Eastern University

PUERTO RICO TESTSITE FOR EXPLORING CONTAMINATION THREATS (PROTECT)

APPLICATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL ALLOCATION OF HEERF UNDER CARES ACT, SECTION 18004(A)(1) AND 18004(C).

UNDER THE CARES ACT, THE UNIVERSITY WILL DISBURSE EMERGENCY STUDENT GRANTS FROM THE HIGHER EDUCATION EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND (HEERF).

ENGINEERED MATERIALS AND MATERIALS DESIGN OF ENGINEERED MATERIALS (EMMDEM)

NEW CA: COGNITIVE DISTRIBUTED SENSING IN CONGESTED RADIO FREQUENCY ENVIRONMENTS

PAWR PLATFORM POWDER-RENEW: A PLATFORM FOR OPEN WIRELESS DATA-DRIVEN EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH WITH MASSIVE MIMO CAPABILITIES

ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON CHILD HEALTH OUTCOMES IN PUERTO RICO (ECHO-PRO)

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY - CARES ACT HIGHER EDUCATION EMERGENCY RELIEF INSTITUTIONAL FUNDS

ENDOCANNABINOID ACTIVE SITES AS THERAPEUTIC TARGETS

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY - CARES ACT HIGHER EDUCATION EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND

SENTRY SOFT TARGET ENGINEERING TO NEUTRALIZE THE THREAT REALITY

RECIPIENT IS ALLOWED TO USE UP TO 50 PERCENT OF THE REMAINING CARES ACT FUNDS TO COVER ANY COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE DELIVERY OF INSTRUCTION DUE TO THE CORONA VIRUS.

MID-SCALE RI-1 (M1:IP): OBSERVATORY FOR ONLINE HUMAN AND PLATFORM BEHAVIOR

NEW COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT (DAC): TESTING & EVALUATION FOR SOLDIER-DEVICE TEAMING COMPATIBILITY, VULNERABILITY, AND DURABILITY IN EMERGENT SITUATIONS

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF ECOSYSTEM SCIENCE RESEARCH FACILITY AT NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY.

PAWR PLATFORM AERPAW: AERIAL EXPERIMENTATION AND RESEARCH PLATFORM FOR ADVANCED WIRELESS

PROGRAM IN MATERIALS, ADDITIVE AND SECURE MANUFACTURING, AND MULTISCALE MATERIALS ENGINEERING (3ME)

NSEC: CENTER FOR HIGH-RATE NANOMANUFACTURING

ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON CHILD HEALTH OUTCOMES IN PUERTO RICO (ECHO-PRO)

RELIEF FUNDS FOR STUDENTS UNDER THE CARES ACT

CENTER FOR TRANSLATIONAL CANCER NANOMEDICINE

EPISTORM: CENTER FOR ADVANCED EPIDEMIC ANALYTICS AND PREDICTIVE MODELING TECHNOLOGY

PAWR PLATFORM ARA: WIRELESS LIVING LAB FOR SMART AND CONNECTED RURAL COMMUNITIES

AN ENGINEERING RESEARCH CENTER FOR SUBSURFACE SENSING AND IMAGING SYSTEMS - CENSSIS

HAZARDOUS MATERIAL WORKER HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING (U45), COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT

NSF INCLUDES ALLIANCE: ENGINEERING PLUS (PARTNERSHIPS LAUNCHING UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENTS)

RESOLVING THE BOTTLENECK IN ANTIBIOTIC DISCOVERY

STRUCTURAL DETERMINANTS OF PIP2 REGULATION

THE GULF WAR ILLNESS CLINICAL TRIALS AND INTERVENTIONS CONSORTIUM (GWICTIC)

CB1 NEUTRAL ANTAGONISTS FOR ALCOHOL USE DISORDER

ADVANCED TERRAIN ANALYTICS TO SUPPORT TACTICAL SCALE PLANNING AND OPERATIONS OVER VARIED ENVIRONMENTS

VOTERS: VERSATILE ONBOARD TRAFFIC EMBEDDED ROAMING SENSORS

CCRI: GRAND: COLOSSEUM: OPENING AND EXPANDING THE WORLD'S LARGEST WIRELESS NETWORK EMULATOR TO THE WIRELESS NETWORKING COMMUNITY

SCALING DEEP TECH INNOVATION THROUGH INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS -ADVANCING U.S. LEADERSHIP IN CRITICAL AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES, INCLUDING SEMICONDUCTORS, ADVANCED MATERIALS, QUANTUM COMPUTING, AND ADVANCED MANUFACTURING, IS ESSENTIAL FOR NATIONAL SECURITY, LONG-TERM ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS, AND DOMESTIC JOB GROWTH. DEEP TECHNOLOGY STARTUPS PLAY A CENTRAL ROLE IN THIS LEADERSHIP, YET THEIR PROGRESS TOWARD COMMERCIALIZATION IS OFTEN HINDERED BY LIMITED ACCESS TO SPECIALIZED FABRICATION FACILITIES, PILOT-SCALE MANUFACTURING CAPABILITIES, COSTLY CAPITAL EQUIPMENT, AND INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY PARTNERS. THESE RESOURCES ARE INCREASINGLY CONCENTRATED IN TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED NATIONS OUTSIDE THE U.S., WHILE U.S. FOUNDERS FACE SIGNIFICANT BARRIERS IN IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL PARTNERS AND NAVIGATING FOREIGN INNOVATION ECOSYSTEMS. AS A RESULT, THE ABSENCE OF STRUCTURED, SECURE, AND STRATEGICALLY ALIGNED PATHWAYS TO VETTED INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES SLOWS THE TRANSLATION OF HIGH-IMPACT U.S. RESEARCH INTO DOMESTIC ECONOMIC VALUE. THIS PROJECT PILOTS AND EVALUATES A SCALABLE MODEL FOR STRATEGIC INTERNATIONAL DEEP TECH PARTNERSHIP FACILITATION WITH JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA, EXPANDING STRUCTURED ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES THAT ULTIMATELY STRENGTHEN THE U.S. INNOVATION BASE. THE EFFORT BEGINS WITH TARGETED BILATERAL WORKSHOPS THAT CONVENE U.S. STARTUP FOUNDERS, INCUBATOR LEADERS, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, AND CORPORATE PARTNERS ALONGSIDE COUNTERPARTS IN PARTNER NATIONS TO SURFACE COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITIES AND DOCUMENT AVAILABLE CAPABILITIES OF DIRECT RELEVANCE TO U.S. COMMERCIALIZATION GOALS. THE PROJECT ADDITIONALLY PROVIDES DIRECT SUPPORT TO U.S. DEEP TECH STARTUPS PURSUING PARTNERSHIPS WITH TAIWAN, SINGAPORE, JAPAN, AND SOUTH KOREA, SELECTED THROUGH A RIGOROUS TWO-STAGE REVIEW PROCESS ASSESSING TECHNICAL MERIT, PARTNERSHIP STRENGTH, COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL, AND FEASIBILITY. QUARTERLY REVIEWS, IN PERSON CONVENINGS, AND LONGITUDINAL DATA COLLECTION WILL GENERATE EMPIRICAL INSIGHTS INTO WHICH INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP STRUCTURES MOST EFFECTIVELY ACCELERATE U.S. TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT, REDUCE COMMERCIALIZATION RISK, AND SUSTAIN LONG-TERM COLLABORATION BENEFICIAL TO THE U.S.. OUTCOMES WILL BE SYNTHESIZED INTO REPLICABLE FRAMEWORKS AND DISSEMINATED BROADLY TO STRENGTHEN U.S. ENTREPRENEURIAL CAPACITY, ENHANCE STRATEGIC COMPETITIVENESS, AND ENSURE THAT EARLY-STAGE RESEARCH SUPPORTED BY U.S. TAXPAYERS IS TRANSLATED INTO DOMESTIC ECONOMIC AND NATIONAL SECURITY ADVANTAGE. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

CONTROL AND LEARNING ENABLED VERIFIABLE ROBUST AI (CLEVR-AI)

SCALABLE HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING REGIONAL EXTENSIONS

