Seven interdisciplinary Ohio State research teams have been awarded up to $50,000 each in Accelerator grants through the President’s Research Excellence (PRE) program in the spring cycle.
To date, 105 teams have been awarded nearly $9 million.
PRE Accelerator grants are reserved for small teams formed to pursue curiosity-driven, novel, high-risk and high-reward research.
The PRE program provides seed support to catalyze and accelerate multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary or convergent research teams pursuing external funding. Administered by the Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge (ERIK), the program awards up to $2.5 million per year through two tiers of grants.
Advancing extraterrestrial life detection methodologies: do micro-organisms live on ice core dust particles?
Lead PI: Emilie Beaudon (College of Arts and Sciences)
Co-investigator: Alex Michaud (College of Arts and Sciences)
Project description: The team proposes a novel and innovative study into the ability of microbial life to persist in the extreme conditions found in dust particles within ice, with implications for life on Mars. This highly interdisciplinary work will utilize Ohio State’s unique and global collection of ice cores.
Advancing immunotherapy for metastatic breast cancer using cannabidiol-loaded albumin-hitchhiking nanobodies
Lead PI: Ramesh Ganju (College of Medicine)
Co-investigator: Blaise Kimmel (College of Engineering)
Project description: The team aims to develop a novel Nanobody-Driven Albumin Hitchhiking system to enhance the delivery and efficacy of Cannabidiol in combination with anti-PD-L1 for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Thus, it will provide effective targeted immune or chemotherapies against aggressive breast cancer.
An AI-based method for remote detection of convulsive seizures using ambient WiFi signals - a proof of concept study
Lead PI: A. LeBron Paige (College of Medicine)
Co-investigator: Kannan Athreya (College of Engineering)
Project description: The team proposes an AI-based method of analyzing the ambient WiFi in an environment to identify the whole-body movements of convulsive seizures. This continuous, touchless and anonymous method of remote monitoring will allow prompt seizure recognition and potentially lifesaving rapid rescue response.
Co-designing fentanyl test strip instructions with Ohio residents: Meeting the need for clear and usable instructions
Lead PI: Janet Childerhose (College of Medicine)
Co-investigators: Soledad Fernandez (College of Medicine) and Fabienne Munch (College of Arts and Sciences)
Project description: This community-engaged project will address the needs of people who use drugs to have clear and usable instructions for fentanyl test strips. Clear and usable instructions will increase the likelihood that they will use test strips correctly in the real-world settings of drug use.
SEAMLESS: Self-Evolving Artificial Intelligence with Small Modular Nuclear and Renewable Energy for Load-Intensive, Efficient, Sustainable Datacenter Systems
Lead PI: Xiaorui Wang (College of Engineering)
Co-investigators: Mutaz Alshafeey and Carol Smidts (College of Engineering)
Project description: SEAMLESS deploys a self-evolving AI to optimize SMR–renewable microgrids for data centers. By integrating real-time data and long-term climate models, it ensures carbon reduction, cost efficiency and resilience against extreme weather and grid disruptions.
Tracking coastal security through geospatial satellite data and novel AI
Lead PI: Sudhir Sastry (College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
Co-investigator: Hari Subramoni (College of Engineering)
Project description: This project leverages AI and satellite imagery to map shallow water bathymetry, filling critical gaps left by traditional surveys. By integrating Earth and Computer sciences, the team aims to enhance maritime security, disaster response and climate resilience with scalable, high-resolution seabed mapping.
Use of nanopore sensing and atomic force microscopy to elucidate at single-molecule resolution the conformational plasticity of an RNA catalyst and a potential drug target
Lead PI: Venkat Gopalan (College of Arts and Sciences)
Co-investigator: Nuwan Bandara (Arts and Sciences) and Gunjan Agarwal (College of Engineering)
Project description: Using two cutting-edge approaches, the team will gain insights into how the structural features of RNAs dictate their rugged folding landscape and shape functional outcomes. Results from the project are expected to further understanding of biology and disease and design of therapeutics.