PRE Accelerator Grant Previous Awardees | Ohio State Office of Research

Spring 2024 Accelerator Grant Awardees

Dissecting how glial expression of voltage-gated calcium channel subunits suppress adult oligodendrogenesis in the central nervous system

Lead PI: Wenjing Sun (College of Medicine)
Co-PIs: Steffen Lindert (College of Arts and Sciences); Ilaria Palmisano (College of Medicine)
Project description: Myelination is crucial for the central nervous system (CNS) function. However, the mechanisms underlying myelin formation are not yet fully understood. This project aims to investigate the underlying mechanisms by which glial expression of calcium channel subunits regulate adult oligodendrogenesis.

Building Interdisciplinary Opportunities (BIO)-Astronautics: A Case Study Utilizing Dust as a Nutrient Source for Plant Production to Move Towards a University Bioastronautics Center

Lead PI: Karen Dannemiller (College of Engineering)
Co-PIs: John Horack (College of Engineering); Jonathan Jacobs (College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences)
Project description: The aim of this project is to provide the opportunity for a case study to use a waste product generated in all human occupied spacecraft, dust, as a resource to support long-duration missions in and beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO) and build toward creation of a Bioastronautics center on campus.

User-Aligned Fair Machine Learning for Automated Hiring

Lead PI: Xueru Zhang (College of Engineering)
Co-PIs: Bingjie Liu (College of Arts and Sciences); Kaifeng Jiang (College of Business)
Project description: This project aims to conduct human subject studies to understand human perceptions of hiring algorithms and different notions of fairness. Based on such understanding, design human-aligned fair machine learning algorithms for multi-stage automated hiring.

Diet-related risk factors for postoperative cognitive impairment in older individuals

Lead PI: Michelle Humeidan (College of Medicine)
Co-PIs: Martha Belury (College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences); Ruth Barrientos (College of Medicine)
Project description: This pilot study will enroll geriatric surgical patients and explore potential relationships between diet, levels of inflammation, and presence of perioperative cognitive dysfunction. Patient-reported considerations for future study of behavioral/dietary interventions will also be collected.

Transformation of Operational Wildland Fire Behavior Models through Novel Sensing and Data-Driven Regional Adaptations

Lead PI: Mrinal Kumar (College of Engineering)
Co-PIs: Gil Bohrer, Sandip Mazumder (College of Engineering); Roger Williams (College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences)
Project description: This proposal will transform operational wildfire prediction models. Operational models will be regionally adapted using novel, multimodal field-data collected during prescribed burns, and high-fidelity multiscale simulations of combustion and radiation processes.

Data Infrastructure for Video Analysis of Political Speech

Lead PI: Skyler Cranmer (College of Arts and Sciences)
Co-PIs: Swati Padhee, John Paparrizos (College of Engineering)
Project description: This proposal has two key components of merit: the creation of a robust and open-source pipeline for the gathering and processing of video data and the creation of a comprehensive corpus of 21st-century video speeches delivered by heads of state.

Digital Transformation of CRC Screening: Revolutionizing Access and Saving Lives

Lead PI: Aldenise Ewing (College of Public Health)
Co-PIs: Subhankar Chakraborty, Emre Sezgin (College of Medicine)
Project description: This project targets low CRC screening rates by adapting CARES into a digital platform. Collaborative co-design and usability testing will ensure a user-centered intervention. This project paves the way for a future R01, advancing the goal of reducing CRC disparities with digital health solutions.