BIOENGINEERING TO MAP STRESS PROPAGATION IN CYTOSKELETON

NEW CO-OP: OPEN 6G: ORAN COMPLIANT OPEN-SOURCE PROTOCOL STACKS FOR SOFTWARIZED DYNAMIC NETWORKING AT THE EDGEE

AN INTRANASAL GDNF GENE THERAPY FOR OPIOID RELAPSE REDUCTION - THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO EFFECTIVE NON-OPIOID-BASED PHARMACOTHERAPIES FOR TREATMENT OF OPIOID USE DISORDER (OUD). CURRENT MEDICATION ASSISTED TREATMENTS DO NOT ADDRESS THE NEUROADAPTIVE CHANGES THAT PERPETUATE COMPULSIVE DRUG USE, LEAVING THE PRIMARY PATHOPHYSIOLOGY UNTREATED. THIS PROPOSAL WILL TEST A NOVEL, NON-OPIOID APPROACH FOR TREATMENT OF OUD DESIGNED TO CORRECT THE UNDERLYING DOPAMINE DEFICIENCY AND NORMALIZE THE REWARD DEFICIT, RESULTING IN REDUCED CRAVING AND A DECREASED RISK OF RELAPSE. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT AN INTRANASAL GLIAL CELL LINE-DERIVED NEUROTROPHIC FACTOR (GDNF) GENE THERAPY WILL CORRECT THESE DEFICITS AND PROMOTE LONG-TERM RECOVERY. WE WILL TEST INTRANASAL PLASMID DNA NANOPARTICLES (NPS) ENCODING GDNF IN A RAT MODEL OF OUD TO ASSESS WHETHER INCREASING BRAIN GDNF CAN REDUCE CRAVING AND PREVENT RELAPSE. IN THE UG3 PHASE OF THE PROJECT, AIM 1 WILL DETERMINE IF INTRANASAL ADMINISTRATION OF PGDNF NPS SUPPRESSES OPIOID CRAVING AND REINSTATEMENT IN A RAT SELF-ADMINISTRATION MODEL OF OUD. AIM 2 WILL DETERMINE IF INTRANASAL PGDNF NPS REDUCE THE DOPAMINE DEFICIENCY STATE IN THE MESOLIMBIC DOPAMINE REWARD SYSTEM IN THIS MODEL. IF BOTH OCCUR SIMULTANEOUSLY, THE LATTER MAY BE MECHANISTICALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FORMER. AIM 3 WILL BE LARGE ANIMAL DOSE-RESPONSE AND TIME COURSE STUDIES TO DETERMINE IF INTRANASAL NPS CAN GENERATE 2-3- FOLD INCREASES IN BRAIN GDNF IN NON-HUMAN PRIMATES (NHPS), AND TO SELECT A DOSE FOR A GLP TOXICOLOGY STUDY. THE MILESTONES FOR THE UG3 PHASE ARE AS FOLLOWS: IF ALL AIMS YIELD POSITIVE RESULTS, OR IF AIM1 AND 3 PRODUCE POSITIVE RESULTS, BUT NOT AIM 2, THE PROJECT WILL CONTINUE TO THE UH3 PHASE. (THE LATER OUTCOME WOULD INDICATE THAT THE APPROACH HAS THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL FOR OUD BUT NOT BY THE MECHANISM PROPOSED.) THE PROJECT WILL END AFTER THE UG3 IF AIM 2 YIELDS POSITIVE RESULTS BUT NOT AIM 1, WHICH WOULD MEAN CORRECTING THE DOPAMINE DEFICIT DOES NOT REDUCE RELAPSE POTENTIAL. IF BOTH AIMS 1 AND 2 YIELD NEGATIVE RESULTS, A HIGHER DOSE OF THE NPS WOULD BE TESTED TO SEE IF THIS COULD CORRECT THE DOPAMINE DEFICIENCY AND REWARD DEFICIT. FINALLY, THE PROJECT WILL END IF AIM 3 DOES NOT RESULT IN 2-FOLD INCREASES IN BRAIN GDNF SINCE THE APPROACH IS UNLIKELY TO SUCCEED IN HUMANS. IN THE UH3 PHASE OF THE PROJECT, THE FOLLOWING AIMS WILL BE PURSUED FOR A SUCCESSFUL IND APPLICATION: AIM 4. HOLD A PRE-IND MEETING WITH THE FDA TO DETERMINE WHICH IND-ENABLING STUDIES (ESPECIALLY THE GLP TOXICOLOGY PROTOCOL) WOULD BE NECESSARY FOR APPROVAL OF AN IND APPLICATION BY THE END OF UH3 FUNDING. AIM 5. DRAFT CLINICAL PROTOCOL FOR FDA TO DETERMINE IF GLP TOXICOLOGY STUDY DESIGN IS ADEQUATE. AIM 6. DESIGN GLP TOXICOLOGY STUDY AND SUBMIT FOR FDA APPROVAL. PREPARE GMP-GRADE NPS FOR THIS STUDY. AIM 7. PERFORM GLP TOXICOLOGY STUDY AND DNA BIODISTRIBUTION STUDY. AIM 8. SCALE UP PRODUCTION METHODS FOR MANUFACTURING OF PGDNF NPS UNDER GLP/GMP GUIDELINES. AIM 9. LOAD GDNF NPS INTO NASAL SPRAYER AND CONDUCT LONG-TERM STABILITY STUDIES. AIM 10. SUBMIT IND APPLICATION FOR A PILOT CLINICAL STUDY IN PATIENTS WITH OUD.

ASSISTANCE FOR COSTS AND OTHER LOSSES SUSTAINED BY THE INSTITUTION DUE TO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE DELIVERY OF INSTRUCTION, AND OTHER DISRUPTION OF CAMPUS OPERATIONS RESULTING FROM THE CORONAVIRUS.

PAWR PLATFORM COSMOS: CLOUD ENHANCED OPEN SOFTWARE DEFINED MOBILE WIRELESS TESTBED FOR CITY-SCALE DEPLOYMENT

TAS::89 0321::TAS NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY - DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL NON PT GROUP METAL ELECTROCATALYSTS FOR PEM FUEL CELL APPLICATIONS

CANNABINERGIC MEDICATIONS FOR METHAMPHETAMINE ADDICTION

NATIONAL DEEP INFERENCE FABRIC FOR VERY LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS -THE NATIONAL DEEP INFERENCE FABRIC THE NATIONAL DEEP INFERENCE FABRIC (NDIF) IS A RESEARCH COMPUTING PROJECT THAT WILL ENABLE RESEARCHERS TO CRACK OPEN THE MYSTERIES INSIDE LARGE-SCALE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) SYSTEMS. MODERN LARGE-SCALE AI SYSTEMS SUCH AS LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS HAVE SHOWN STRONG CAPABILITIES, PASSING A RANGE OF BENCHMARK TESTS IN MATHEMATICAL, MEDICAL, AND LEGAL REASONING. HOWEVER, BECAUSE LARGE-SCALE AI SYSTEMS ARE TRAINED AUTOMATICALLY USING MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF DATA?INSTEAD OF BEING DESIGNED LINE-BY-LINE BY A PROGRAMMER?THE INTERNAL WORKINGS OF THE CURRENT GENERATION OF AI ARE INSCRUTABLE TO HUMANS. UNDERSTANDING HOW THESE SYSTEMS WORK IS AN EMERGING SCIENCE. BUT PERFORMING SCIENCE ON THE INTERNALS OF SUCH LARGE-SCALE AI SYSTEMS REQUIRES SUBSTANTIAL COMPUTATIONAL RESOURCES THAT ARE NOT PRACTICAL AT INSTITUTIONAL SCALE, BECAUSE A PLATFORM REQUIRED TO STUDY THE DETAILED COMPUTATIONS OF AI DIFFERS FROM THE COMPUTING SYSTEMS USED FOR ORDINARY COMMERCIAL DEPLOYMENT OF AI. NDIF ADDRESSES THIS CRITICAL NEED BY PLANNING TO DEVELOP A UNIQUE NATIONWIDE RESEARCH COMPUTING FABRIC THAT ENABLES SCIENTISTS TO PERFORM TRANSPARENT AND REPRODUCIBLE EXPERIMENTS ON THE LARGEST-SCALE OPEN AI SYSTEMS, IN ORDER TO ADVANCE OUR NATION?S UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR CAPABILITIES, AS WELL AS THEIR LIMITATIONS, ROBUSTNESS, SAFETY ISSUES, AND IMPACTS ON HUMAN SOCIETY. LED BY NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NSF DELTA AI HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING CLUSTER AT THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR SUPERCOMPUTING APPLICATIONS, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, NDIF PLANS TO CONSIST OF THREE MAJOR COMPONENTS. (1) A NATIONWIDE HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING FABRIC HOSTING THE LARGEST OPEN PRETRAINED MACHINE LEARNING MODELS FOR TRANSPARENT DEEP INFERENCE. THIS NATIONAL DEEP INFERENCE FABRIC IS A UNIQUE COMBINATION OF GPU HARDWARE WITH THE CREATION OF A DEEP NETWORK AI INFERENCE SOFTWARE TO PROVIDE A REMOTELY-ACCESSIBLE COMPUTING RESOURCE FOR SCIENTISTS TO PERFORM DETAILED AND REPRODUCIBLE EXPERIMENTS ON LARGE AI SYSTEMS ON THE FABRIC. ONCE DEVELOPED, THE FABRIC WILL ALLOW MANY SCIENTISTS TO EFFICIENTLY AND SIMULTANEOUSLY SHARE THE SAME AI COMPUTING CAPACITY TO MAKE EFFICIENT USE OF RESOURCES. (2) A NOVEL OPEN-SOURCE RESEARCH SOFTWARE LIBRARY TO BE CREATED THAT ENABLES SCIENTISTS TO DEVELOP AND DEPLOY NEW RESEARCH METHODS ON AI MODELS BY CREATING INTERVENTION CODE THAT INSPECTS, MODIFIES AND CUSTOMIZES AI MODEL COMPUTATIONS. THIS LIBRARY WILL HELP ENABLES REPRODUCIBLE SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS TO BE DEFINED AND EXECUTED ON BOTH THE SHARED LARGE-SCALE FABRIC AND ON A SCIENTIST?S OWN SMALLER-SCALE COMPUTERS. (3) A NATIONWIDE TRAINING PROGRAM TO EQUIP RESEARCHERS AND STUDENTS IN EVERY PART OF THE COUNTRY TO UTILIZE NDIF TO UNLOCK CRITICAL RESEARCH PROBLEMS IN EVERY FIELD IMPACTED BY LARGE-SCALE AI. DEVELOPED TOGETHER WITH THE PUBLIC INTEREST TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY NETWORK, A CONSORTIUM OF 63 UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES, THE NDIF TRAINING PROGRAM WILL CONSIST OF ONLINE MODULES, COURSE MATERIALS, AND IN-PERSON WORKSHOPS HOSTED AT MULTIPLE SITES THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. IT WILL CREATE A NETWORK OF EXPERTS IN A RANGE OF FIELDS IMPACTED BY AI, PROVIDE EMBEDDED EXPERTISE WITHIN THEIR OWN INSTITUTIONS, AND HELP CREATE A NEXT-GENERATION WORKFORCE EQUIPPED TO UNDERSTAND AND HARNESS THE MECHANISMS AND CAPABILITIES OF THE SYSTEMS AT THE FOREFRONT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

