| 2008 Seed Fund Awards Molecular Analysis of a Bistable Switch in the Pathogen Candida albicans Candida albicans is the most commonly isolated fungal pathogen and is responsible for debilitating mucosal infections as well as life-threatening systemic infections. Despite its prominence as a human pathogen, relatively little is known about virulence factors in C. albicans compared to bacterial pathogens. One feature of Candida biology that has been linked with pathogenicity is phenotypic switching, in which strains convert rapidly and reversibly between alternative phenotypic forms. This proposal will examine one such phenotypic transition, the white-opaque switch, which influences both the virulence of C. albicans strains and their ability to form biofilms. PI: Richard Bennett, Assistant Professor of Biology, Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology Mapping Monasticism This project will use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to plot the landscape of a French abbey as a monastic eco-system. Diverse disciplines will converge to place the lands, parishes, and other dependencies of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes into the larger regional and European context. Visual data from the long tradition of mapping in Europe , such as seventeenth-century maps, land registries and charters, will be correlated with GIS data. Brown's strengths in both population studies and spatial analysis provide unique support for this endeavor. PI: Sheila Bonde, Dean of the Graduate School ; Professor of the History of Art and Architecture, Department of the History of Art & Architecture; and Professor of Archaeology, Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World Pilot research to inform a childhood obesity prevention study to improve the nutrition and physical activity environments of low income children Childhood obesity is an escalating public health problem, especially for low income and ethnic minorities. There is a pressing need to develop and evaluate effective, practical, sustainable interventions to prevent childhood obesity with these populations. An interdisciplinary team of Brown faculty from multiple departments and centers will conduct research to develop interventions to improve the nutrition and physical activity environments of low income, ethnically diverse families and to inform a future randomized controlled trial that will test the efficacy of these interventions. This research will advance Brown's position in the field by developing expertise in multi-level community-based approaches to prevent childhood obesity, establishing a national reputation in this research area, and fostering Brown's ties with the community on this critical public health issue. PI: Kim Gans, Associate Professor of Community Health (Research), Department of Community Health, and Deputy Director, Institute of Community Health Promotion Co-PIs: Michael J. Mello, Assistant Professor, Departments of Emergency Medicine and Community Health, Director of the Injury Prevention Center at Rhode Island Hospital; Bess H. Marcus, Professor, Departments of Psychiatry & Human Behavior and Community Health; Linda Shalon, Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Clinical), Attending Physician, Hasbro Children's Hospital Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Nutrition, and Liver Diseases, and Medical Director, Kids on the Move, RI High–Resolution X-ray Imaging of Tumor Angiogenesis This project will pair a new tissue preparation method with state-of-the-art x-ray imaging in the study of liver cancer. The research will afford a detailed look at blood vessel formation using images with hundreds of times higher resolution than that of conventional x-ray images. This effort involves collaboration between the Liver Research Center at Rhode Island Hospital , and Brown University through the Warren Alpert Medical School and the Department of Chemistry. Co-PIs: Gerald J. Diebold, Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry; Christoph Rose-Petruck , Associate Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry; Jack R. Wands, Jeffrey and Kimberly Greenberg-Artemis and Martha Joukowsky Professor in Gastroenterology, and Professor of Medical Science, Brown Medical School, Professor, Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, and Director, Liver Research Center, Rhode Island Hospital Developing Highly Efficient Non-Pt Nanoparticle Catalyst for O2 Reduction and CO Oxidation This joint proposal with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory will research nanoparticles toward applications in fuel cells. Specifically, the project will create and evaluate a new catalyst for fuel cell reactions that is not based in platinum. Brown will synthesize and characterize the catalyst while the national laboratory will evaluate its activity. This collaboration will ultimately foster a multi-disciplinary team to develop alternative catalysts for fuel cells. PI: Shouheng Sun, Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry Co-PI: Sheng Dai, Leader, Nanomaterials Chemistry Group, Chemical Sciences Division and Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Transcript Turnover in the Egg-to-Embryo Transition: Basic and Clinical Applications The growing number of patients seeking assisted reproductive procedures underscores a critical need for a sensitive method to predict an embryo's successful development. Currently, clinicians rely strictly on a visual assessment to decide which and how many embryos to implant. However, the high risks and ethical, emotional, and developmental issues demand more of the clinician. Improved technology and a better understanding of the embryo can enable a more stringent evaluation for embryo prioritization. This collaboration between a clinician, three basic biologists, and two computational