Over $1 million in grants will be available from Emory’s University Research Committee (URC) to faculty in all academic units for research.
"The grants are highly competitive," says Douglas Bowman, URC chair and professor of marketing. "We had over a hundred proposals and were able to fund over 35 percent of them."
The program is intended to support innovative scholarship. Funds come mainly from the Office of the Provost, plus a small endowment from the McCandless family.
Some faculty use the resources to fill the void in fields with few external funding opportunities. Others use them to collect preliminary data for future projects, or to test out ideas in an emerging area of research.
This is also the final year of a five-year initiative to allocate $300,000 in grant awards in collaboration with the Atlanta Clinical Translational Science Institute (ACTSI). This initiative funds projects that would rapidly and efficiently translate biomedical/health sciences discoveries to impact society.
The URC, a standing committee of the University Senate, is responsible for reviewing and selecting small research grants such as these.
This year the URC partnered with the Office of the Provost to test interest in a bold "high risk/high potential initiative."
"Faculty were invited to submit proposals that involve non-traditional interdisciplinary collaborations, innovative methods, or inquiries regarding emerging areas," according to Claire Sterk, senior vice provost for academic affairs.
The call for proposals for the 2012-13 funding cycle will be distributed in the fall.
For more information, visit urc.emory.edu or contact Ling Guo, senior research project coordinator.
Grant recipients for 2012 are:
High Risk/High Potential
• Sheila Cavanaugh, English, "World Shakespeare project," $50,000
ACTSI/URC Collaboration
• Anne Fitzpatrick, pediatrics/SOM, "Sulfur amino acid bioavailability in children with severe asthma," $30,000
• H.A. Jinnah, neurology/SOM, "Functional imaging in cervical dystonia," $30,000
• Andreas Kalogeropoulos, cardiology/SOM, "Right ventricular failure after implantation of left ventricular assist devices," $30,000
• Jian Kang, biostatistics and bioinformatics/RSPH, "Analysis of ultra high-dimensional data in imaging genetics studies," $30,000
• Faisal Khosa, Radiology/SOM, "Femoral artery plaque using the 3-point Dixon MRI technique," $30,000
• Amita Manatunga, biostatistics and bioinformatics/RSPH, "Methods development for evaluating and development of instruments in clinical studies," $29,952
• Jonathon Nye, radiology and imaging sciences/SOM, "Kinetic modeling of norepinephrine transporter availability in PTSD," $30,000
• Mirko Paiardini, microbiology and immunology/SOM, "Central memory CD4 T cell infection in AIDS pathogenesis," $29,050
• Jeanie Park, nephrology/SOM, "Mechanisms of sympathetic overactivity in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)," $30,000
• Thomas Wingo, neurology /SOM, "Finding autosomal recessive causes of early-onset Alzheimer's disease," $29,939
• Hao Wu, biostatistics and bioinformatics/RSPH, "Statistical methods for data integration in genetic association studies," $30,000
URC
• Frank Anania, digestive diseases/SOM, "The mechanism of glucagon-like peptide one (GLP-1) analogues in reducing hepatic steatosis," $30,000
• William Auffermann, radiology/SOM, "Magnetic resonance spectroscopy for the molecular characterization of lung cancer," $30,000
• Angelika Bammer, ILA, "Not reconciled: the wounds of history and the work of memory," $30,000
• Mitsi Blount, nephrology/SOM, "Activation of ezrin by osmotic stress regulates urea permeability," $30,000
• Lih-Shen Chin, pharmacology/SOM, "Novel signaling mechanisms in protein quality control," $30,000
• Anita Corbett, biochemistry/SOM, "Novel mouse models for intellectual disability: role of the RNA binding protein, ZC3H14, in the brain," $30,000
• Timothy Denning, pediatrics/SOM, "IL-36γ regulates intestinal inflammation," $30,000
• Victor Faundez, cell biology/SOM, "Quantitative surface proteome of schizophrenia susceptibility gene deficiencies," $30,000
• Joyce Flueckiger, religion, "Material acts: agency of substance and objects in India," $30,000
• Matthew Freeman, environmental health/RSPH, "The impact of improved school water supply on pupil cognitive abilities," $29,783
• Andra Gillespie, political science, "Rethinking racial transcendence in African American politics," $30,000
• Sherryl Goodman, psychology, "Enhancing positive affect in offspring of depressed mothers," $29,908
• Christina Gross, cell biology/SOM, "MicroRNA- and FMRP-dependent regulation of the potassium channel Kv4.2," $30,000
• Jeanne Hendrickson, pediatrics/SOM, "Advanced glycation end products on transfused red blood cells: an unappreciated danger," $30,000
• Rheinallt Jones, pathology/SOM, "Molecular mechanisms mediating the beneficial effects of the gut microbiota," $30,000
• Jae Kyung Lee, physiology/SOM, "Neuroprotective role of RGS10 in nigrostriatal degeneration," $30,000
• Sujin Lee, pediatrics/SOM, "Targeting CD137 to enhance RSV peptide vaccine efficacy in aged mice," $30,000
• Nancy Louis, pediatrics/SOM, "Role of sialyl Lewis a as a novel mediator of PMN-epithelial interactions and a modulator of PMN function in inflamed intestinal tissues," $30,000
• Joseph Manns, psychology/SOM, "Memory enhancement via amygdala-mediated modulation of hippocampal plasticity," $30,000
• Alexa Mattheyses, cell biology/SOM, "Mechanisms of plasma membrane deformation in clathrin-mediated endocytosis," $30,000
• Donald McManus, theater studies, "Bolsheviki: A dead serious comedy, production and tour," $7,060
• Vladmire Oliker, mathematics and computer science, "Computational methods for large nonlinear numerical problems with applications in high precision optics," $30,000
• David Pallas, biochemistry/SOM, "Role of the protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) methyltransferase, LCMT-1, in fetal liver hematopoiesis," $30,000