ELECTROMAGNETIC RESEARCH IN THE STRAITS OF FLORIDA: OCEANOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE.

REGULATORY B CELLS IN THE AMELIORATION OF IMMUNE-MEDIATED PERIODONTAL DISEASE

ASSISTANCE TO STUDENTS SUBJECTED TO DISRUPTIONS OF CAMPUS OPERATIONS DUE TO COVID-19

SUPER-PERSISTENT CELLS AND THE PARADOX OF UNTREATABLE INFECTIONS

GUMI: NEW IN VITRO PLATFORMS TO PARSE THE HUMAN GUT EPITHELIAL-MICROBIOME-IMMUNE AXIS

NSEC: THE CENTER FOR HIGH-RATE NANOMANUFACTURING (CHN)

STUDENT PATHWAYS OPENING WORLD ENERGY RESOURCES (S-POWER)

MULTI-DISCIPLINARY PREPARATION OF NEXT GENERATION INFORMATION ASSURANCE PRACTITIONERS - RENEWAL

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY FLORIDA WATER SCIENE CENTER

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SOUTH FLORIDA SCIENCE CENTER

NEW; TITLE: TRAINING PROGRAM IN RADIOCHEMISTRY AND RADIOTRACER DEVELOPMENT; PI: ROBERT HANSON

POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING IN GENERAL PEDIATRIC AND PUBLIC HEALTH DENTISTRY AND DENTAL HYGIENE

RENEWAL: SFS @ NORTHEASTERN - A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY APPROACH

HIT-TO-LEAD DISCOVERY FOR SLEEPING SICKNESS VIA INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC PARTNERSHIP

MILLS COLLEGE UPWARD BOUND PROGRAM CONTINUATION

VERTEBRATE PRIMARY MOUTH FORMATION

DISCOVERING ANTIMICROBIALS ACTING AGAINST MDR PATHOGENS - ABSTRACT WE ARE EXPERIENCING AN ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE CRISIS (AMR), A DIRECT RESULT OF A DECLINE IN ANTIBIOTIC DISCOVERY. THE WHO DESIGNATED A LIST OF PRIORITY PATHOGENS, AND OF THESE, MDR GRAM- NEGATIVE ENTEROBACTERIACEAE (E. COLI, S. TYPHIMURIUM, KLEBSIELLA PNEUMONIAE, ENTEROBACTER), PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA, AND ACINETOBACTER BAUMANNII) ARE OF “CRITICAL PRIORITY”. THESE PATHOGENS ARE THE FOCUS OF THE PRESENT PROPOSAL AIMED AT DEVELOPING A PLATFORM FOR EFFICIENT DISCOVERY OF NOVEL ANTIMICROBIALS. THE FIELD ONCE ENJOYED A GOLDEN ERA OF DISCOVERY, FUELED MAINLY BY SCREENING OF SOIL ACTINOMYCETES. ALL MAJOR CLASSES OF BROAD-SPECTRUM ANTIBIOTICS ACTIVE AGAINST GRAM-NEGATIVE PATHOGENS WERE DISCOVERED BY THE 1960S. OVERMINING OF ACTINOMYCETES RESULTED IN THE COLLAPSE OF THE DISCOVERY PLATFORM. NOVEL ANTIBIOTICS DISCOVERED SINCE THEN ONLY ACT AGAINST GRAM-POSITIVE SPECIES. WE DEVELOPED METHODS TO ACCESS A BROADER RANGE OF BACTERIA, WITH A FOCUS ON UNCULTURED SPECIES THAT MAKE UP 99% OF TOTAL BIODIVERSITY. A NUMBER OF NOVEL COMPOUNDS CAME FROM THIS SOURCE, INCLUDING TEIXOBACTIN, REPRESENTING A NEW CLASS OF CELL- WALL ACTING COMPOUNDS WITHOUT DETECTABLE RESISTANCE (LING ET AL., 2015). TEIXOBACTIN IS UNDERGOING IND-ENABLING STUDIES; IT IS ALSO A NARROW-SPECTRUM COMPOUND. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP A PLATFORM FOR EFFICIENT DISCOVERY OF NOVEL ANTIMICROBIALS. THE MAIN PROBLEM IS THE ENORMOUS BACKGROUND OF TOXIC, AND TO A LESSER EXTENT, KNOWN COMPOUNDS. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT THE BOTTLENECK OF DEREPLICATION CAN BE RESOLVED BY DIFFERENTIAL SCREENING THAT DETECTS THE PRESENCE OF A PROMISING COMPOUND PRIOR TO DEREPLICATION. USING THIS APPROACH, WE RECENTLY DISCOVERED DAROBACTINS THAT HAVE A NOVEL SCAFFOLD AND TARGET THE ESSENTIAL OUTER MEMBRANE PROTEIN BAMA (IMAI ET AL., 2019), AND SEVERAL ADDITIONAL NOVEL COMPOUNDS. IN THE PROPOSED PROJECT, WE WILL DEVELOP AN ULTRA-HIGH THROUGHPUT SCREEN BASED ON ENCAPSULATING PRODUCING BACTERIA TOGETHER WITH DIFFERENT FLUORESCENTLY LABELED REPORTERS IN MICRODROPLETS CREATED IN A MICROFLUIDICS DEVICE. OUR PRELIMINARY DATA SHOW THAT SORTING DROPLETS CAN BE PERFORMED AT A RATE OF 106 A DAY, AND LEADS TO DETECTION OF PRODUCERS OF DESIRABLE ANTIMICROBIALS. WE WILL EVALUATE SEVERAL MODALITIES OF THIS SCREEN, AIMED AT DISCOVERING SELECTIVE AS WELL AS BROAD-SPECTRUM COMPOUNDS ACTING AGAINST GRAM-NEGATIVE BACTERIA; AND ANTI-PERSISTER COMPOUNDS. THE PLATFORM IS LIKELY TO BE OF USE TO THE FIELD OF ANTIBIOTIC DISCOVERY. LEADS THAT COME OUT OF THIS SCREEN WILL BE EVALUATED IN VITRO AND IN ANIMAL MODELS OF INFECTION. NOVEL LEADS THAT COME OUT OF THIS PROJECT WILL BE READY TO ENTER IND-ENABLING STUDIES.

