Research & Innovation Seed Grants Total Nearly $2 Million

Funds give new faculty and multidisciplinary teams a nudge toward earning external funding

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Among the OVPRI award winners: Clockwise from top left, Tingjun Chen; Ming Chen; Anita Disney; Bradley Kolls; Sarah Komisarow; Alison Korn; Paul Magwene; and Opeyemi Olabisi.

Daniel Gross, assistant professor, Fuqua School of Business, will be studying how organized labor and automation changed U.S. newspapers from 1960 to 1990.

Dana Hunt, associate professor of microbial ecology, Nicholas School of the Environment, will be quantifying the loss of stored carbon and nutrients in coastal environments.

Sarah Komisarow, assistant professor of public policy and economics, Sanford School of Public Policy, will be developing an intervention designed to reduce racial disparities in the disciplinary suspensions of K-12 students.

Carlene Moore, assistant professor of neurology, School of Medicine, is applying targeted gene therapy on pain receptors to attempt to fight migraine headaches.

Opeyemi Olabisi, associate professor of medicine, School of Medicine, is studying how donor brain death contributes to the failure of transplanted kidneys.

Justin Pollara, associate professor of surgery, School of Medicine, is developing a non-viral alternative for gene therapy.

Junjie Yao, associate professor of biomedical engineering, Pratt School of Engineering,will be using focused ultrasound to crated 3D printed structures inside the body.

DST LAUNCH GRANTEES

LAUNCH grants are for two Duke Co-PIs with primary faculty appointments in different schools (or divisions within Trinity). Collaborations that involve science are strongly encouraged. These funds are directed toward supporting nascent collaborative, interdisciplinary projects, with a preference for projects that advance science and technology. The goals of this program are to enable faculty from multiple disciplines to initiate high-impact projects that could lead to additional external funding.

Alison Korn of Law and Noel Ivey of Medicine are working together on a project to improve access to care for people with opioid use disorder.

Boyla Mainsah of electrical and computer engineering and Bradley Kolls of neurology are working on a way to continuously monitor the brains of traumatic brain injury patients in intensive care.

Biomedical engineer Daniel Reker is working with Ru-Rong Ji of anesthesiology are using artificial intelligence to design longer lasting nanoformulations of anesthetic.

Cell Biologist Amy Gladfelter is working with Biologist Paul Magwene and microbiologist Erica Washington to understand how pathogenic fungi adapt to temperature stress.

Chemist Katherine Franz is teaming up with Lingchong You of biomedical engineering to find ways to selectively suppress antibiotic bacteria.

Computer scientist Tananun Songdechakraiwut and Michael Lutz of neurology are combining artificial intelligence, biomarkers and brain imaging to detect Alzheimer’s disease earlier.

Norbert Linke of physics and Tingjun Chen of electrical and computer engineering are establishing a testbed for quantum computing networks by connecting  East Campus with the Chesterfield building.

Philosopher Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and psychiatrist Murali Doraiswamy are developing an artificial intelligence tool that would help predict the care choices an incapacitated dementia patient would prefer.