Transforming watermelon rinds into a functional food

Lead PI: Yael Vodovotz (College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences)
Co-PIs: Osvaldo Campanella (College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences); Thomas Knobloch (College of Public Health)
Project description: This transdisciplinary team is proposing to ferment watermelon rind followed by extrusion processing to transform this waste product into a highly nutritious functional food while diverting this waste from the landfill. The process will be modeled by Triple Bottom Line to assure sustainable practices

Treatment-Related Cardiotoxicity Prevention in Breast Cancer Patients in Active Treatment: Patients Journey Map and Their Interaction with A Smart Speaker-Based Voice Assistant

Lead PI: Weidan Cao (College of Medicine)
Co-PIs: Jingbo Meng (College of Arts and Sciences); Daniel Addison (College of Medicine)
Project description: There is a critical need to define early detection and prevention strategies to reduce the cardiotoxic events due to anti-cancer therapies. This team will conduct a patient journey map among breast cancer patients and conduct an explorative study on the patients’ interaction with a smart speaker.

Utilizing a mitochondria-targeting small molecule as a therapeutic for neuronal restoration and protection in neurodegenerative disease

Lead PI: Russell Lonser (College of Medicine)
Co-PIs: Luis Bonet-Ponce, Anthony Otero, Victor Van Laar (College of Medicine)
Project description: There is a clinical need for a disease-altering therapy in neurodegenerative Parkinson's that can address disease throughout the body. This team has identified a potential candidate, a small molecule that targets the mitochondria that exhibits neuroprotective properties, that will be evaluated.

Artificial Intelligence for Pre-operative Prediction of Prolonged Air Leak After Pulmonary Resection

Lead PI: Peter Kneuertz (College of Medicine)
Co-PIs: Christopher Davis, Robert Merritt (College of Medicine)
Project description: This multidisciplinary study involves Thoracic Surgery, Radiology and Computer Science to tackle a common clinical problem. The team aims to develop a novel prediction model for postoperative air leaks after lung surgery leveraging artificial intelligence trained imaging analysis using routine CT scans.

Fall 2024 Accelerator Grant Awardees

Engineering crops that are resilient to climate change through regulation of cellular RNA metabolism

Lead PI: Jyan-Chyun Jang (College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences)
Co-investigators: Venkat Gopalan (College of Arts and Sciences); Michael Kearse (College of Medicine)
Project description: The goal of the proposed work is to gain new insights into fundamental mechanisms pertaining to RNA turnover in plants, knowledge that is central to improving crop yield and fitness, which in turn is a critical advance necessary to establish global food security.

Leveraging in vivo recording of neuronal activity to understand developmental dynamics of behavioral flexibility in health and disease

Lead PI: Laurence Coutellier (College of Arts and Sciences)
Co-investigators: Ashley Ingiosi and Jason Wester (College of Medicine)
Project description: This project will use innovative in vivo recording tools in rodents to provide new insights on the developmental events occurring in the adolescent brain in health and disease. It will also position Ohio State at the forefront of some of the most innovative tools currently used in neuroscience.

A biochemical mechanism for nutrient competition within the human gut microbiota

Lead PI: Darryl Wesener (College of Arts and Sciences)
Co-investigators: EmmanouilChatzakis (College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences); Arpad Somogyi (Enterprise for Research, Innovation, and Knowledge)
Project description: Dietary polysaccharides (fiber) impact human gut microbiota structure and function. Understanding how bacteria compete or cooperate for nutrients will enable manipulation of the microbiota to improve human health. We discovered a metabolite class that we hypothesize prevents theft between bacteria.

Integrating field and laboratory studies for influenza virus zoonotic risk assessment

Lead PI: Cody Warren (College of Veterinary Medicine)
Co-investigators: Andrew Bowman (College of Veterinary Medicine); Mark Peeples (College of Medicine)
Project description: There is an urgent need to identify influenza viruses of high risk for zoonosis. We describe an integrated approach that combines field surveillance and experimental virology to identify potential pandemic threats. Early detection will be essential for effective control and reducing disease risk.

Microbial metabolites stimulate the enteroendocrine cell pregnane X receptor to promote incretin hormone secretion

Lead PI: Lihua Ye (College of Medicine)
Co-investigators: Devin Peterson (College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences); Lufang Zhou (College of Medicine)
Project description: The incretin hormones secreted from the enteroendocrine cells (EECs) are critical in regulating insulin secretion and metabolic homeostasis. The proposed project will test a novel mechanism by which gut microbiota stimulate EECs to promote incretin hormone release and alleviate diet-induced diabetes.

