DOM Awards $50,000 Seed Grants to Three Recipients
The ad hoc committee for the Department of Medicine Seed Grant for Innovative Research reviewed numerous outstanding applications for 2012. The three recipients are Dr. Jennifer Downs, Dr. Duane Hassane, and Dr. Yariv Houvras. Each recipient will receive a one-year seed grant in the amount of $50,000. Click for research project titles and the exciting research underway in the fields of HIV, acute myeloid leukemia, and genetics.
The seed grants are an outgrowth of the Department of Medicine's Strategic Plan, intended to catalyze and encourage the pilot-testing of bold, creative and "high impact but high risk" research projects that involve new directions and new interdisciplinary collaboration by the Principal Investigator. Generally, projects such as these would be considered too early in development for competitive funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Therefore, these are not intended to be "bridge" grants for ongoing projects. The goal is to support the growth of high-impact research in the Department of Medicine that will result in major new support from the NIH.
Dr. Jennifer Downs
Project Title: Mucosal Immunity and Susceptibility to HIV Infection in Urogenital Schistosomiasis
Dr. Yariv Houvras
Project Title: Chemical and Genetic Approaches to Study SPOP Function
Dr. Duane Hassane
Project Title: Is Recurrence in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Driven by Transcriptional Chaos in Cancer Stem Cell Pools?