Grant List
Represents Grant table in the DB
GET /v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=5&sort=other_investigators
{ "links": { "first": "https://cic-apps.datascience.columbia.edu/v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1&sort=other_investigators", "last": "https://cic-apps.datascience.columbia.edu/v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1397&sort=other_investigators", "next": "https://cic-apps.datascience.columbia.edu/v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=6&sort=other_investigators", "prev": "https://cic-apps.datascience.columbia.edu/v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=4&sort=other_investigators" }, "data": [ { "type": "Grant", "id": "15133", "attributes": { "award_id": "2414965", "title": "Instrument-free yes/no quantitative analysis of molecular biomarkers", "funder": { "id": 3, "ror": "https://ror.org/021nxhr62", "name": "National Science Foundation", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "Engineering (ENG)", "Special Initiatives" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 961, "first_name": "Aleksandr", "last_name": "Simonian", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2024-09-01", "end_date": null, "award_amount": 380074, "principal_investigator": { "id": 31692, "first_name": "Irina", "last_name": "Nesterova", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 574, "ror": "https://ror.org/012wxa772", "name": "Northern Illinois University", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "IL", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "Contemplating on the recent pandemics, the general public came to realize and appreciate the vital role of do-it-yourself diagnostic devices for disease control and management. Such devices report whether a unique pathogen-associate molecule (also known as a molecular biomarker) is found in a human. To extend the benefit of accessible molecular diagnostics to a wider range of diseases and situations, it is critical to develop devices that not only report whether a specific molecular biomarker is present but also answer the question of how much of that biomarker is present (so called quantitative analysis). The goal of this project is to develop a platform that enables an equipment-free and easy-to-interpret quantitative analysis of molecular biomarkers in do-it-yourself and point-of-care environments. To ensure an easy interpretation, the platform will produce a yes/no answer that involves observing bubbles as a readout. Observing bubbles does not require scientific training, an equipped lab, or color vision proficiency and, therefore, can be easily recognized by everyone ages 2 and up. In addition to public health benefits, the proposed development will spark and sustain a STEM interest in middle- and high school student through their direct hands-on engagement in the project- related experimental work.<br/><br/>The goal of this project is to develop a platform for instrument-free easy-to-interpret quantitative analysis of molecular biomarkers. The proposed platform will comprise two developments: a yes/no output for quantitative measurement and a novel equipment-free signal readout. The yes/no quantitative measurement will be enabled through stoichiometry. The heart of the model is negative cooperativity-based target – probe binding. The binding modality yields a well-defined structure exactly at the stoichiometric equivalence point. Detection of the structure is a yes/no event for a quantitative result. The new equipment-free readout will be based on bubbling produced in a gas-generating reaction. As an easy to spot and interpret phenomena, bubbling perfectly matches the yes/no paradigm. The gas-generating readout will be triggered via an activatable in the equivalence point catalytic system. The project will produce a general methodology that is adaptable to a range of molecular targets including potential new agents (once their target binding is characterized to some extent).<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15110", "attributes": { "award_id": "2405915", "title": "US-Israel Collab: A structural and multiepistemic approach to modeling Brucella transmission along complex networks in Bedouin communities", "funder": { "id": 3, "ror": "https://ror.org/021nxhr62", "name": "National Science Foundation", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "Biological Sciences (BIO)", "Ecology of Infectious Diseases" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 599, "first_name": "Samuel", "last_name": "Scheiner", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2024-09-01", "end_date": null, "award_amount": 3000000, "principal_investigator": { "id": 31655, "first_name": "Julianne", "last_name": "Meisner", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 159, "ror": "https://ror.org/00cvxb145", "name": "University of Washington", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "WA", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "Zoonotic diseases are diseases that animals give to humans. SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVD-19, is a zoonotic disease, and the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of both zoonotic diseases, and mutual trust between public health institutions and the public whose health they are intended to safeguard. To effectively control zoonoses, we need a better understanding of exactly how they are transmitted, and how trust—and its absence—influences that transmission. Brucellosis is a zoonosis caused by a bacteria that is present worldwide, including the US. The