News & Blog

ICA congratulates the three researchers who have been awarded a grant through the ICA Pilot Research Program, funded by the Imagine No IC research fund. These talented investigators seek to improve our understanding of interstitial cystitis with the greater hope of creating a world where IC is a thing of that past.

Larissa Bresler, MD, and her team at Loyola University, Chicago, in her study, entitled, Acupuncture for Female Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome, will attempt to determine the safety and tolerability of acupuncture in women with IC/PBS, as well as determine if acupuncture is effective in reducing pain in women with IC/PBS as compared to sham treatment. The impact and potential benefits of identifying new nonpharmacologic treatment in women with IC/PBS will be critical to reduce disease severity and improve quality of life across female IC/PBS and all Chronic Pelvic Pain subtypes.

Jayoung Kim, PhD, and her team at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, in her study, entitled, Interstitial Cystitis-Associated Microbiome and Proteome As Diagnostic Markers, will be trying to identify and validate IC-associated urinary diagnostic biomarkers. This project has the potential for significant clinical impact because results may lead to clinical methods to increase diagnostic accuracy and an improved understanding of the molecular basis of IC and its relationship to urologic conditions with overlapping symptoms.

Stephen Walker, PhD, and his team of investigators at Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston Salem, NC, in his study, entitled, Correlation of Gene Expression with Bladder Capacity in Interstitial Cystitis, will be determining whether bladder capacity is a key delineating factor that differentiates IC subtypes.