Research Highlights

Research seed grants from the New Hampshire EPSCoR Track-1 project continue to sprout interesting biosensing technology results. Dartmouth graduate student Julia E. Huddy and her advisor, Assistant Professor of Engineering William Scheideler just had their paper published, “Transforming 3D-printed mesostructures into multimodal sensors with nanoscale conductive metal oxides” in Cell Reports Physical Science, available now through open access.

Kelly Banas, along with colleagues at ChristianaCare and University of Delaware, Newark, have developed an innovative CRISPR strategy to restore the chemosensitivity of non-small cell lung cancer cells.

Resistance to chemotherapy is a major challenge in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. By profiling the spectrum of outcomes arising from CRISPR-based knockout of the NRF2 protein, which contributes to chemoresistance, Eric Kmiec Ph.D. and Kelly Banas Ph.D. of the ChristianaCare Gene Editing Institute have developed a new therapeutic strategy that increases the sensitivity of cancer cells to traditional chemotherapy.

If you think getting out on the water in Alaska in March sounds chilly, consider the folks who just spent most of a week underneath it. Three University of Alaska-Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS) students received Alaska NSF EPSCoR Fire & Ice rolling travel awards to travel to Kasitsna Bay Lab over spring break to attend UAF’s Scientific Diving class, instructed by Fire & Ice PI Brenda Konar. Students emerged from the course with their American Academy of Underwater Sciences Scientific Diver certification, as well as other certifications.

Living in shallow, brackish waterways like the state’s southern salt ponds, the Eastern or Atlantic oyster, Crassostrea virginica, provides habitats for other species and, as a filter feeder, serves as a natural indicator of a marine environment’s water quality.

After months in the lab, extracting and sequencing DNA of a bacteria living in the gut of the Eastern oyster, Rhode Island EPSCoR’s Zachary Pimentel faced a big problem: he couldn’t find any trace of the bacteria. Pimentel belongs to a group of researchers at the University of Rhode Island and Roger Williams University investigating how certain bacteria operate in the Eastern oyster’s gut microbiome, knowledge of which helps the scientific community better understand how such bacteria impact its host’s overall health.

Like a human body's circulatory system that moves blood and carries nutrients, Earth’s river networks are similar conduits.

One of a river's important functions is removing pollution that ends up in its waters – from roads, lawns, septic systems, sewage treatment plants and other sources – before those waters reach sensitive downstream ecosystems like estuaries and oceans.

New NSF-funded research by New Hampshire investigators published in Nature Communications finds that watershed size plays a major role in a river network's ability to do that work. The findings further the understanding of which estuaries and coastal areas will be impacted by human development in their watersheds.

A small black lump, about an inch or so in width, rests on the bottom of a sealed plastic container. It doesn’t look like much – in fact, it doesn’t look like anything. But this little black lump has untold potential, full of secrets for the researchers at Kentucky Research Alliance for Lung Disease (K-RALD) to discover about the pandemic that has ravaged the world for more than two years. Researchers at K-RALD are involved in a number of clinical trials, consortiums and networks dedicated to improving the outcomes of patients with lung disease. They are looking for markers, trying new medications and developing new methods for identifying how diseases affect lung tissue on the molecular level. Their work is published and shared around the world, becoming part of a global collaboration dedicated to curing lung disease and improving not just a patient’s outcome, but their quality of life.

Delaware INBRE-funded researcher Christine Charvet, COBRE Delaware Center for Neuroscience Research-funded researcher Brian Edlow and team were recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience. “We integrated gene expression with diffusion MR imaging to study the evolution of human brain pathways,” said Charvet of their paper, “Tracing modification to cortical circuits in human and non-human primates from high resolution tractography, transcription, and temporal dimensions.”

Alaska EPSCoR Fire and Ice researchers Eran Hood and Jason Fellman recently appeared on Jeff Corwin's "Wildlife Nation" show on ABC. It is not available online — be sure to catch it on TV.

Join host Jeff Corwin on an adventure into the wilds of Alaska to understand the great environmental challenge of our time: climate change. First, Jeff explores the beautiful Mendenhall Glacier. Jeff rappels down into the glacier’s cracks and crevasses - and flies a drone high above the glacier’s edge — to discover how warming temperatures will forever change this ancient and massive block of ice. Later, Jeff investigates the impact of melting glacier ice on one of Alaska's most vital species: salmon. Jeff works alongside dedicated conservationists along the beautiful Montana River to collect tiny baby salmon and carefully study them. This research will help Alaska’s Department of Fish and Wildlife better manage salmon populations and give biologists a window into how climate change will affect the entire ecosystem.

SD EPSCoR REACH Committee member Dr. Ashley Podhrasky, Dakota State University VP for Research and Economic Development, was honored to be one of the 120 statues of women displayed outside of the Smithsonian Museum in a project entitled, “#IfThenSheCan – The Exhibit.” Podhrasky was recognized for her innovative work in STEM.

North Dakota EPSCoR congratulates New Discoveries in the Advanced Interface of Computation, Engineering, and Science (ND-ACES) Emerging Seed Awardee, Dr. Ravi Kiran Yellavajjala on his recent promotion to Associate Professor at ND State University and his achievements in teaching, research and service.