most serious form is caused by the bacteria Brucella melitensis, which is spread by sheep and goats when a person drinks or eats milk or cheese that hasn’t been pasteurized, or when people assist a sheep or goat who is giving birth. In animals, the disease causes pregnancy losses and reduced milk production. In humans, the disease also causes pregnancy losses, as well as fever, headaches, back pain, physical weakness, and fatigue that can last for months or even years. In some cases, severe neurological and heart effects can also be seen. The project leverages the strong US-Israel research collaboration to advance the knowledge of the more-than-bio-physical drivers of interspecies disease transmission, focusing on Brucella melitensis but generalizable to other zoonotic diseases. <br/><br/>This project works with Bedouin communities in southern Israel, where Brucella burden is among the highest in the world, second only to Syria pre-war and likely worsening since. These communities exhibit extremely high levels of institutional distrust and experience ongoing urbanization. This provides a model setting for examining how distrust, urbanization, and zoonoses—a triad being replicated throughout the world—collectively impact humans, animals, and livelihoods. The research tests the hypothesis that institutional distrust and population displacement to urban centers increase the density of human-animal contact networks, facilitating the transmission of brucellosis. Objective 1 aims to measure human-animal contact networks among six Bedouin communities in southern Israel using qualitative data, quantitative data, and experience-based knowledge. These data support Objective 2 to model synthetic human-animal networks and develop a new method for generating Brucella genomes, applied to samples collected from humans, livestock, and environments. Subsequent tasks for Objective 3 include fitting and validating an epidemic network model using these synthetic networks and Brucella genomes and applying this model to test the research hypothesis by exploring counterfactual scenarios defined by distrust and urbanization, developed through participatory methods. These methods and insights afford broad applicability beyond this empirical setting, to other Brucella systems and zoonotic diseases throughout the world.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15348", "attributes": { "award_id": "1R21HD115216-01", "title": "Can Successful Early Childhood Interventions Sustain Impacts into Middle Childhood? A test from Kenya", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 8605, "first_name": "JAMES", "last_name": "GRIFFIN", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2024-09-17", "end_date": "2026-08-31", "award_amount": 332000, "principal_investigator": { "id": 31944, "first_name": "Italo", "last_name": "Lopez Garcia", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 152, "ror": "https://ror.org/03taz7m60", "name": "University of Southern California", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "CA", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "An estimated 43 percent of children under age 5 in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) will not reach their full developmental potential due to poverty, stunting, or inadequate psychosocial stimulation. Parenting interventions that coach parents on responsive caregiving can effectively improve ECD outcomes in LMICs, at least in the short-term. However, the very few programs that have examined their sustained effects find that early program impacts tend to fade over time. To date, the only parenting interventions demonstrating sustained impacts five or more years after the end of their programs from a LMIC are two small pilot studies, both featuring weekly individual home visits over two years on a total of 134 stunted or low birthweight children from urban Kingston, Jamaica. Such intensive delivery models are prohibitively expensive to scale in rural and resource-poor LMIC settings. Community-based group meetings are a more cost-effective and scalable delivery model, and can also allowforpeer-to-peer learning and the formation of social support networks. Though growing evidence from LMICs shows that group meetings are at least as effective as individual home visits to improve ECD in the short- term, evidence on their ability to sustain impacts over time, and the mechanisms underlying such impacts (e.g., social support), is still very limited. With NICHD support (R01HD090045), we demonstrated that an 8-month, group-based ECD parenting intervention delivered by CHWs in rural Kenya significantly improved short-term ECD outcomes and parenting practices, and the program was highly cost-effective. In complementary work (R21HD098508), immediately after the main intervention, in half of intervention villages, we added 9 bi-monthly “booster” group meetings to reinforce key messages over two years. In a recent two-year follow-up assessment, we found that early impacts from the original 8-month intervention were sustained when children were ages 3.5 to 5, and the poorest families benefited the most. The booster extension, despite being severely disrupted by the COVID- 19 pandemic, had small additive effects on children’s socioemotional outcomes and parenting behaviors. Building on these results, we now propose to follow-up our original study cohort roughly 5 years after the end of the intervention to measure longer-term sustained impacts on our sample of targeted children who will be roughly 6.5 to 8 years old, as well as their younger and older siblings to uncover potential spillover effects. We will re-enroll households from our original sample across 60 villages to collect an additional survey wave to measure children’s cognitive, language, executive function and socio-emotional skills, as well as parenting behaviors, knowledge and beliefs, social networks, and social norms around parenting to examine potential mediating pathways driving any sustained impacts and any spillover impacts onto siblings. The goal of our study is to help fill a gap regarding evidence on the long-term effectiveness of ECD programs on children’s outcomes from a scalable and cost-effective model of delivery to help inform policy.