Deep Transfer Learning for Precise Human Surgical Margin Assessment using OCT Images from Canine

Lead PI: Ping Zhang (College of Medicine)
Co-investigators: Joel Mayerson (College of Medicine); Laura Selmic (College of Veterinary Medicine)
Project description: Soft tissue sarcoma (STS) is a life-threatening condition for humans, and incomplete surgical removal is a serious clinical problem. We will develop an AI tool that could be used to augment real-time OCT surgical margin assessment for clinicians, which will help cut down the recurrence of STS.

The role of retinal glial cells in neuroprotection after repetitive head injury

Lead PI: Andrew Sas (College of Medicine)
Co-investigators: Stacey Choi and Nathan Doble (College of Optometry); Kris Martens (College of Medicine)
Project description: This proposal will use a combination of patient based advanced ocular imaging to evaluate the presence of gliosis in patients with repetitive head injury combined with molecular exploration in a rat model of repetitive head injury the role of astrocyte and microglial activation in neuroprotection.

Analyzing Changes in Sports in Society and Adults’ Lives Since Pre-pandemic Times: Initial Piloting for The National Sports and Society Survey, Wave II

Lead PI: Christopher Knoester (College of Arts and Sciences)
Co-investigators: Dawn Anderson-Butcher and Samantha Bates (College of Social Work); Leann Lower-Hoppe (College of Education and Human Ecology)
Project description: This proposal seeks to leverage landmark 2018-19 survey data from 3,993 US adults. We seek to conduct initial piloting that will re-engage original respondents, offer essential evidence of attrition and respondent characteristics for Wave II interviews, and allow for new research opportunities.

Quality-Of-Life (QoL) of Children with Concussion- and Non-Concussion-Related Binocular Vision, Accommodative, and Tracking (BVAT) Disorders and Development of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) using Qualitative Inquiry

Lead PI: Marjean Kulp (College of Optometry)
Co-investigators: Drew Duerson (College of Medicine); Penny Pasque (College of Education and Human Ecology)
Project description: The long-term goal of this study is to develop a validated, comprehensive, technologically advanced patient-reported outcome measure to assess the impact of eye teaming and focusing problems in children with or without concussion for use in clinical trials, health disparities research, and practice.

2023 Accelerator Grant Awardees

Uncovering a conserved role of cell polarity signaling in cellular aging using budding yeast and hematopoietic stem cell models

Lead PI: Hay-Oak Park (Arts and Sciences)
Co-investigators: Brad Blaser (Medicine) and Yoonkyung Lee (Arts and Sciences)
Research topical area: cellular aging, cell asymmetry
Project description: This proposal explores the interplay between conserved cell polarity signaling and aging by single-cell imaging and single-cell transcriptomics. Through the team’s interdisciplinary expertise, the project will address how Cdc42 and its effectors control lifespan in yeast and hematopoietic stem cells.

High-throughput screening of FDA-approved drug collection that enhances WFS1 against Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias

Lead PI: Hongjun Fu (Medicine)
Co-investigators: Blake Peterson (Pharmacy) and Meng Wu (Health Sciences)
Research topical area: Alzheimer's disease, drug discovery
Project description: The project will describe and validate a phenotypic screening strategy to identify small molecules that enhance the level of human WFS1 and consequently promote tau clearance. The candidate small molecules or FDA-approved repurposed drugs will be further validated and modified for the treatment of AD and ADRD.

Accelerated brain aging and pathology following head trauma in intimate partner violence

Lead PI: Jasmeet Hayes (Arts and Sciences)
Co-investigators: Julianna Nemeth, Rachel Ramirez (Public Health) and Jun Zhang (Medicine)
Research topical area: chronic brain injury and domestic violence
Project description: Head trauma from domestic violence is an understudied problem, despite the known link between traumatic brain injury and dementia. This study will use neuroimaging techniques to examine whether women with such head injuries show neurodegenerative pathology compared to those without head injury.