AN ACCELERATED PATHWAY FROM ASSOCIATES TO MASTER'S DEGREE IN BIOTECHNOLOGY

NAME OF EFFORT: "GNOSYS: RAISING THE LEVEL OF DISCOURSE IN PROGRAMMING SYSTEMS" TYPE OF AWARD: COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT

UNDERSTANDING MEDIATING AND MODERATING FACTORS THAT DETERMINE TRANSFER OF WORKING MEMORY TRAINING

GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (GRFP)

AFFECT REGULATION AND BETA AMYLOID: MATURATIONAL FACTORS IN AGING AND AGE-RELATED PATHOLOGY

FULLY INTEGRATED ACOUSTO OPTICAL ELECTRONIC PHOTONIC SYSTEM FOR REAL TIME IN VIVO 3D PHOTOACOUSTIC IMAGING BY NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY AND SUBAWARDEES UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY AND MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL.ENDOSCOPIC AND INTRAVASCULAR PHOTOACOUSTIC IMAGING SYSTEMS THAT NAVIGATE THE BODY TO DIAGNOSE AND EVALUATE DISEASE ARE A KEY ELEMENT OF THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE ADDRESSING MALFUNCTION IN CANCER CARDIOVASCULAR AND OTHER DISEASE AREAS. AT PRESENT HOWEVER WIDE DEPLOYMENT OF THESE SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN LIMITED BY LOW IMAGING SPEED AND LARGE SIZE FREQUENTLY CAUSING POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS. EMERGING SYSTEMS ON THE OTHER HAND SUFFER FROM POOR IMAGE QUALITY DUE TO THEIR INHERENT LIMITATIONS OF LOW SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO AND SPATIAL RESOLUTION. TO ADDRESS THESE CORE LIMITATIONS WE NEED TO BREAK AWAY FROM THE CONVENTIONAL SCHEME OF RECORDING AND RELAYING PHOTOACOUSTIC SIGNALS USING ELECTRICAL ULTRASOUND TRANSDUCERS AND CABLES.WE PROPOSE A DISRUPTIVE APPROACH BASED ON ADVANCEMENTS IN MICROELECTRONICS NANOFABRICATION AND OPTIONS TO DEVELOP AN INNOVATIVE ELECTRONIC PHOTONIC PHOTOACOUSTIC IMAGING SYSTEM BASED ON ACOUSTO OPTIC DETECTION. THE SYSTEM CORE ELEMENT IS A MINIATURE PROBE IN WHICH PHOTOACOUSTIC WAVES FROM THE TISSUE OF INTEREST ARE DETECTED AND TRANSDUCED TO OPTICAL SIGNALS. THE RESULTING OPTICAL SIGNALS ARE ROUTED USING A DENSE OPTICAL FIBER BUNDLE TO A MODULE OUTSIDE THE BODY. THE MODULE EMBODIES APPLICATION SPECIFIC ELECTRONIC PHOTONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUITS AND COMPUTATIONAL ALGORITHMS FOR DATA DECODING AND PROCESSING. OUR UNIQUE DESIGN APPROACH WILL RESULT IN AN ALMOST ORDER OF MAGNITUDE REDUCTION IN PROBE AREA WITH A SIMULTANEOUS ORDER OF MAGNITUDE IMPROVEMENT IN SPATIAL RESOLUTION AT CLINICALLY RELEVANT DEPTHS OVER THE STATE OF THE ART.THE RESULT OF OUR EFFORT WILL BE A RADICALLY NEW MINIATURE OPTICAL PHOTOACOUSTIC IMAGING PLATFORM WITH ADVANCE IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION ALGORITHMS. SUCH A SYSTEM CAN TRANSFORM THE LANDSCAPE OF THE PHOTOACOUSTIC IMAGING FIELD BY PROVIDING REAL TIME HIGH CONTRAST VOLUMETRIC IMAGES THAT CAN ASSIST THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF WIDESPREAD DISEASES RANGING FROM CANCER TO VASCULAR DISEASES. THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF OUR TECHNOLOGY WILL HAVE BROAD SOCIETAL IMPACTS SINCE IT CAN PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES WITH LOW INVASIVENESS TO PERSONALIZE THERAPIES AND IMPROVE OUTCOMES FOR PATIENTS.

UNDERSTANDING GULF WAR ILLNESS: AN INTEGRATIVE MODELING APPROACH

AWARENESS AND LOCALIZATION OF EXPLOSIVE RELATED THREATS (ALERT)

INTERDISCIPLINARY EXPEDITIONARY CYBER RESEARCH

CENTER OF EXCELLENCE - CENTER FOR EXPLOSIVES (CER) CENTER LEAD

EFFECT OF METHODOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL VARIABILITY ON MOLECULAR PROFILING OF EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES IN CANCER DETECTION

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF CB2 RECEPTOR

ALERT - CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR EXPLOSIVES DETECTION MITIGATION AND RESPONSE

AWARENESS & LOCALIZATION OF EXPLOSIVES-RELATED THREATS (ALERT)

DEVELOPING HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTIONS PROGRAM

GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (GRFP) -THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF) GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (GRFP) IS A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE, FEDERAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. GRFP HELPS ENSURE THE VITALITY AND DIVERSITY OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING WORKFORCE OF THE UNITED STATES. THE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES AND SUPPORTS OUTSTANDING GRADUATE STUDENTS WHO ARE PURSUING RESEARCH-BASED MASTER'S AND DOCTORAL DEGREES IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) AND IN STEM EDUCATION. THE GRFP PROVIDES THREE YEARS OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR THE GRADUATE EDUCATION OF INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE DEMONSTRATED THEIR POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS IN STEM AND STEM EDUCATION. THIS AWARD SUPPORTS THE NSF GRADUATE FELLOWS PURSUING GRADUATE EDUCATION AT THIS GRFP INSTITUTION. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

THIS AWARD OF $3,841,000 IN CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED FY23 FEDERAL FUNDING WILL SUPPORT THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL CORAL REEF INSTITUTE (NCRI) AT NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY (NSU) INCLUDING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE; CREATION OF AN ADVISORY BOARD AND TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE; THE ESTABLISHMENT OF FORMAL COOPERATION MECHANISMS WITH LABORATORIES AT THE FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LEVEL, AS WELL AS WITH ACADEMIA; AND HIRING OF FIVE POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS AS WELL AS GRADUATE STUDENTS. UPON RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF NCRI THE PROPOSAL SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TARGET RESEARCH PROJECTS TO ACHIEVE THE FOLLOWING FIVE GOALS: 1. EVALUATE CHALLENGES RESULTING FROM UPSTREAM IMPACTS AND OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSES; 2. DEVELOP A DETECTION ALGORITHM FOR PREDICTION OF DISEASE HOTSPOTS IN THE CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC; 3. UNDERSTAND, MODEL, AND PREDICT OUTBREAKS AND LEGACY EFFECTS OF CORAL DISEASE EPIZOOTICS TO INFORM QUANTITATIVELY JUSTIFIABLE RESTORATION ACTION; 4. INVESTIGA

POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING IN GENERAL, PEDIATRIC AND PUBLIC HEALTH DENTISTRY AND DENTAL HYGIENE

PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE AMONG CLUB DRUG USERS

FIRST IN THE WORLD

AWARENESS & LOCALIZATION OF EXPLOSIVE-RELATED THREATS (ALERT)

COOPERATION AND ALIGNMENT OF SERVICES TO ENGAGE HISPANIC AND LOW INCOME TRANSFER AND NATIVE STUDENTS PURSUING HIGH INTEREST/HIGH DEMAND STEM FIELDS

GERIATRICS WORKFORCE ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM

ADVANCE INSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATION AWARD: ADVANCING WOMEN WITHIN INTERDISCIPLINARY AND INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS

