Research

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination.” This quote, attributed to Albert Einstein, epitomizes Donald Keating and his desire to balance the demands of his studies with his passion for innovation and creativity.

Students who want to pursue a career as both a physician and as a scientist will find a warm welcome at KCU. Just ask Mahan Hadjian. The third-year med student started working in the lab of Abdulbaki Agbas, PhD, MSc, professor of biosciences, as soon as he arrived at KCU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Despite many advances in medicine, septic shock remains a serious illness with a mortality rate exceeding 30 percent among patients who receive treatment and resulting in more than 200,000 deaths each year in the United States alone. However, an ongoing study conducted by KCU third-year medical student Takara Newsome-Cuby in collaboration with a research team from University of Missouri-Kansas City, shows much promise.

Tafadzwa Amani, fourth-year KCU osteopathic medical student, won best overall during the American Osteopathic Association Bureau of International Osteopathic Medicine’s 25^th Annual Global Health Competition for her research entitled Epidemiology of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy and Associated Factors in Rural Guatemala. 

Kansas City University (KCU) Associate Professor Ehab Sarsour, MSc, PhD, and student-researchers have discovered a new and promising avenue for treating pancreatic cancer by treating the tumor microenvironment by repurposing a drug designed for hyperlipidemia.

A Case Report of Leprosy in Central Florida led by a team from Kansas City University’s Graduate Medical Education Consortium has received widespread recognition.

KCU's Dr. Nicki Zieber hopes her research can be used by medical professionals, educators and parents. "This has implications for developmental disorder, such as autism, where attention to social objects is abnormally developing. The earlier we can research visual attention in infancy, the earlier we can detect whether certain infants are displaying abnormal signs of attention."

Sharon Gordon, DDS, associate dean for academic affairs and research at KCU College of Dental Medicine, serves as councilor for the Missouri Section of the American Association of Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research. The new section, formed in 2022, strives to stimulate research collaborations across institutions as well as to provide opportunities for students and trainees to engage in research.

The four-day event offered students a platform to showcase their research endeavors and distinguish themselves with a more competitive edge when it comes to residency placement.

KCU Professor of Biosciences Abdulbaki Agbas, PhD, MSc, will share in a projected $1.5 million grant over the course of three years to study the accumulation of TDP-43 in platelets that is relevant to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) pathophysiology. This international consortium is funded by Boston-based Target ALS Foundation.

With his unmistakable Boston accent and the excitement in his voice, you can tell how passionate KCU's dean of the College of Biosciences Dr. Robert White is about his research and teaching. 

Her work alongside Doug Bittel, PhD, KCU professor of biosciences, helped KCU-College of Biosciences alum (’19) Allison Ogren develop patience and the ability to pivot when things don’t go as planned. As part of her thesis, she worked with Bittel at Children’s Mercy analyzing the molecular biology of congenital heart defects and post-transcriptional modifications on spliceosomal RNA.