Biophysical action and RNAi activity of microRNA in the heart

Lead PI: Jidong Fu (Medicine)
Co-investigators: Kotaro Nakanishi (Arts and Sciences) and Vidu Garg (Medicine)
Research topical area: microRNA, biophysical modulation, heart disease
Project description: The team recently unveiled an evolutionarily-conserved novel biophysical action of microRNAs beyond the classical RNAi mechanism and the project will investigate the molecular mechanisms and specific physiological significance of the biophysical and RNAi actions of microRNA in heart development and diseases.

Novel gene therapy to prevent or reverse inner ear damage from noise and ototoxic chemotherapy

Lead PI: Eric Bielefeld (Arts and Sciences)
Co-investigators: Jerusha Naidoo and Yin Ren (Medicine)
Research topical area: gene therapy, hearing
Project description: oise- and cisplatin-induced hearing losses affect millions of people worldwide. This project will use a novel gene therapy approach to help protect the inner ear from noise or cisplatin damage and promote hearing recovery after injury.

The development of an Ovine model of thoracoabdominal endovascular aortic surgical repair (TEVAR)-induced spinal cord hypoperfusion and paralysis

Lead PI: Hamdy Elsayed-Awad (Medicine)
Co-investigators: Esmerina Tili, Ahmed Aly (Medicine) and Brad Youngblood (Veterinary Medicine)
Research topical area: paralysis, spinal cord injury
Project description: Aortic repair patients can suffer paraplegia after surgery. The lack of animal models of TEVAR and of spinal cord tissue from patients has limited the understanding of the molecular malfunctions leading to paralysis. This project will establish a model of TEVAR to discover and test future therapeutics.

ML-powered self-administered tool for early detection of cognitive impairment

Lead PI: Xia Ning (Medicine)
Co-investigators: ouglas Scharre (Medicine) and Kathy Wright (Nursing)
Research topical area: cognitive assessment, health disparities
Project description: The goal is to develop a novel and translational tool for a more accurate, early-stage prediction of individuals who are developing cognitive impairments, and make it accessible to and useful for all individuals, including those socioeconomically disadvantaged, AD-vulnerable populations.

Determining the role of microglial cells in the progression of traumatic brain injury

Lead PI: Cole Vonder Haar (Medicine)
Co-investigators: Jonathan Godbout, Olga Kokiko-Cochran (Medicine) and Kathryn Lenz (Arts and Sciences)
Research topical area: brain injury, RNA sequencing
Project description: This project will use single nucleus RNA sequencing to determine the transcriptional profile of neurons after traumatic brain injury. The team will directly manipulate microglial cells after brain injury, a potential contributor to chronic neural dysfunction and neuropsychiatric impairments.

2022 Accelerator Grant Awardees

Targeting Ethylene Signaling to Condition Crop Resistance to Geminiviruses

PI: David Bisaro, College of Arts and Sciences
Co-investigators: Adriana Dawes, College of Arts and Sciences; David Mackey, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
Project description: Crop losses caused by geminiviruses exacerbate the global issue of food security. By elucidating mechanisms by which the plant hormone, ethylene, conditions geminivirus resistance, and interacts with other host defense pathways, this project will inform rational strategies to build resistant plants.

Determining primary splicing changes in Spinal Muscular Atrophy

PI: Arthur Burghes, College of Medicine
Co-investigators: Guramrit Singh, College of Arts and Sciences; Anton Blatnik, College of Medicine
Project description: SMN-deficiency in Spinal Muscular Atrophy reduces assembly of spliceosome components. How this leads to motor neuron loss is unknown. This project proposes to use a spliceosome footprinting approach to zoom in on altered splicing events to identify genes sensitive to SMN-deficiency.