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15233", "attributes": { "award_id": "1R21AI181677-01", "title": "Synergizing neutralization and non-neutralization antibody targets at the HIV/SIV viral spike apex", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 31817, "first_name": "Nancy R.", "last_name": "Miller", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2024-08-09", "end_date": "2026-06-30", "award_amount": 228825, "principal_investigator": { "id": 21421, "first_name": "TIMOTHY J", "last_name": "CARDOZO", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [ { "id": 832, "ror": "", "name": "NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "NY", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true } ] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 832, "ror": "", "name": "NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "NY", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "An HIV vaccine remains a critical and as yet unrealized asset in the 40-year fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. New insights towards achieving vaccine protection from HIV acquisition may be gained by a comparative case study of COVID-19 vaccines, which achieved nearly 100% efficacy against a similarly enveloped, RNA virus with a similarly architected, trimeric, Class I fusion viral spike mechanism. Neutralization B-cell epitopes exposed at the apex of the SARS-CoV-2 trimeric viral spike correlated clearly and strongly with protection from viral acquisition, both in humans in the real world/circulating virus setting and in non-human primate (NHP) preclinical models. We hypothesized that vaccine immunogens could be improved by focusing antibody responses to two equivalent B-cell epitopes at the HIV/SIV viral spike apex, one an epitope targeted by neutralizing antibodies (V2b) and one a purely non-neutralization epitope (V2c). In preliminary results, we showed that removal of the viral spike apical V1 loop segment (DV1-Env) masking the V2c epitope enhanced protection against viral challenge in both a highly stringent SIV and matched SHIV challenge model, achieving >90% vaccine efficacy. In further preliminary results, we designed an immunogen displaying only this V2c epitope in isolation and proved that it was highly immunogenic as an isolated epitope and indeed elicited purely non-neutralizing antibodies in vivo. The study revealed that V2c contributed to, but was not sufficient on its own, for protection. In this exploratory study, we pursue the new hypothesis that the combination of the two HIV, viral-spike apical, B-cell epitopes in a single vaccine can reconstitute an increased level of protection as observed with COVID-19 vaccines, by synergizing V2c with the V2b neutralization epitope. We will 1) design and validate a V2b-focused immunogen, and 2) test the precise combination of neutralizing, vaccine-elicited anti-V2b antibodies with non-neutralizing, cytotoxic, vaccine-elicited V2c antibodies, along with coordinated cellular immune responses in vivo for their ability to delay viral acquisition as compared to the V2c epitope alone. Successful results in these two aims could justify a research project on the design and translational development of a novel, viral-spike-apex-focused, efficacious HIV vaccine.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15022", "attributes": { "award_id": "5R21AI173746-02", "title": "A decision tool to inform the optimal use of non-pharmaceutical interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 6243, "first_name": "BROOKE ALLISON", "last_name": "Bozick", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2023-07-25", "end_date": "2025-06-30", "award_amount": 235692, "principal_investigator": { "id": 27900, "first_name": "Reza", "last_name": "YAESOUBI", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 452, "ror": "https://ror.org/03v76x132", "name": "Yale University", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "CT", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "As the prospect for the elimination of COVID-19 in the near future remains uncertain, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as limiting social gatherings, quarantine after exposure to the virus, and school closure, will continue to play important roles in mitigating the morbidity and mortality associated with the pandemic. Since these interventions impose immense economic, social, and health-related costs, their use should be recommended only when epidemic control benefits outweigh their adverse consequences. Our overall objective in this proposal is to develop an analytical decision tool to optimize the use of NPIs based on latest information related to the local epidemiology of COVID-19, the effectiveness of different NPIs, and the population’s stated disutility associated with these interventions. This decision tool is structured to provide a transparent mechanism to communicate the