molecular biologists will study the mechanism of the oocyte-to-embryo transition and develop a molecular tool to help clinicians. PI: Gary Wessel, Professor of Biology, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology & Biochemistry Co-PIs: Mark C. Alliegro, Senior Scientist, Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory; Sandra Carson, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brown Medical School, and Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and the Center for Reproduction and Infertility at Women & Infants Hospital; Richard Freiman, Assistant Professor of Medical Science, Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry; Charles Lawrence, Professor of Applied Mathematics, Division of Applied Mathematics; William Thompson, Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics (Research), Center for Computational Molecular Biology and Division of Applied Mathematics 2007 Seed Fund Awards Toward a Closer Alignment between High School and University Curricula: A Pilot Study on International Comparison in Students' Study of Chemistry This collaborative effort between the Education and Chemistry departments will examine the secondary education systems of nations that consistently outperform the US in 8th grade to determine the differences in their science curricula. This research will position the team to develop a chemistry curricular framework for U.S. secondary schools-and urban schools in particular-that prepares students for university-level scientific study. PI: Kenneth Wong, Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair for Education Policy Professor of Education, Political Science and Public Policy & Director of Urban Education Policy Program, Department of Education Integrin Mediated Adhesion and Retraction during T Cell Migration Using newly developed biophysical and engineering tools, an interdisciplinary team of physicists, engineers and hospital-based research faculty will study the forces involved in the adhesion and migration of T cells. These tools will allow for the visualization and tracking of specific proteins such as integrin, which are involved in adhesion during migration. The knowledge acquired will be pertinent to understanding the precise mechanisms used by immune cells to fight infectious diseases. PI: Jay X. Tang, Assistant Professor of Physics and Engineering, Physics Evolutionary Response to Nanomaterial Exposure in the Environment: Functional Genomics of C60-Resistance in Drosophilia The release of nanoparticles to the environment could have significant impacts on the genetic composition of natural communities. Using fruit flies as a model system, this project will address the ecotoxicological effects of Buckminster fullerene (C60) exposures to determine the long-term environmental effects on the genetic variation in populations. This project will further current nanotoxicology research by adding a novel ecological and evolutionary component and will enhance the work of Brown's emerging cross-departmental center, the Alliance for Molecular and Nanoscale Innovation. PI: David Rand, Professor of Biology, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Developing an Integrated Genomic Approach to Explore the Antitumor Activity of Vitamin D and Derivatives to Treat Ovarian Cancer The goal of this project is to take a global genomic view to understand the effect of vitamin D and the vitamin D derivative, MT19C, on ovarian tumors. This cross-disciplinary team of experts from molecular biology, chemistry, mathematics and medicine will combine complementary genomic technologies to understand how cells respond to vitamin D. This research will provide important insights to develop novel therapeutic treatments for ovarian cancer. PI: Alexander S. Brodsky, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry Carbohydrate-binding Flourescent Nanoparticles: an Enabling Technology for Glycomics This project brings together chemists, pathologists and biologists interested in studying cell surface carbohydrates and their functions. Using the tools of quantitative fluorescence microscopy and pattern recognition algorithms, this team will generate more accurate descriptions of cell surface carbohydrate compositions. This knowledge will contribute to a strategy for diagnosing cancer at the molecular level and for understanding the basic glycobiology of plant development. PI: Amit Basu, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry Targeted Research Seed Fund Award for Energy Research:Development of a "Spouted Bed" Direct Carbon Fuel Cell (SB/DCFC) In 2005, one billion tons of coal were consumed in the US for electricity generation. Given the increasing demands for electricity and the constraints on natural gas and nuclear power, coal will continue to play a very important role in the energy future of this country. In conjunction with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, this research is focused on the construction and characterization of a prototype of a new kind of direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) that is being developed to circumvent some of the more important shortcomings of current DCFC designs. DCFCSs are electrochemical devices that produce electricity directly from carbonaceous sources, such as coal and biomass, without combustion or gasification. With much higher theoretical efficiencies than thermal power plants, DCFCs can significantly reduce CO2 emissions, as well as many other pollutants generated by conventional coal-fired power plants. PIs: J.M. Calo, Professor of Engineering; Targeted Research Seed Fund Award for Scientific Computing:The Cellarium Project: A Teaching and Research Environment for Computational Systems Biology The goal of this project is to build a novel research environment that will address unmet challenges of computational and