MEDIATORS AND MODERATORS OF AUDITORY TRAINING - THIS PROPOSAL SEEKS TO UNDERSTAND MECHANISMS OF AUDITORY TRAINING (AT) AND POTENTIAL OF AT TO MITIGATE HEARING ISSUES THAT PROMOTE RISK OF DEVELOPMENT OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND RELATED DEMENTIAS (ADRD). REPORTS FROM THE LANCET COMMISSION (LIVINGSTONE AND COLLEAGUES, 2020), AND OTHERS, SHOW MIDLIFE HEARING LOSS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST PREDICTORS OF LATE-LIFE DEMENTIA, AND HEARING AIDS PROTECT AGAINST DEVELOPMENT OF ADRD. WHILE THIS HAS PROMOTED A PUSH FOR GREATER DISTRIBUTION OF HEARING AIDS, RESEARCH FROM GATES AND COLLEAGUES (2011) SUGGESTS THAT CENTRAL HEARING PROCESSES MAY BE GREATER PREDICTORS OF ONSET OF ADRD THAN PERIPHERAL HEARING (AS ADDRESSED THROUGH HEARING AIDS). CENTRAL AUDITORY PROCESSING ABILITIES ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO UNDERSTAND SPEECH, APPRECIATE MUSIC, AND SEPARATE COMPETING ENVIRONMENTAL SOUND SOURCES. HEARING CHALLENGES EXPERIENCED WITH INCREASING AGE, ESPECIALLY UNDERSTANDING SPEECH IN NOISY AMBIENT ENVIRONMENTS, CAUSE FRUSTRATION WITH INTERPERSONAL VERBAL COMMUNICATION AND DETRIMENTAL LONG-TERM EFFECTS ON FUNCTIONAL INDEPENDENCE, COGNITIVE ABILITIES, AND OVERALL QUALITY OF LIFE, INCLUDING INCREASED RISK FOR ADRD. NEVERTHELESS, DESPITE EXTENSIVE RESEARCH CONDUCTED ACROSS MULTIPLE FIELDS, CLINICIANS AND RESEARCHERS STILL DISAGREE ABOUT THE BEST WAYS TO ADDRESS THE DIVERSITY OF HEARING DIFFICULTIES INDIVIDUALS FACE THROUGHOUT THEIR LIVES. THE GUIDING PREMISE OF THE CURRENT PROPOSAL IS THE NEED FOR ROBUST AND RELIABLE DATA SETS TO CLARIFY THE UNDERLYING MECHANISMS OF AT AND TO IDENTIFY THE MEDIATORS AND MODERATORS THAT IMPACT TRAINING OUTCOMES. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL IS THAT BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF MECHANISMS OF AT, WITH FOCUS ON SPEECH IN COMPETITION, CAN ADDRESS THE MOST PREVALENT HEARING COMPLAINTS REPORTED BY PEOPLE AS THEY AGE, AND IN TURN MITIGATE TRANSITION TO ADRD. TO ADDRESS THIS, WE WILL RECRUIT A LARGE AND DIVERSE SAMPLE OF OLDER ADULTS, INCLUDING THOSE WITH PRODROMAL ADRD, AND A COMPARISON GROUP OF YOUNGER ADULTS (1260 PARTICIPANTS ACROSS TRAINING CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SEPARATE SAMPLES OF YOUNG AND OLDER ADULTS). WE WILL RESEARCH HOW BASELINE COGNITIVE AND HEARING MEASURES PREDICT TRAINING OUTCOMES (MODERATORS) AND HOW THESE INTERACT WITH TRAINING METHODS (MEDIATORS). TO ENHANCE RIGOR AND REPRODUCIBILITY, WE WILL RELEASE DATA SETS AND TRAINING/ASSESSMENT TOOLS TO ENABLE OTHER RESEARCHERS TO CONDUCT ANALYSES, REPLICATE OUR STUDIES, AND TEST THEIR OWN TRAINING METHODS USING COMMON OUTCOME MEASURES. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL ADDRESS FOUR SPECIFIC AIMS. AIM 1 – DETERMINE THE RELATIONSHIP OF STIMULUS COMPLEXITY AND AT OUTCOMES. AIM 2 – DETERMINE THE RELATIONSHIP OF AT TRAINING STRUCTURES AND AT OUTCOMES. AIM 3 – DETERMINE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS (MODERATORS) AND AT APPROACHES (MEDIATORS) ON TRAINING OUTCOMES. AIM 4 – CREATE AN AT PLATFORM THAT FACILITATES FAITHFUL REPLICATION AND MODELLING. THROUGH THE COLLECTION AND DISSEMINATION OF A LARGE, UNIQUE, AND COMPREHENSIVE DATASET, THIS PROPOSAL HAS POTENTIAL FOR TRANSFORMATIVE IMPACT BY CLARIFYING MODERATORS AND MEDIATORS OF AT, AND WILL AFFORD TRANSLATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE MITIGATION OF HEARING AND COGNITIVE DECLINE IN INDIVIDUALS WHO MAY BE AT RISK FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADRD.

MAKING OLIGONUCLEOTIDES BETTER BIOPHARMACEUTICALS BY STERIC PROTECTION

TAS::97 0400:: TAS CONTINUUM: FINDING SPACE AND TIME VULNERABILITIES IN JAVA PROGRAMS

CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON EARLY CHILDHOOD EXPOSURE AND DEVELOPMENT IN PUERTO RICO (CRECE)

EASTERN UNIVERSITY MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE PROFESSIONAL DEMONSTRATION (EU MHSP)

EPIGENETIC MARKS OF COCAINE ADDICTION

AWARENESS & LOCALIZATION OF EXPLOSIVE RELATED THREATS (ALERT)

ORALLY BIOAVAILABLE 4(1H)-QUINOLONES WITH MULTI-STAGE ANTIMALARIAL ACTIVITY

USING INFANT NON-NUTRITIVE SUCK AS A DIAGNOSTIC MEASURE OF FUTURE SPEECH FUNCTION - PROJECT SUMMARY PEDIATRIC FEEDING DISORDERS ARE ON THE RISE AND ARE PRESENT IN 20-50% OF TYPICALLY DEVELOPING CHILDREN (1-8) AND IN 33-80% OF CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY (9, 10). FURTHERMORE, INFANTS WHO ARE BORN PRETERM ARE PARTICULARLY AT-RISK FOR SUCKING AND FEEDING DIFFICULTIES (11, 12). EARLY NON-NUTRITIVE SUCK (NNS) – OR SUCKING WITHOUT NUTRIENTS BEING DELIVERED – AND FEEDING SKILLS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO BE RELIABLE INDICATORS OF CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (CNS) INTEGRITY (18). IN FACT, DELAYS IN SUCKING AND FEEDING HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN APPROXIMATELY 35-48% OF INFANTS WITH DIFFERENT TYPES OF NEONATAL BRAIN INJURY (18). SUCKING, FEEDING, SPEECH, AND LANGUAGE ALL DEVELOP IN PARALLEL IN THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE AND RELY HEAVILY ON SENSORIMOTOR INTEGRATION. HOWEVER, THE LINK BETWEEN SUCKING AND FEEDING SKILLS, CNS FUNCTION, AND DEVELOPMENT EXTENDS BEYOND THE NEONATAL PERIOD. EMERGING RETROSPECTIVE RESEARCH LINKS NEONATAL SUCKING AND FEEDING PATTERNS TO SUBSEQUENT SPEECH (13) AND LANGUAGE (14-17) DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD. ALTHOUGH THESE BEHAVIORS EMERGE ON A SIMILAR TIMELINE AND SHARE NEURAL RESOURCES AND MUSCULATURE, THEY ARE RARELY STUDIED TOGETHER AND THE LINKS BETWEEN THEM REMAIN UNKNOWN. WE PROPOSE A LONGITUDINAL STUDY TO SAMPLE NNS DATA AT 3, 6, 9, AND 12 MONTHS OF AGE AND SPEECH OUTCOMES AT 12, 24, AND 36 MONTHS OF AGE ACROSS FULL-TERM (N=85) AND MODERATE TO LATE PRETERM (32-37 WEEKS’ GESTATIONAL AGE; N=85) INFANTS. THE SPECIFIC GOALS OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH ARE AS FOLLOWS: (AIM 1) TO ESTABLISH TYPICAL PATTERNS OF NNS ACROSS INFANTS BORN FULL-TERM AND PRETERM IN THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE AND UTILIZE A FUNCTIONAL DATA ANALYSIS TO EXAMINE INFANTS’ NNS BURST WAVEFORMS, AND (AIM 3) TO DETERMINE THE ABILITY OF NNS TO PREDICT SUBSEQUENT SPEECH DEVELOPMENT ACROSS PRETERM AND FULL-TERM INFANTS UNTIL AGE THREE. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT INFANT SUCK WILL CHANGE SIGNIFICANTLY ACROSS THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE WITH INFANTS BORN PREMATURE PERFORMING WORSE ON THESE MEASURES COMPARED TO FULL-TERM INFANTS. IN ADDITION, WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT NEONATAL SUCK WILL PREDICT SPEECH DEVELOPMENT ACROSS PRETERM AND FULL-TERM INFANTS. THIS STUDY PROVIDES AN UNPRECEDENTED LEVEL OF POWER IN IDENTIFYING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN NEONATAL SUCKING AND SUBSEQUENT SPEECH EMERGENCE FOR SEVERAL REASONS: WE WILL USE OUR (1) INNOVATIVE, CUSTOM AND QUANTITATIVE NNS DEVICE TO SAMPLE SUCK ACROSS (2) TWO GROUPS OF INFANTS AND WILL (3) UTILIZE FUNCTIONAL DATA ANALYSES TO BETTER UNDERSTAND NNS DEVELOPMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR SPEECH DEVELOPMENT LATER IN LIFE. (4) WE WILL USE STANDARDIZED AND NON- STANDARDIZED APPROACHES TO LONGITUDINALLY STUDY SPEECH DEVELOPMENT, WHICH WILL ALLOW FOR A MORE ROBUST AND NUANCED UNDERSTANDING OF HOW NNS AND SPEECH ARE CONNECTED IN INFANTS AND CHILDREN. OVERALL, THIS PROJECT CAPTURES THREE YEARS OF IN-DEPTH ORAL MOTOR COORDINATION USING STATE-OF-THE-ART METHODS AND COLLABORATORS TO ANSWER IMPORTANT THEORETICAL QUESTIONS. RESULTS GENERATED BY THIS CLINICALLY RELEVANT AND THEORETICALLY DRIVEN STUDY WILL CREATE A PARADIGM SHIFT IN HOW CLINICIANS APPROACH FEEDING AND SPEECH THERAPIES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD.