rationale for the current policy regarding the use of NPIs and the conditions under which the policy would change. To develop our decision tools, this proposal has three specific aims: 1) to develop state-level decision models that identify the optimal combination of NPIs, in real-time, and based on the projected loss in the quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and the disutility borne by the population under various combinations of NPIs under various combinations of NPIs; 2) to design, conduct, and analyze discrete-choice experiments to estimate the disutility weights of different NPIs as borne by population members due to social, economic, and health consequences of these programs; and 3) to estimate the societal tolerance for loss in QALYs due to existing infectious diseases without triggering NPIs. This tolerance threshold can be estimated using historical data related to past pandemic and seasonal influenza and will serve as a benchmark to decide when the burden of COVID-19 is low enough to lift all NPIs, at least for a short term. The research proposed in this project is innovative as it develops a novel, principled approach to consolidate real-time data from three different sources to optimize the use of NPIs: 1) COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as projected by existing and new predictive models of COVID-19 pandemic, 2) effectiveness of various NPIs in breaking the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and 3) disutility weights of NPIs directly elicited from target populations. The proposed research is significant because it meets the critical needs of policymakers to identify evidence-based and real-time recommendations regarding the efficient use of NPIs to contain the burden of COVID-19. The methods and decision tools developed as part of this project could also be used in responding to other existing and future infectious threats where NPIs are employed.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15030", "attributes": { "award_id": "5P30GM149398-02", "title": "CardioPulmonary Vascular Biology COBRE", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 6164, "first_name": "LAKSHMI KUMAR", "last_name": "Matukumalli", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2023-06-01", "end_date": "2028-05-31", "award_amount": 898356, "principal_investigator": { "id": 27382, "first_name": "Gaurav", "last_name": "Choudhary", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 2013, "ror": "", "name": "OCEAN STATE RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC.", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "RI", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "The vision of the CardioPulmonary Vascular Biology (CPVB) COBRE program is to develop effective approaches to prevent and treat vascular diseases affecting the pulmonary and cardiovascular systems through better understanding of disease mechanisms. This will be accomplished by serving as an interdisciplinary center which promotes collaborative research and provides excellent technical support and resources to investigators. The overall mission of the CPVB COBRE program has been to build the human and technical infrastructure and services that serve as catalysts to increase CPVB research in the state. Cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the US and in the world. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Respiratory diseases are the 3rd and 4th leading causes of death and are frequently complicated by pulmonary vasculopathy and cardiovascular co-morbidities that markedly worsen prognosis. We have learned that infection with SARS-CoV-2 virus damages multiple organs, with cardiovascular, respiratory, and vascular complications. Thus, there is an important need to understand the pathogenesis of cardiopulmonary vascular diseases in order to develop more effective treatments and prevention. The overall goal of the CPVB COBRE program is to facilitate high impact vascular biology research. The CPVB COBRE program provides infrastructure with administrative, pilot project, and two technical cores, thus providing opportunities to expand areas of investigation, experimental and technical approaches, and scientific collaborations. The specific aims of Phase III CPVB COBRE are to: i) award high-impact research projects in the area of cardiopulmonary vascular biology; ii) provide effective and high-quality services in cell isolation and ex vivo organ function (CIOF), mitochondrial function, and in vivo imaging (MF-II); iii) collaborate with IDeA programs in Rhode Island (RI) and other states to foster scientific networks by providing programming, funding, technical services, and resources to enhance research productivity; and iv) maintain a robust line of investigation in vascular biology that meets the needs of the scientific community and furthers research in prevention and treatment of cardiopulmonary vascular diseases. Continuation of the CPVB COBRE into Phase III will sustain the administrative structure for seminars and workshop planning, engagement, and professional development support of investigators, and expertise in cell isolation and ex vivo organ function, mitochondrial function, and in vivo imaging. We will expand and enrich the vascular biology research community by promoting new collaborations and engaging scientists new to the field from a variety of disciplines. At the end of Phase III, we expect to transition to a sustainable CPVB Center serving as a home to the CVPB research community with high quality core services, significant institutional support, and