systems biology in the post-genome-sequence and systems biology era. Building on Dr. Istrail's experience in leading the construction of some of the most powerful genomics suites of tools to date, for whole genome comparison, annotation and analysis, and his biological systems research in protein folding and misfolding, and gene regulatory networks, he will collaborate with scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and California Institute of Technology to develop new computational environments for molecular reconstruction. This project will involve the world's most powerful accelerator-based neutron source to create an environment where for the first time, researchers can computationally reconstruct in vivo protein folding. PI: Sorin Istrail, Julie Nguyen Brown Professor of Computational and Mathematical Sciences, Professor of Computer Science, Director of the Center for Computational Molecular Biology 2006 Seed Fund Awards Development and Verification of CTX Imaging for Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Research This team, composed of zoologists, bioengineers and a computer scientist, is collaborating on the development of “CTX,” a new biomedical imaging technology for dynamic visualization of bones and joints in motion. With this advanced technology researchers will be able to look inside living humans and animals and see their skeletons moving in 3D. This new technology will find broad application in orthopedics and zoological biomechanics research, and possibly lead to clinical diagnosis and treatment of orthopedic problems. PI: Elizabeth Brainerd, Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Nanoscale Biomimetic Materials for Nerve Regeneration The goal of this project is to determine the critical cues needed to guide nerves, thus providing essential information for new strategies for nerve regeneration. This interdisciplinary team from Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology and the Division of Engineering, hopes to converge synergistically to develop and fabricate novel biomimetic biomaterial systems with drug delivery capabilities, to characterize these biomaterials in vitro, and to evaluate them in in vivo models of nerve injury. PI: Diane Hoffman-Kim, Assistant Professor, Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology Exceptional Children—Exceptional Challenges: Developing an Interdisciplinary, Multinational Project for Studying Work-Family Dilemmas among Parents Raising Children This team of sociologists, along with an economist and pediatrician, will undertake an innovative pilot study to gather preliminary research on the prevalence and types of child disability, the choices families make to meet conflicting family economic needs and time constraints, and the relative public and private costs of raising children with disabilities. The emphasis will be on the analyses that contrast and compare varying societies, starting with a U.S.-Australia comparison analysis of work/family dilemma. PI: Dennis P. Hogan, Professor, Sociology Structural Biology and Function of Macromolecular Complexes. Using Dynamic Light Scattering to Initiate the Establishment of a Brown University Facility for State-of-the-Art Biophysical Protein Characterization This undertaking will add essential instrumentation to the cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary Laboratories of Molecular Medicine (LLM), which is home to a diverse set of faculty whose research interests span all levels of biology. The acquisition of a dynamic light scattering (DLS) instrument will facilitate key collaborative research studies of eight primary uses and help to establish a centralized facility for protein biophysical characterization. PIs: Rebecca Page, Assistant Professor, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry and Gerwald Jogl, Assistant Professor, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry Brown Influenza Microchip: Rapid Identification of Sequence Specific Subtypes In this project, the Division of Engineering teams up with Medical School faculty to develop an Influenza Detection Microchip capable of rapidly identifying influenza subtypes, which is not currently possible outside of specialized labs. This new technology aims to provide health care and public health professionals with key information for determining a public health response appropriate to the viral threat. PI: Anubhav Tripathi, Assistant Professor, Engineering 2005 Seed Fund Awards Brown University – Rhode Island Hospital Cooperative Research Network: A research problem selection paradigm based on medical needs Metrics for Quantifying White Matter Variation: image analysis, testing, and application Development and Optimization of Novel Chemotherapeutic Agents for Cancer Quantitative Neuroimaging of Object Representation and Perceptual Decision-Making Using Physiological Measurements and Artificial Neural Networks to Monitor and Predict Cognitive States 2004 Seed Fund Awards The Ersatz Brain Project: Brain-Like Computer Design for Cognitive Applications Strengthening Brown University Vaccine Development Capability. A Collaborative for Vaccine Research and Development (CVRD) Management of the Wadi Khalil/Nahal Besor Environmental Borderscape Development and Validation of a Gene Expression Profile for Identification of Potentially-Carcinogenic Nanofibers Impact of adolescent Pregnancy Intention and Stress of Poor Birth Outcomes Neuroproteomics of Learning and Addiction 2003 Seed Fund Awards Microsphere – Based Drug Delivery Systems and Hydrogels for the Creation of Cartilage Biocomposites. A Tissue Engineered Solution to Joint Damage Bio-Materials Transient Hearing Loss and Milestones of Language Learning Understanding and Modeling Land Cover-Land Use Change |
External funding opportunities
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