DESIGN, CONTROL AND APPLICATION OF NEXT-GENERATION QUBITS

INTERPRETER TRAINING: NATIONAL INTERPRETER EDUCATION CENTER

A PROTOTYPE FLIGHT FOR THE GRAMS PROJECT

THE PURPOSE OF THIS AGREEMENT IS TO FUND RESEARCH SUPPORTING THE DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCYS DARPA OPTOMECHANICAL THERMAL IMAGING OPTIM PROGRAM. THIS EFFORT SHALL BE CARRIED OUT GENERALLY AS SET FORTH IN EXHIBIT B, RESEARCH DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT, DATED JUNE 9, 2023, AND IN THE RECIPIENTS, PROPOSAL TITLED, NANO OPTO MECHANICAL PIEZOELECTRIC RESONANT INFRARED SENSITIVE METAMATERIALS NPRIME FOR QUANTUM LIMITED PHOTODETECTION, DATED NOVEMBER 1, 2022, COPIES OF WHICH ARE IN THE POSSESSION OF BOTH PARTIES.

SYNTHETIC MRNA CONTROL SET FOR NANOPORE-BASED PSEUDOURIDINE MODIFICATION PROFILING IN HUMAN TRANSCRIPTOMES - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT MAMMALIAN CELLS EXPEND LARGE AMOUNTS OF ENERGY INTO GENERATING ENZYME-MEDIATED RNA CHEMICAL MODIFICATIONS THAT CAN CHANGE THE BASE-PAIRING, RNA STRUCTURE, OR RECRUITMENT OF RNA-BINDING PROTEINS, AMONG OTHER ELUSIVE ROLES. PSEUDOURIDINE ()-MODIFIED MRNAS ARE MORE THERMODYNAMICALLY STABLE, MORE RESISTANT TO RNASE-MEDIATED DEGRADATION, AND HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO MODULATE IMMUNOGENICITY AND ENHANCE TRANSLATION IN VIVO. HOWEVER, DETECTION IS EXTREMELY CHALLENGING: MODIFICATIONS DO NOT AFFECT WATSON-CRICK BASE PAIRING AND ARE INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM URIDINE WHEN USING HYBRIDIZATION-BASED METHODS. FURTHER, SINCE IS AN ISOMER OF URIDINE, DETECTION USING MASS SPECTROMETRY REQUIRES NON-QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL DERIVATIZATION METHODS. WHILE RECENT STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT RNA MODIFICATIONS CAN BE DETECTED THROUGH DIRECT RNA NANOPORE SEQUENCING BY MONITORING BASECALLING ERRORS, WE HAVE RECENTLY SHOWN THAT THE ACCURACY AND FIDELITY OF THIS APPROACH IS RELATIVELY LOW AND SEQUENCE DEPENDENT. OUR TEAM HAS RECENTLY USED A LIGATION APPROACH TO PRODUCE SYNTHETIC MRNA CONTROLS THAT CONTAIN SINGLE SITES WITHIN RELEVANT TRANSCRIPTS MAMMALIAN CELLS. USING THESE SYNTHETIC CONTROLS WE PERFORMED NANOPORE-BASED RNA SEQUENCING AND DEVELOPED COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS THAT INCREASE THE ACCURACY OF -CALLING TO 90+%, DEPENDING ON THE SPECIFIC SEQUENCE. WE ARE BASING OUR WORK ON OUR RECENT FINDING THAT ACHIEVING QUANTIFICATION REQUIRES SEQUENCE-SPECIFIC TRAINING USING UNIQUE SIGNAL PARAMETERS. THE INITIAL SUCCESS OF OUR TEAM HAS LAID THE FOUNDATION TO 1) GENERATE AN EXPANDED SET OF BARCODED SYNTHETIC RNA CONSTRUCTS THAT CONTAIN SINGLE SITES, 2) OBTAIN A RIGOROUS SET OF QUADRUPLICATE NANOPORE RUNS WITH ~50,000 SINGLE-MOLECULE READS PER CONSTRUCT, 3) DEVELOP COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS TO ALLOW HIGHLY ACCURATE SEQUENCE-SPECIFIC -CALLING. WE WILL DEVELOP A GOLD-STANDARD SET OF SYNTHETIC MRNA TRANSCRIPTS AS A TRAINING MOLECULAR SET FOR QUANTITATIVE PROFILING IN DIRECT RNA NANOPORE SEQUENCING OF HUMAN TRANSCRIPTOMES. THE MOLECULAR SET WILL ALLOW QUANTITATIVE PROFILING OF HUNDREDS OF PUTATIVE SITES ACROSS MAMMALIAN SAMPLES. THIS PROPOSAL WILL SERVE AN UNMET NEED BY ADDRESSING A CRITICAL BOTTLENECK: THE LACK OF AVAILABLE MODIFIED RNA MODIFICATION GOLD STANDARDS, I.E., RNA MOLECULES THAT CONTAIN A SITE-SPECIFIC AND STRUCTURE-SPECIFIC MODIFICATION. IN THIS COLLABORATIVE PROJECT WE WILL DEVELOP A COMPLETE PIPELINE FOR SYNTHESIS OF GOLD STANDARD MOLECULES; USE THESE MOLECULES TO MEASURE THE NANOPORE SIGNALS THAT MODIFICATIONS PRODUCE; DEVELOP A MACHINE-LEARNING TOOL TO ACCURATELY QUANTIFY THESE MODIFICATIONS; PROFILE SITE-SPECIFIC MODIFICATIONS IN VARIOUS CELL LINES TO OBTAIN -MAPS THAT CAN BE USED TO ASSESS RELATIONSHIPS OF MODIFICATIONS WITH PHENOTYPES.

