Three faculty and their research partners have received seed funding through the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation. The Research Seed Grant awards provide up to $25,000 for track one proposals and up to $50,000 for track two proposals to seed research that acquires preliminary data needed ahead of submitting a competitive proposal for significant external funding. The proposals were evaluated by a faculty committee made up of experts in the range of fields represented in the applications. Final funding decisions were made by Anshuman Razdan, vice president for research and innovation.
The following projects were awarded funding:
Track One
Design of a Hyaluronic Acid-Based Neural Probe Coating to Mitigate Neuroinflammation and Improve Neural Probe Integration
Researchers: Marian Hettiaratchi and Felix Deku, assistant professors in the Department of Bioengineering at the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact
Summary: The project seeks to improve the functioning of neural probes, which are a powerful tool for understanding and treating debilitating neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and epilepsy. Currently, probes fail after weeks or months due to the inflammatory response to the probes. The investigators aim to overcome this challenge by developing a hyaluronic acid-based coating for neural probes that mimics the mechanical properties of brain tissue and reduces inflammation and reactivity. The project will provide critical data for future efforts to improve neural probe integration and has a long-term goal of enhancing the reliability and longevity of implanted neural devices.
Track Two
Towards Predictive Models for Soil- and Water-Quality Risks in Fire-Prone Landscapes
Researchers: Matthew Polizzotto, professor, Department of Earth Sciences, and Lucas Silva, professor, Departments of Environmental Studies and Biology.
Summary: Limited research exists regarding how fires influence toxic contaminants that are native to soils and how those contaminants may in turn affect water. The project will examine native soil contaminants that leach into water following wildfires with the longer-term goal of submitting a grant to NASA that aims to create robust contaminant risk maps that predict threats to water quality in fire-prone regions of Oregon. This work will benefit the millions of people who live within and downstream of fire-prone areas and depend on impacted water that drains from burned forest soils, as well as land managers in Oregon and throughout fire-prone areas of the Western US.
Under the Skin and Into the Bone: Novel Bone Turnover Markers as Indices of Biological Embedding of Stress Across the Lifespan
Researchers: Josh Snodgrass, professor, Department of Anthropology and Global Health; Zachary DuBois, associate professor, Department of Anthropology; Elizabeth Shirtcliff, research professor, Department of Psychology and Center for Translational Neuroscience
Summary: This project focuses on novel ways of recording and understanding the mechanistic contributors that connect stressful social/physical environments to physiological dysregulation that contribute to poorer health and early death. New, slow-shifting targeted systems for recording are needed because they have the potential to pave new insights into cumulative health burden. The researchers aim to validate a set of bone turnover markers across minimally invasive biospecimens so that these markers can be implemented in lifespan studies that involve vulnerable populations and settings such as rural/remote, Indigenous, and resource-limited contexts.