Development of nanobody-based protein degraders targeting misfolded proteins in neurodegenerative diseases

PI: Nam Chu, College of Medicine
Co-investigators: Nhat Le, College of Medicine; Dehua Pei, College of Arts and Sciences
Project description: Neurodegenerative diseases are caused by protein misfolding. This proposal aims at developing a novel selective protein degrader targeting misfolded proteins in human iPSC-derived CNS cell models. This work is fundamental to identifying new therapeutic opportunities for neurological disorders.

Cis-inhibition of Notch pathway activity in development and disease: Identification and analysis of novel ligand receptor interactions

PI: Susan Cole, College of Arts and Sciences
Co-investigators: Tom Magliery, College of Arts and Sciences; David Carbone, College of Medicine; Christopher Lucas, College of Engineering
Project description: The researchers have identified unrecognized roles for the Notch ligand DLL3 in modulating signaling in development and disease. This project will use developmental and cancer biology, biochemistry, and engineering approaches to study novel protein domains mediating receptor-ligand interactions in the Notch pathway.

Developing the ‘van der Waals’ vacuum as a host for quantum bits

PI: Jay Gupta, College of Arts and Sciences
Co-investigators: David McComb, College of Engineering; Shamsul Arafin, College of Engineering
Project description: There is a broad search for new hosts that protect quantum bits from electromagnetic noise and can be incorporated into devices. This project proposes a novel approach based on rare gas solids that may offer the best possible protection, in a 2D materials platform that also allows device nanofabrication.

Small Molecule Inhibitors for Directed Targeting of BET/Brd4 Extra-Terminal Domain as a Novel Cancer Therapeutic

PI: Ross Larue, College of Medicine
Co-investigators: Tom Li and Mitch Phelps, College of Pharmacy; Mark Foster, College of Arts and Sciences
Project description: Brd4, a transcriptional activator, is strongly associated with cancer and has been traditionally targeted with bromodomain inhibitors. The researchers have developed novel small molecule inhibitors which specifically target the ET domain, potentially overcoming dose limiting toxicities of bromodomain inhibitors.

Developing a Transformative Social-Emotional Learning Program for Adolescents

PI: Tzu-Jung Lin, College of Education and Human Ecology
Co-investigators: Thomas Bihari and Leon Madrid, College of Engineering; Jodi Ford, College of Nursing
Project description: A novel social-emotional learning intervention called Mindfulness-based Collaborative Social Reasoning (MBCSR) for middle school students will be developed to establish its instructional, technological, and assessment frameworks. Researchers will field-test MBCSR for its short-term efficacy.

Discovery of Novel Therapeutic Targets to Improve Health span after Spinal Cord Injury

PI: Dana McTigue, College of Medicine
Co-investigators: Richard Bruno and Rachel Kopec, College of Education and Human Ecology; Jie Gao, College of Medicine
Project description: The researcher’s work shows the liver’s response to spinal cord injury (SCI) impairs recovery in rodents. In this project, the researchers will use multi-omics approaches to determine pathological gene and lipid changes that are feasible candidates for impairing recovery, with the goal of discovering testable therapeutic targets.

Artificial intelligence-driven development of novel chemical tools for controlling mosquito disease vectors

PI: Peter Piermarini, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
Co-investigators: Liva Rakotondraibe and Xiaolin Cheng, College of Pharmacy
Project description: The proposed transdisciplinary research will use an innovative artificial intelligence (AI) approach to accelerate development of novel, plant-derived chemical tools for controlling mosquito vectors of devastating diseases (e.g., malaria, dengue fever, and Zika virus).

A Feasibility Pilot Study to Reduce the Intergenerational Transmission of Obesity to Children of Parents Undergoing Bariatric Surgery

PI: Keeley Pratt, College of Education and Human Ecology
Co-investigators: Alicia Bunger, College of Social Work; Chris Taylor and Bradley Needleman, College of Medicine
Project description: Children of parents with severe obesity who have bariatric surgery are at high risk of developing obesity and disordered eating behaviors. This project will compare the early effects of two interventions (parent-only vs parent and child), integrated into routine preoperative care for parents and their children.