CANCURE: CANCER NANOMEDICINE CO-OPS FOR UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCES

CARDIOPULMONARY RISK ASSESSMENT FROM SMOKE EXPOSURE AT THE WILDLAND URBAN INTERFACE - PROJECT SUMMARY ACUTE AND CHRONIC WILDLAND FIRE SMOKE INHALATION HAVE BEEN LINKED TO INCREASED MORTALITY AS WELL AS RESPIRATORY AND CARDIOVASCULAR MORBIDITY, THOUGH THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE FREQUENCY AND DURATION OF EXPOSURE OR THE CHEMICAL AND PARTICLE PROFILES OF THE SMOKE CONTRIBUTE TO THE OBSERVED HEALTH EFFECTS REMAINS UNKNOWN. AS THE OCCURRENCES OF WILDLAND FIRES AND NUMBER OF PEOPLE LIVING AT THE WILDLAND URBAN INTERFACE (WUI) CONTINUE TO INCREASE, PROLONGED INHALATION OF WILDLAND FIRE SMOKE POSES A SERIOUS THREAT TO PUBLIC HEALTH. DUE TO THIS, THERE IS AN URGENT NEED TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE ADVERSE CARDIOPULMONARY OUTCOMES ASSOCIATED WITH THE EXPOSURE TO WILDLAND URBAN SMOKE. THE SMOKE THAT ARISES FROM WILDLAND FIRES AT THE WUI IS A COMPLEX MIXTURE OF GASES, TRACE METALS, AND FINE AND ULTRAFINE PARTICLES. THE LATTER ARE PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS FOR HUMAN HEALTH, SINCE THEY DEPOSIT IN THE DEEP REGIONS OF THE LUNGS AND MAY TRANSLOCATE INTO THE BLOOD STREAM, INCREASING THE OXIDATIVE AND INFLAMMATORY BURDEN, BOTH LOCALLY AND SYSTEMICALLY. PROLONGED INFLAMMATION CAN LEAD TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF OBSTRUCTIVE LUNG DISEASE AND ATHEROSCLEROSIS. TO INVESTIGATE THE LINK BETWEEN EXPOSURE TO WUI SMOKE AND DEVELOPMENT OF CARDIOPULMONARY DYSFUNCTION, OUR INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM BRINGS TOGETHER EXPERTISE IN FIRE GENERATION AND CHARACTERIZATION, RODENT AEROSOL EXPOSURES, RESPIRATORY MECHANICS, LUNG BIOLOGY, AND CARDIOVASCULAR PHYSIOLOGY. TO FULFILL OUR GOALS, WE WILL CREATE LAB-SCALE SMOKE USING MATERIALS REPRESENTATIVE OF WUI REGIONS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND WE WILL DELIVER IT TO MICE. IN AIM 1, WE WILL INVESTIGATE THE ROLE OF FREQUENCY AND DURATION OF THE EXPOSURE, AS WELL AS PARTICULATE CONCENTRATION OF THE WILDLAND FIRE SMOKE. IN AIM 2, WE WILL FOCUS ON THE RELATIVE CONTRIBUTION OF DIFFERENT FUEL SOURCES CHARACTERISTIC OF THE WUI. FURTHERMORE, AS PART OF THIS ONES EARLY-STAGE-INVESTIGATOR PROJECT, THE PI AND CO-IS WILL GENERATE AN EXTERNAL ADVISORY PANEL CONSISTING OF INHALATION TOXICOLOGY RESEARCHERS, PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCATES, AND FIRE PROTECTION EXPERTS. DISSEMINATION OF NEW KNOWLEDGE GAINED FROM THIS PROPOSAL TO THE COMMUNITY WILL BE A VITAL PART OF THIS ENDEAVOR.

IMPACT OF LIPIDS ON COMPOUND ABSORPTION: MECHANISTIC STUDIES AND MODELING

MEDIATORS AND MODERATORS OF PERCEPTUAL LEARNING

YOGA, AEROBIC AND STRETCHING EXERCISE EFFECTS ON NEUROCOGNITIVE PERFORMANCE: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

A REDUCED COMPLEXITY CROSS IN BALB/C SUBSTRAINS TO IDENTIFY THE GENETIC BASIS OF OXYCODONE DEPENDENCE PHENOTYPES

NEW COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS BIOLOGY METHODS FOR MODELING GENE REGULATORY CIRCUITS

FLUMOD - CENTER FOR THE MULTISCALE MODELING OF PANDEMIC AND SEASONAL FLU PREVENTION AND CONTROL

DIRECT RNA SEQUENCING USING ELECTO-OPTICAL ZERO MODE WAVEGUIDES AND CUSTOM CLICK FLUORESCENT NUCLEOTIDES - ADVANCES IN GENOME TECHNOLOGIES USHERED IN VAST COST REDUCTIONS IN DNA SEQUENCING AND INCREASED READ LENGTHS, THE LATTER AFFORDED BY DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SINGLE-MOLECULE SEQUENCING TECHNOLOGIES. AS A RESULT, MUCH OF THE GENOME’S “DARK MATTER” HAS BEEN ELUCIDATED, AND HIGHER-QUALITY REFERENCE GENOMES WERE MADE AVAILABLE. IN ADDITION TO GENOME SEQUENCING, THESE SINGLE-MOLECULE METHODS HAVE ENABLED NEW APPLICATIONS FOR PROBING CHEMICAL MODIFICATIONS IN DNA, BY EITHER PROBING THE KINETICS OF SEQUENCING-BY-SYNTHESIS USING OPTICAL WAVEGUIDES, OR BY ELECTRICALLY DISTINGUISHING MODIFIED BASES USING NANOPORES. DESPITE PROGRESS, A CRITICAL BARRIER IN GENOMICS IS UNDERSTANDING THE ROLES OF RNA IN BIOLOGY, WHICH DEMANDS METHODS FOR QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF RNA MOLECULES IN A CELL. THE MYRIAD OF TYPES OF RNAS IN A CELL, THEIR DYNAMIC CHEMICAL MODIFICATIONS, AND THEIR ELABORATE STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY, ALL HINT AT A TREMENDOUS LEVEL OF REGULATION AND BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE. TRADITIONAL RNA SEQUENCING METHODS HAVE PRIMARILY RELIED ON CONVERSION TO COMPLEMENTARY DNA (CDNA) FOLLOWED BY CDNA SEQUENCING USING EITHER HIGH-THROUGHPUT SECOND-GENERATION METHODS OR THIRD GENERATION SINGLE-MOLECULE METHODS, THE LATTER OF WHICH OFFERS LONG READS. USING THESE METHODS, SOME RNA MODIFICATIONS CAN BE READ THROUGH PRIOR CHEMICAL FUNCTIONALIZATION OF THE RNA PRIOR TO CONVERSION TO CDNA (FOR EXAMPLE, M6A, PSEUDOURIDINE, A-TO-I EDITING, 1-METHYLURIDINE, AND DIHYDROURIDINE). HOWEVER, THE CHEMICAL REACTIONS INVOLVED IN THESE METHODS ARE NOT 100% QUANTITATIVE OR SPECIFIC, AND FURTHER, DETECTION IS OFTEN DONE THROUGH INCOMPLETE READS DUE TO REVERSE TRANSCRIPTION BLOCKS, WHICH PRECLUDES DETECTION OF MULTIPLE MODIFICATIONS. THE ONLY AVAILABLE METHOD FOR DIRECT RNA SEQUENCING, THE OXFORD NANOPORE TECHNOLOGIES PLATFORM, SUFFERS FROM SEVERAL DRAWBACKS THAT INCLUDE HIGH INPUT REQUIREMENTS, LIMITED ABILITY TO PROBE RNA MODIFICATIONS, AND INCOMPLETE READS, PARTICULARLY NEAR THE RNA 5’ END. WE ADDRESS THESE LIMITATIONS BY DEVELOPING A NEW SINGLE-MOLECULE METHOD THAT CAN BE SCALED TO ALLOW LONG READ DIRECT RNA SEQUENCING AT HIGH THROUGHPUTS, ALL WITH VERY LOW INPUT REQUIREMENTS OF SEVERAL PICOGRAMS. BUILDING ON ZERO-MODE WAVEGUIDES (ZMWS) ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED BY PACIFIC BIOSCIENCES, WE HAVE RECENTLY DEVELOPED ELECTRO-OPTICAL ZMWS (EZMWS) THAT ALLOW LOW-INPUT CAPTURE OF DNA AND RNA MOLECULES. WE DEMONSTRATED USING THESE DEVICES IDENTIFICATION OF DNA FRAGMENTS FROM LOW INPUTS BY RAPID CAPTURE OF SINGLE MOLECULES AND THEIR FLASH SEQUENCING. TOGETHER WITH THE PYLE GROUP, WE ARE DEVELOPING THE INTEGRATION OF MARATHONRT, AN ULTRA- PROCESSIVE REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE THAT CONVERTS RNA MOLECULES TO CDNA MOLECULES WITH HIGH PROCESSIVITY AND ACCURACY, INTO OUR ELECTRO-OPTICAL EZMWS FOR DIRECT RNA SEQUENCING. WE HAVE ALREADY FUSED MARATHONRT TO A STREPTAVIDIN PROTEIN AND DEMONSTRATED ITS FUNCTIONALITY IN EZMWS. HERE WE WILL BUILD ON THESE DEVELOPMENTS TO DEVELOP A DIRECT RNA SEQUENCING METHOD THAT CAN DETECT SINGLE BASE EDITS AND CHEMICAL MODIFICATIONS, ALL WITH HIGH COVERAGE FROM SINGLE-CELL INPUTS OF A FEW PG PER RUN.

