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17 Case faculty members receive
Presidential Research Initiative grants to pursue interdisciplinary research
Grants fund eight projects, seven
of which involve School of Medicine faculty
CLEVELAND (June 27, 2005) – Seventeen Case Western Reserve University
researchers representing four of the university’s schools and colleges have
been awarded $960,000 to fund eight research projects under a program designed
to promote interdisciplinary research. Seven of the eight projects involve
School of Medicine faculty members.
The Presidential Research
Initiative (PRI) grant program recently made grants of $80,000 to each of the
studies. The grants were matched by grants of $40,000 from the four schools in
which the faculty members work, for a total of $120,000 per study.
“We were extremely happy
with the diversity and quality of the proposals the researchers submitted for
funding,” said Eric Cottington, associate vice
president for research. “The program is designed to encourage researchers from
different disciplines to collaborate, and it is attaining that goal.”
Researchers and the
proposals for which they received funding:
·
Matthias Buck,
Ph.D.,
assistant professor of biophysics and physiology at the
·
Kevin Bunting,
Ph.D.,
associate professor of medicine at the medical school, and Xin Yu, Sc.D., associate professor of
biomedical engineering (a joint department of Case’s medical and engineering
schools), to develop stem cell therapy and delivery methods for treating heart
damage in mice, and to develop magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques for
evaluating the efficiency of stem cell therapy in small animals.
·
Randall Cebul, M.D., professor of medicine and epidemiology and
biostatistics at the School of Medicine;
Mark Votruba, Ph.D., assistant professor of
economics in the Weatherhead School of Management;
and James Rebitzer,
Ph.D., chair and professor of economics at the management school, to
investigate the rate of turnover in membership of insurance plans.
·
Thomas Egelhoff, Ph.D., associate professor of physiology and
biophysics in the medical school, and Harihara Baskaran, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemical
engineering and assistant professor of biomedical engineering, to study how
human breast cancer cells migrate from the primary tumor to new locations in
the body (metastasis). The studies are designed to provide a foundation for
identifying new targets for anti-cancer chemotherapy.
·
Agata Exner, Ph.D., assistant
professor of radiology at the School of Medicine and assistant professor of
biomedical engineering, and Cheri Deng,
Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical engineering, for developing an
ultrasound-mediated method for targeted delivery of drugs to cells for cancer
treatment and other applications.
·
Melissa Knothe Tate, Ph.D., associate professor in the departments
of biomedical engineering and mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Radhika Atit, Ph.D.,
assistant professor of biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, for an
examination of how mechanical stress is processed in a cell to direct the fate
of the cell. The knowledge will help prevent and treat skeletal defects during
an embryo’s development and to accelerate fracture repair after birth.
·
Michiko Watanabe,
Ph.D.,
associate professor of pediatrics at the medical school, and Andrew Rollins, Ph.D., assistant
professor of medicine in the School of Medicine and assistant professor of
biomedical engineering, for a project to develop techniques for imaging hearts
in the embryo stage, with the ultimate goal of treating congenital heart
defects in the embryonic stage.
·
James Van Orman, Ph.D., assistant professor of geological
sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Daniel Lacks, Ph.D., professor of chemical engineering in the
School of Engineering, for investigating the influence of volatile components
such as water and carbon dioxide on the physical properties of magmas.
The PRI funds are
distributed through the office of the president and provost using a research
challenge grant from the Ohio Board of Regents, and from proceeds the
university receives from commercializing intellectual property.
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