What lies beneath: Using microsporidian parasites to control mosquito breeding in stormwater catch basins.

PI: Sarah Short, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
Co-investigators: Ryan Winston, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; and Risa Pesapane, College of Veterinary Medicine
Project description: Mosquitoes transmit multiple human pathogens which cause hundreds of millions of disease cases each year. This project will test whether microsporidian parasites could be used for effective mosquito control in storm water catch basins, which are prime breeding sites in cities around the world.

Engineering durable disease resistance in plants by exploiting a novel host protein

PI: Guo-Liang Wang, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
Co-investigators: Venkat Gopalan, College of Arts and Sciences; Charles Bell, College of Medicine
Project description: Reducing the use of chemical pesticides for plant disease control is a key challenge in sustainable agriculture. The researchers describe an innovative strategy that leverages a host protein to enhance immunity of a staple crop and confer protection to fungal/bacterial pathogens without application of chemicals

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Accelerate Life-Saving 911 Care

PI: Henry Wang, College of Medicine
Co-investigators: Ashish Panchal and Travis Sharkey-Toppen, College of Medicine; Rajiv Ramnath, College of Engineering
Project description: Each year there are over 240M calls to 911 for emergency help. This project aims to transform the 911 process, applying a trained artificial intelligence system to accelerate the identification of life-threatening conditions, and set the stage for a prototype real-time decision support system.

Towards a Conversational Assistant for Patient Prep

PI: Michael White, College of Arts and Sciences
Co-investigators: Douglas Danforth, College of Medicine; William Schuler, College of Arts and Sciences
Project description: In this proposal, the researchers aim to take initial steps towards developing an automated conversational assistant that can help patients properly prepare for procedures. The project will conduct a pilot study and evaluate baseline neural models to develop preliminary results for a planned NSF proposal.

Fair Machine Learning Adaptable to Deployment Environments in Healthcare

PI: Xueru Zhang, College of Engineering
Co-investigators: Ping Zhang and Jeffrey Caterino, College of Medicine
Project description: This project develops a framework for learning fair machine learning models in healthcare. The trained models can improve health equity and are adaptable to various deployment environments and real-world clinical settings, further facilitating the practical use of machine learning in healthcare.

2021 Accelerator Grant Awardees

Development of cost-effective strategies for preparing a nanoparticle-based oral Salmonella vaccine and perform its evaluation under commercial poultry settings

Lead PI: Renukaradhya Gourapura, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Co-investigators: Brian Ahmer, College of Medicine; Lisa Bielke, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Project description: Salmonella is the leading foodborne zoonotic bacterial pathogen. To effectively reduce Salmonella colonization in birds and mitigate food poisoning, development of a potent and safe drinking water deliverable Salmonella vaccine for mass vaccination of poultry flocks is warranted.

Enhanced Glioblastoma Subpopulation Classification Based on Label-Free ECM Binding

Lead PI: Aleksander Skardal, College of Engineering
Co-investigators: Zachary Shultz, College of Arts & Sciences; Monica Venere, College of Medicine
Project description: Glioblastoma (GBM) continues to suffer from poor prognosis and survival. We will re-characterize GBM cell populations based on cell interactions with their 3D physical environment. This new classification enables opportunities for a new class of target identification and treatment strategies.

Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Food Security in Under-Resourced Arid Regions

Lead PI: Joachim Moortgat, College of Arts & Sciences
Co-investigators: Leah Bevis, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Ian Howat, College of Arts & Sciences; Han-Wei Shen, College of Engineering
Project description: Many under-resourced regions whose food security is vulnerable to climate change are underrepresented by data. We aim to develop new AI to automatically extract such data from petabytes of ultrahigh resolution satellite imagery, which will be a game changer in informing new food security strategies.