commitment to continue the development of effective approaches to combat or resolve cardiopulmonary vascular diseases.", "keywords": [ "2019-nCoV", "Advisory Committees", "Affect", "Area", "Award", "Biology", "Blood Vessels", "COVID-19 pandemic", "Cardiopulmonary", "Cardiovascular Diseases", "Cardiovascular system", "Cause of Death", "Cell Separation", "Centers of Research Excellence", "Collaborations", "Communities", "Coronary Arteriosclerosis", "Data", "Development", "Discipline", "Disease", "Educational workshop", "Feedback", "Fostering", "Funding", "Goals", "Growth", "Home", "Human", "Infection", "Infrastructure", "Institution", "Investigation", "Learning", "Legal patent", "Lung", "Lung Diseases", "Manuscripts", "Mission", "Mitochondria", "Morbidity - disease rate", "Organ", "Pathogenesis", "Phase", "Pilot Projects", "Prevention", "Productivity", "Prognosis", "Publishing", "Research", "Research Personnel", "Research Project Grants", "Resources", "Respiratory Disease", "Rhode Island", "Scientist", "Services", "Structure", "Vascular Diseases", "Virus", "Vision", "career", "catalyst", "combat", "comorbidity", "effective therapy", "in vivo imaging", "mortality", "prevent", "programs", "pulmonary vascular disorder", "respiratory" ], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15720", "attributes": { "award_id": "2151959", "title": "Collaborative Research: MODULUS: Stochastic reaction-diffusion equations on metric graphs and spatially-resolved dynamics of virus infection spread", "funder": { "id": 3, "ror": "https://ror.org/021nxhr62", "name": "National Science Foundation", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "Biological Sciences (BIO)", "Systems and Synthetic Biology" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 622, "first_name": "Zhilan", "last_name": "Feng", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2022-06-01", "end_date": null, "award_amount": 365556, "principal_investigator": { "id": 1684, "first_name": "John", "last_name": "Yin", "orcid": "https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6146-0594", "emails": "[email protected]", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": "['https://yin.discovery.wisc.edu/', 'https://news.wisc.edu/research-on-viral-junk-quicker-drug-testing-could-help-ou…', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OI9_B76gN4&feature=youtu.be', 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4LCDNgaSPE']", "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [ { "id": 263, "ror": "", "name": "University of Wisconsin-Madison", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "WI", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true } ] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 263, "ror": "", "name": "University of Wisconsin-Madison", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "WI", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "This award supports the development of new mathematical tools and biological experiments that are essential to understanding the mechanisms of virus spread and extinction. A new framework, to enable an integrated experimental-mathematical study, will be developed to control the spatial distribution of the host cell population and to quantify how such spatial structure affects viral evolution and decay. The project has basic research, medical, and public health impact, since the analytical and experimental methods can be extended to elucidate mechanisms of infection spread by viruses of public health importance, including influenza A virus, Zika virus, and coronaviruses. As an interdisciplinary study, the research will cross-train mathematicians, biologists, and engineers, contributing significantly to workforce development. Broader objectives include increased participation and diversity in STEM fields while promoting a broader understanding of science and technology by the public through wide dissemination. The project goal is to determine both the probability of virus extinction during infection spread and the spreading speed in terms of the spatial structure of host cell populations. A new mathematical framework, stochastic reaction-diffusion equations on metric graphs, will be developed to study the dynamics of virus infections over any network structure. The biological experiments are cutting edge: virus infections will be performed on micro-patterned host cells that enable quantification of population level features of infection spread in any network structure, a key advantage over traditional Petri-dish studies. Analysis of the experimentally informed stochastic equations has the potential to push the frontier of current knowledge about the role of space and stochasticity in population dynamics. This new framework motivates problems that cut across several mathematical disciplines (probability, partial differential equations and mathematical biology) and that are of interest to a large group of applied mathematicians and applied scientists. These problems include (i) What is the probability of extinction of virus and the propagation speed in terms of geometric properties of the metric graph, such as the branching structure and the edge lengths of the graph? (ii) What is the probability of coexistence of virus and defective interfering particles during co-infection spread, and the effect of the underlying spatial structure on this probability? The project brings new probabilistic tools and perspectives to solve these problems and to generate mechanistic insights about virus infection spread. This award is being co-funded by the MPS Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) through the Mathematical Biology Program and by the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) through the Systems and Synthetic Biology and the Cellular Dynamics and Function Cluster. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15384", "attributes": { "award_id": "1F31HD114457-01A1", "title": "Early Puberty During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Multi-Ethnic, Population-Based Cohort of Children and Adolescents", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 21091, "first_name": "KAREN", "last_name": "WINER", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2024-07-01", "end_date": "2026-06-30", "award_amount": 46614, "principal_investigator": { "id": 31984, "first_name": "Julia", "last_name": "Acker", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 1079, "ror": "", "name": "UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "CA", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "Early puberty is associated with adverse health outcomes over the life course, including psychopathology in adolescence, and reproductive cancers, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in adulthood. The age of pubertal onset has declined dramatically over the past 40 years in the United States (US), with alarming racial/ethnic disparities. These disparities may amplify future health inequities in chronic conditions, yet remain poorly understood. During the COVID-19 pandemic, pediatric endocrinology centers across twelve countries reported large increases in the incidence of central precocious puberty (CPP), a rare condition characterized by developing secondary sexual characteristics before age eight in girls and nine in boys. However, existing studies are subject to limitations such as small samples from specialty care settings, insufficient power to examine trends in boys, and reliance on diagnostic criteria for CPP. In addition to CPP, it is important to examine normative timing of early pubertal milestones, including onset of pubic hair and breasts/testes development, because they represent the earliest observable markers of underlying hormones and may play differential roles in the etiology of health outcomes. Moreover, no studies have investigated whether the pandemic exacerbated pre-existing racial/ethnic or neighborhood-level disparities in pubertal timing. To fill gaps in current knowledge, this study will leverage electronic health records from Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) to conduct the first population-based study on the pandemic and pubertal timing in the US. KPNC comprises ~32% of the northern California population and has 4.4 million members. In 2010, KPNC began systematically documenting routine pubertal development assessments for all children aged 6 years and older, thereby facilitating the study of trends in both CPP incidence and normative pubertal timing in a population with considerable racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic diversity. First, we will estimate pre–post pandemic changes in incident CPP diagnoses at KPNC medical centers using an interrupted time series design, using data from 2017–2023 (Aim 1). Second, we will use survival analysis techniques to estimate pre–post pandemic changes in the timing of normative pubertal milestones (including onset of pubic hair development, breast/testes development, and menses) in a representative population cohort of approximately 103,000 boys and 72,000 girls (Aim 2). Finally, we will examine the differential impact of the pandemic on CPP and normative pubertal timing across diverse racial/ethnic groups and neighborhood conditions (Aim 3). Study strengths and innovations include the use of a robust quasi-experimental design, longitudinal assessment of a large and representative population of boys and girls, and investigation of several important hallmarks of puberty. Examination of racial/ethnic and place-based disparities will guide the design of upstream health equity interventions and inform both clinical practice and future pandemic response. This study also provides a foundation for future research to determine whether earlier puberty has lasting health consequences for today’s children as they transition to adulthood.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "14860", "attributes": { "award_id": "1R21HL168655-01A1", "title": "Transforming Urine Output Tracking in Hospitalized Heart Failure Patients", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 10288, "first_name": "Patrice", "last_name": "Desvigne-Nickens", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2024-07-10", "end_date": "2026-06-30", "award_amount": 238943, "principal_investigator": { "id": 31545, "first_name": "Lawrence Anthony", "last_name": "David", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 246, "ror": "https://ror.org/00py81415", "name": "Duke University", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "NC", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "ABSTRACT: Urine and stool output tracking is essential for hospital treatment of diseases related to the heart, lungs, and blood. For patients who can walk, output monitoring currently involves patients using plastic waste collection hats. The manual nature of patient and nurse handling of collection hats leads to substantial error in patient fluid balances and delays in reporting urine output data to providers. Challenges with urine output tracking are acute when managing cardiovascular or pulmonary complications in which accurate monitoring of patient waste is