to March) if one of these strains becomes readily transmissible like the 2009 swine flu. Scientists now estimate that as few as 2-3 mutations could make bird flu contagious among humans.

Many groups are working on this concern. BARDA, an agency of the US federal government, stockpiles antivirals and the World Health Organization makes strategic, internationally coordinated preparations for a pandemic. However, the current antiviral options are too limited. More secure options are needed. That is the goal of the Busath-Harrison collaboration: the development of safe and permanently effective pandemic flu antivirals.

Much work is needed to bring this apocalypse-prevention vision to fruition. Busath and Harrison are constantly searching for federal agencies and foundations that share their vision. At the current time, modest support at any level for use as mentored undergraduate and graduate student research and supply funds would significantly augment their productivity. For example, donations amounting to $10,000 would support our work for up to 6 months. Research on pandemic influenza antivirals can be supported by tax-exempt donations processed through LDS Philanthropies.

Calmare Research Lab

Chronic unwarranted pain is a problem that haunts approximately 10% of adults, and often leads to expensive surgical procedures and opiate addiction. The neurological mechanisms are poorly understood, in part because it is difficult to set up an experiment in which chronic pain is removed. The Calmare instrument purports to eliminate chronic pain in a large fraction of patients with various chronic pain conditions.

We wish to determine whether the perception of chronic pain is associated with an aberration in brain blood flow which resolves when pain goes away.

We will also explore whether the complex, randomized wave pattern used in skin electrical stimulation by the Calmare instrument does better at long-term elimination of chronic pain than the regular wave pattern used in traditional TENS.

We carried out a pilot study in 2015 to examine whether an fMRI brain blood flow signature for chronic pain could be found. In one-day tests with the Calmare instrument, subjects' perception of chronic pain was reduced long enough to get a follow-up fMRI.

Now a study is underway that explores whether fMRI signatures can be obtained after a 10-day study. Your donation of $10, $50, $100 or more would help support student research on this important project.

The Flu Kit, Inc.

Kelly McGuire and David Busath are in the process of developing a flu kit for web, kiosk, pharmacy, grocery and department store sales. If you want to communicate with Dr. Busath about this, please contact him by email or phone.