Visual Function and Nighttime Driving Performance in Drivers Aged 65 or Older

PI: Jingzhen Yang, College of Medicine
Co-investigators: Deyue Yu, College of Optometry; Thomas Kerwin, Office of Academic Affairs
Project description: Drivers over 65 years old are at a high risk for fatal nighttime crashes. Age-related anatomical and functional changes in vision is a significant risk factor. This study will examine the effects of mesopic visual function on night driving ability in older drivers using a high-fidelity driving simulator.

The Role of Bone Health in Psychological Stress

PI: Do Gyoon Kim, College of Dentistry
Co-investigators: Beth Lee, College of Medicine; John Sheridan, College of Dentistry
Project description: Clinical cases show that psychological stress increases bone loss. Thus, the current project is to determine whether psychological stress and bone loss are mechanistically linked, and whether each condition exacerbates the other due to the central role of inflammatory immune cells in both processes.

Accelerating new muscular dystrophy treatments using a zebrafish disease model

PI: Sharon Amacher, College of Arts & Sciences
Co-investigators: Kevin Flanigan and Martin Haesemeyer, College of Medicine
Project description: We will address a common roadblock in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) - how to go from gene identification to function. We will combine the power of GWAS with model organism genetics to evaluate candidate genes and pathways as targets for future development of muscular dystrophy therapies.

Next-Generation Liquid Electrolytes for Extreme Li-ion Batteries

PI: Yiying Wu, College of Arts & Sciences
Co-investigators: Jung Hyun Kim and Lisa Hall, College of Engineering
Project description: This proposal is to develop novel liquid electrolytes that can operate under extreme conditions of high voltage, wide operation temperature, and fast charging for marked improved performance and safety of Li-ion batteries in the field of transportation, consumer electronics, and space mission.

Examining the Role of Physical Fitness in Cognitive and Brain Health of Ohio Senior Olympians

PI: Scott Hayes, College of Arts & Sciences
Co-investigators: William Kraemer, College of Education and Human Ecology; Anne Kloos and Deborah Kegelmeyer, College of Medicine
Project description: Age-related reductions in fitness, mobility, and strength have been linked to cognitive and brain decline. The goal of this study it to identify which modifiable physical attributes are most strongly linked to memory and brain health, with a long-term goal of mitigating cognitive and neural decline.

Novel mechanisms of intercellular communication in cancer pathogenesis

PI: Dario Palmieri, College of Medicine
Co-investigators: Heather Shive and Alexander Davies, College of Veterinary Medicine
Project description: Cancer cells "communicate" with normal cells to create the most favorable conditions for their growth. This proposal aims at generating and characterizing unique zebrafish models to identify cancer specific mediators of cellular communication with a critical role in tumorigenesis.

Selective conversion of methane to methanol using hemoglobin encapsulated in porous materials

PI: Nicholas Brunelli, College of Engineering
Co-investigators: Andre Palmer, College of Engineering; Christine Wade, College of Arts & Sciences
Project description: We will use zeolitic imidazolate framework to encapsulate hemoglobin to use as a catalyst for the selective conversion of methane to methanol. Using advanced spectroscopy, we will investigate the oxidation state of the iron atom in the hemoglobin during each step of the catalytic cycle.

Novel Minimally Invasive Strategies to treat Chronic Low Back Pain

PI: Devina Purmessur (Walter), College of Engineering
Co-investigators: Natalia Higuita-Castro, College of Engineering; Safdar Khan, Olga Kokiko-Cochran and Candice Askwith, College of Medicine
Project description: There is a critical need for non-addictive strategies to treat chronic low back pain given its socio-economic burden and gateway to opioid use. Our goal is to establish minimally invasive gene delivery strategies using engineered extracellular vesicles that target peripheral neurons in back pain.

