Research Wire: March 2018

3.23.18
Damena Agonafer, of the School of Engineering & Applied Science, has developed a unique evaporative cooling system designed to remediate the heat in electronic systems, such as vehicles and data centers, ultimately improving performance. His work on the system, which uses a membrane with microscopic pillars, is published in the the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. Learn more on the engineering website.


3.22.18
Weikai Li, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at the School of Medicine, along with Jayne S. Weiss, MD, chair of ophthalmology at LSU Health Sciences Center, received a two-year, $424,246 grant from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “Structural basis of Schnyder corneal dystrophy.”


3.22.18
Todd Fehniger, PhD, MD, associate professor of medicine at the School of Medicine, received a four-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “Translating NK Cell Biology into Clinical Cancer Immunotherapy”; and a three-year, $600,000 grant from the V Foundation for research titled “Translating NK Cell Memory into Cancer Immunotherapy Clinical Trials.”


3.22.18
Brad A. Racette, MD, the Robert Allan Finke Professor of Neurology and executive vice chair of clinical affairs in the Department of Neurology at the School of Medicine, received a five-year, $2.8 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “Manganese-Induced Neurotoxic Effects Research in South Africa (MINERS).”


3.16.18
Shabaana Khader, associate professor of molecular microbiology and of pathology and immunology, and Marco Colonna, MD, the Robert Rock Belliveau MD Professor of Pathology and professor of medicine, at the School of Medicine, received a five-year, $3.4 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “The Role of Group 3 Innate Lymphoid cells (ILC3) in Tuberculosis.”


3.16.18
Elliot Nelson, MD, professor of psychiatry, and Arpana Agrawal, professor of psychiatry, both at the School of Medicine, received a five-year, $3.3 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “Non-Dependent Opioid Misusers as GWAS Controls.”


3.16.18
Mario Castro, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, and professor of medicine, of pediatrics and of radiology at the School of Medicine, received a six-year, $2.2 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for “Washington University’s Precision Biologic Interventions for Severe Exacerbation Prone Asthma (Precise) Clinical Center.”


3.16.18
Yehuda Ben-Shahar, associate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, has been awarded $770,000 by the National Science Foundation to investigate how insects produce and perceive mating pheromones as species diversify. The study combines behavioral, chemo-analytical, and genome editing approaches to better understand the mechanics of how pheromones regulate mating behaviors and how mating signals evolve. Ben-Shahar and his collaborators plan to use some of the funds from this grant to increase STEM participation by organizing opportunities for underrepresented minorities and/or first-generation college students at University of California, Riverside, to participate in summer research on the Danforth Campus.


3.16.18
Zhude Tu, professor of radiology at the School of Medicine, received a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “PET Probes for Imaging the Vesicular Acetylcholine Transporter.” Tu also, together with Paul T. Kotzbauer, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurology, and Robert H. Mach, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania, received a one-year, $400,000 grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for research titled “Developing an Alpha-Synuclein Imaging Agent.”


3.16.18
David M. Holtzman, MD, the Andrew B. and Gretchen P. Jones Professor of Neurology and head of the Department of Neurology at the School of Medicine, received a three-year, $2.6 million grant from The JPB Foundation for research titled “APOE, TREM2 and Alzheimer’s Disease.”


3.14.18
Erica Scheller, DDS, assistant professor of medicine and of cell biology and physiology at the School of Medicinereceived a four-year, $1.4 million grant from the National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “Development of a Wireless Biosensor to Track Bone Resorption in Periodontitis”; and a three-year, $1.1 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the NIH for research titled “Peripheral Nerve Distribution and Function Within the Skeleton.”


3.14.18
Peter Westervelt, PhD, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the bone marrow transplantation and leukemia section of the Division of Oncology at the School of Medicine, received a seven-year, $1.17 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “A Phase II Study of Cytokine Induced Memory-like (CIML) Natural Killer (NK) Cell Adoptive Therapy after Haploidentical Donor Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation.”


3.14.18
Matthew Walter, MD, professor of medicine and of genetics, and Eric Duncavage, MD, associate professor of pathology and immunology and chief of the hematopathology section, both at the School of Medicine, received a three-year, $1.1 million grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “Targeted Single-Molecule Sequencing Assay Incorporating Molecular Barcodes.”


3.14.18
Rajat Dhar, MD, associate professor of neurology at the School of Medicine, received a five-year, $895,395 grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “Genetics and Prediction of Cerebral Edema After Hemispheric Stroke.”


3.14.18
David Rosen, MD, PhD, instructor in pediatrics at the School of Medicine, received a four-year, $702,952 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “Virulence Regulation and Protective Immunity in Klebsiella Pneumonia.”


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