needed to manage volume overload and fine-tune diuretic dosing. Manual urine tracking also exposes staff to hazardous chemicals and pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2. Our goal here is to develop a platform that will allow the accurate collection urine output data in the setting of clinical management of heart failure patients. Using a toilet-based sensor platform, we will automate the measurement of patient urination so that we are able to mitigate the measurement inaccuracy and treatment delays that are currently caused by manual waste monitoring. Our current device builds on multiple generations of prototype design that have involved extensive simulations and hundreds of tests by human volunteers. Preliminary results from these tests suggest our current prototype can detect urination with high sensitivity and measure urine mass with low error. To complete development of a device suitable for cardiology patient use in hospitals, we will first validate the accuracy and timeliness of our device in heart failure patients. We will measure the accuracy with which the device measures urine volume, comparing device estimates of waste output to gold-standard data obtained from conventional urine collection vessels. Second, we will quantify the decrease in lag time from urination to urine output data reporting to physicians. Third, we will evaluate the feasibility of technology adoption. We will survey patients and nurses to assess the potential increases in nurse and patient satisfaction associated with device usage. Since we expect our automated device to reduce nurse workload, we will also track impacts on nursing effort on waste tracking. In completing this Aim, we expect to develop the first automated platform for tracking urine output among cardiology patients. More broadly, by developing our device in a challenging clinical unit involving frail patients who can excrete large fluid volumes, we set the stage for transforming patient care in other hospital settings relevant to NHBLI such as management of bone marrow transplant patients.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "14963", "attributes": { "award_id": "5K99NS133961-02", "title": "Neurobiological Mechanisms of Fatigue in Health and after COVID-19", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 10999, "first_name": "Vicky R", "last_name": "Whittemore", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2023-07-01", "end_date": "2025-06-30", "award_amount": 99113, "principal_investigator": { "id": 27579, "first_name": "Agostina", "last_name": "Casamento Moran", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 2039, "ror": "", "name": "HUGO W. MOSER RES INST KENNEDY KRIEGER", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "MD", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "Fatigue is one of the most common and debilitating symptoms in neurological, psychiatric, and other chronic illnesses; however, it remains poorly understood and undertreated. Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) is a novel syndrome characterized by a range of symptoms present four or more weeks after the acute phase of COVID-19. Among these symptoms, severe fatigue is the most common and debilitating. Critical hurdles to understanding and treating fatigue include its multidimensional nature and the lack of quantitative methods to characterize it. In this MOSAIC K99/R00 application, I propose to use a novel `fatigue paradigm' that leverages neuromuscular, neuroeconomic, and computational methods to objectively investigate the neurobiological mechanisms of three features of fatigue in healthy individuals and individuals with PASC: feeling of weariness (how weary one feels), sense of effort (how one perceives a previously exerted force), and willingness to exert effort (an individual's decision to engage in effortful actions). My central hypothesis is that fatigue is comprised of at least three separable features, which represent distinct psychophysiological aspects, have unique neural correlates, and are differentially affected by PASC. The experiments proposed for the K99 Phase, which will be executed in Dr. Vikram Chib's Neuroeconomic Laboratory in the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins, will identify the brain network(s) encoding the features of fatigue in healthy individuals (Aim 1) and investigate how fatigue manifests in individuals with PASC (Aim 2). Through these projects, and the guidance of my mentoring team (Drs. Vikram Chib, Karen Quigley, Laura Malone, and Martin Lindquist), I will acquire complementary expertise in neuroimaging, psychophysiology, and computational and translational neuroscience. In the R00 Phase, I propose to merge my expertise in neuromuscular physiology and motor control with my newly acquired skills to identify the brain network(s) encoding fatigue in PASC (Aim 3). This Phase will be executed in my own laboratory upon securing an independent faculty position. The current epidemiological significance of fatigue and PASC makes this proposal especially timely and important, as it will significantly advance our understanding of fatigue and contribute to the NIH's RECOVER initiative. Further, the proposed research and training plans will allow me to accomplish my long-term career goal of becoming an independent investigator who will distinguish the neurobiological mechanisms of fatigue in different illnesses and develop targeted clinical interventions.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } } ], "meta": { "pagination": { "page": 5, "pages": 1397, "count": 13961 } } }