Peering into Alien Worlds: A Synergistic Astronomical, Geochemical, and Laser Engineering Approach to Explore the Habitability of Terrestrial Planets

PI: Ji Wang, College of Arts & Sciences
Co-investigators: Enam Chowdhury, College of Engineering; Wendy Panero and Jennifer Johnson, College of Arts & Sciences
Project description: What makes a terrestrial planet habitable? Using a synergistic astronomical, geochemical, and laser CoE approach, we will develop the methodology needed to understand the habitability of terrestrial exoplanets and prepare for external funding opportunities that would support these efforts.

Development of novel targets for preventing mechanically induced injury in lung fibrosis patients

PI: Megan Ballinger, College of Medicine
Co-investigators: Samie Ghadiali, College of Engineering; Arunark Kolipaka, College of Medicine
Project description: Injury to the lungs cause scars, also known as pulmonary fibrosis, and this damage makes it difficult to breath. Although mechanical ventilation provide needed support, it can also cause additional injury to the lungs. New models are needed to develop therapeutics that can the prevent lung damage.

In-Situ 3D Printing of Wireless Medical Implants

PI: Asimina Kiourti, College of Engineering
Co-investigators: David Hoelzle and Jinghua Li, College of Engineering; Desmond D'Souza, College of Medicine
Project description: A major obstacle in the widespread adoption of wireless implants is the invasive process of placing them into the body. In a major leap forward, we propose a novel approach for 3D-printing wireless implants in-situ using a robotic material delivery probe that enters the body via a minor incision.

Relationship between diet, microbiome and SIV in wild and captive sooty mangabeys

PI: Vanessa Hale, College of Veterinary Medicine
Co-investigators: William McGraw and Tessa Cannon, College of Arts & Sciences; Yael Vodovotz, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Project description: S. mangabeys are primary source for inquiry of AIDS pathogenesis with little data on oral and gut microbiome alterations by natural diet or viral load. This project aims to identify a non-invasive method for SIV infection status and compare gut and oral microbiota of wild and captive mangabeys with or without SIV.

AI-Powered Green Synthesis Pathway Planning for Drug Manufacturing

PI: Xiaoxue Wang, College of Engineering
Co-investigators: Huan Sun, College of Engineering; Xia Ning, College of Medicine
Project description: We propose an AI platform that suggest synthesis pathways with green chemistry considerations for drugs. Our work will support the manufacturing of newly-designed drugs without known synthesis pathways, and optimize existing manufacturing processes to maximize profits and avoid safety risks.

Energy Efficient On-demand Delivery Services (EODS)

PI: Qadeer Ahmed, College of Engineering
Co-investigators: Christopher Atkinson, College of Engineering; Desheng Liu, College of Arts & Sciences
Project description: We aim to address the inherent energy inefficiency of on-demand parcel and grocery delivery services (ODS), as practiced today. This approach will improve the energy efficiency of urban mobility by predicting delivery demand, improving freight and vehicle routing, reducing deadheading and enhancing.

Synthesizing Evidence on Tobacco Control Using Deep Learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) Methods

PI: CE Shang, College of Medicine
Co-investigators: Theodore Wagener, College of Medicine; Jian Chen and John Fosler-Lussier, College of Engineering
Project description: This project will explore tools and algorithms in deep learning and natural language processing (NLP) methods to automatically identify, extract, and summarize textual and non-textual data from tobacco research journals, in regard to diverse study populations by age, gender, race/ethnicity, etc.

Local antioxidant release to prevent cataract after vitrectomy

PI: Katelyn Swindle-Reilly, College of Engineering
Co-investigators: Colleen Cebulla, College of Medicine; Heather Chandler, College of Optometry; Eric Miller, College of Veterinary Medicine
Project description: The role of antioxidant and oxygen concentrations in the vitreous will be studied to prevent oxidative damage in the eye. Biomimetic hydrogels with nanoencapsulated antioxidants are being explored to restore antioxidant levels after vitreous removal, potentially preventing cataract.

President's Research Excellence Program