THE NARRATIVE EFFECT OF ACTIVE VIDEO GAMES ON LONG-TERM MODERATE-TO-VIGOROUS PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

PLANNING AND UPDATING IN FRONTOPARIETAL NETWORKS FOR GRASPING

CYBERCORPS SCHOLARSHIP FOR SERVICE (RENEWAL): SECURING THE FUTURE: SCHOLARSHIP FOR SERVICE AT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY -DESPITE THE RECOGNIZED NEED FOR A STRONG CYBERSECURITY WORKFORCE TO COMPLEMENT OUR NATION?S TECHNICAL STRENGTH, THE U.S. SUFFERS FROM A SUBSTANTIAL CYBERSECURITY WORKFORCE GAP. NOWHERE IS THIS GAP MORE KEENLY FELT THAN IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR, WHERE AGENCIES AT ALL LEVELS STRUGGLE TO ACQUIRE AND DEVELOP STRONG CYBERSECURITY TALENT. THIS PROJECT IS A CONTINUATION OF NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY?S LONG-STANDING PARTICIPATION IN THE SCHOLARSHIP FOR SERVICE (SFS) PROGRAM SINCE 2009. NORTHEASTERN IS DESIGNATED AS A NATIONAL CENTER OF ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE IN CYBER RESEARCH (CAE-R) BY THE NATIONAL CENTERS OF ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE IN CYBERSECURITY (NCAE-C) AND HAS A LONG TRACK RECORD OF SUCCESS IN PLACING SKILLED CYBERSECURITY WORKERS ACROSS GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTERS (FFRDCS). IN THIS PROJECT, NORTHEASTERN WILL BUILD UPON ITS SUCCESSFUL HISTORY OF TRAINING CYBERSECURITY PROFESSIONALS WITH A THREE-FOLD APPROACH: (I) INCREASE RECRUITMENT FROM NON-TRADITIONAL POPULATIONS, (II) DEEPEN EXPOSURE TO THE CYBERSECURITY COMMUNITY AND CURRENT NEEDS, AND (III) STRENGTHEN SUPPORT FOR PLACING STUDENTS AT FEDERAL EXECUTIVE AGENCIES. WITH THIS APPROACH, THE TEAM BROADLY SEEKS TO SCALE UP ITS SFS PROGRAMMATIC EFFORTS ACROSS THE WORKFORCE RECRUITMENT AND DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE. THE TEAM WILL RAISE AWARENESS OF THE MUTUAL BENEFITS OF THE SFS PROGRAM TO A WIDER POPULATION OF CANDIDATES, INTENSIFYING RECRUITMENT FROM UNDER-REPRESENTED GROUPS ACROSS THE UNIVERSITY?S NETWORK OF CAMPUSES TO WIDEN THE FUNNEL OF POTENTIAL WORKERS. RECOGNIZING THE SIGNIFICANT BENEFIT OF USE-INSPIRED RESEARCH AND EDUCATION, THE PROJECT WILL DEEPEN THE EXPOSURE OF SFS SCHOLARS TO CONTEMPORARY ISSUES AND OPEN NEEDS IN THE SECURITY COMMUNITY. FINALLY, THE PROJECT WILL STRENGTHEN ALREADY-ESTABLISHED MENTORSHIP AND ADVISING FRAMEWORKS, BUILDING ADDITIONAL RECRUITMENT CHANNELS TO PARTICIPATING AGENCIES. THE ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE OF THIS EFFORT IS FOR ALL SFS STUDENTS AT NORTHEASTERN TO EFFICIENTLY FILL OPEN POSITIONS AT AGENCIES ACROSS THE US GOVERNMENT AND OTHER HIRING PARTNERS. THIS PROJECT IS SUPPORTED BY THE CYBERCORPS? SCHOLARSHIP FOR SERVICE (SFS) PROGRAM, WHICH FUNDS PROPOSALS ESTABLISHING OR CONTINUING SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS IN CYBERSECURITY AND ALIGNS WITH THE U.S. NATIONAL CYBER STRATEGY TO DEVELOP A SUPERIOR CYBERSECURITY WORKFORCE. FOLLOWING GRADUATION, SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS ARE REQUIRED TO WORK IN CYBERSECURITY FOR A FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL, OR TRIBAL GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION FOR THE SAME DURATION AS THEIR SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT.? THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

DELINEATING THE ROLE OF SEROTONIN 5-HT2 RECEPTORS IN OPIOID USE DISORDERS:DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL 5-HT2 MODULATORS WITH TRANSLATIONAL STUDIES IN RODENTS ANDPRIMATES

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY NEW HESTIA AWARD CONTROL NUMBER: 2625-1626 TITLE: CENTURY-SCALE CARBON-SEQUESTRATION IN CROSS-LAMINATED TIMBER COMPOSITE BOLTED-STEEL BUILDINGS THE PROJECT TEAM’S AIM IS TO ACHIEVE WIDESPREAD CONSTRUCTION OF CARBON-NEGATIVE MULTI-STORY BUILDINGS BY 2050. MASS TIMBER BUILDINGS ARE CURRENTLY THE MOST VIABLE PATH TOWARDS THIS END. WHILE CODES NOW PERMIT SUCH BUILDINGS UP TO 18-STORIES, DESIGNERS MAY PREFER TRADITIONAL MATERIALS FOR THEIR LONGER SPANS; ENGINEERS MAY AVOID TIMBER DESIGNS IN SEISMIC AREAS; AND LOCAL TRADES MAY HAVE TO BE UPSKILLED FOR THE SKILLS SPECIFIC TO TIMBER CONSTRUCTION.

EMOTIONS ARE EMERGENT EVENTS CONSTRAINED BY AFFECTIVE AND CONCEPTUAL PROCESSES.

PREDICTABILITY IN COMPLEX OBJECT CONTROL - PROJECT SUMMARY MANIPULATION OF COMPLEX OBJECTS OR TOOL USE IS A HALLMARK OF DAILY LIVING, AND LOSS OF MANUAL DEXTERITY DUE TO MOTOR IMPAIRMENTS LEAD TO LOSS OF INDEPENDENCE. MANIPULATING OBJECTS IS PARTICULARLY CHALLENGING WHEN THE OBJECT HAS INTERNAL DYNAMICS THAT IS NOT DIRECTLY CONTROLLED. EVEN THE SEEMINGLY SIMPLE TASK OF TRANSPORTING A CUP OF COFFEE HAS INTRINSIC DYNAMICS THAT HUMANS NEED TO PREDICT, PREEMPT, AND COMPENSATE FOR TO AVOID SPILLING. CONTROL OF SUCH COMPLEX NONLINEAR SYSTEMS WITH ONLINE ERROR CORRECTIONS BASED ON PRECISE INTERNAL MODELS APPEARS DAUNTING, GIVEN THE SLOW NEURAL PROCESSES AND THE UBIQUITOUS NOISE IN THE SENSORIMOTOR SYSTEM. HENCE, THIS RESEARCH TESTS THE HYPOTHESIS THAT HUMANS LEARN TO SIMPLIFY THE OBJECT INTERACTIONS, I.E., MAKE THE INTERACTIONS PREDICTABLE. THE TASK OF CARRYING A CUP OF COFFEE IS MODELED WITH A CART-AND-PENDULUM SYSTEM THAT IS RENDERED IN A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT AND SUBJECTS INTERACT WITH THE VIRTUAL CUP VIA A ROBOTIC MANIPULANDUM. TO GAIN INSIGHT INTO HUMAN CONTROL STRATEGIES, THIS PROPOSAL DEVELOPS A TASK-DYNAMIC APPROACH THAT AFFORDS PRINCIPLED HYPOTHESIS-TESTING BY PARSING THE COMPLEX DYNAMICS INTO EXECUTION AND RESULT VARIABLES, WITH MINIMAL ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE HUMAN CONTROLLER. EIGHT EXPERIMENTS TEST THE OVERALL HYPOTHESIS THAT HUMANS SEEK SOLUTIONS THAT ARE PREDICTABLE, BY CORRELATING HAND-OBJECT MOTIONS, AND MAKING THE BEHAVIOR STABLE AND TOLERANT TO ERROR AND RISK TO OBVIATE ERROR CORRECTIONS AND PREVENT FAILURE. AIM-1 TESTS CONTROL OF INTERNAL DYNAMICS IN LINEAR MOVEMENTS AND EXAMINES HOW HUMANS CHOOSE INITIAL CONDITIONS TO MITIGATE PERTURBATIONS, HOW THEY PREEMPT UNDESIRED BALL OSCILLATIONS, HOW THEY EXPLOIT INTERMITTENT CONTACT TO DEVELOP A STABLE RHYTHM, AND HOW THEY MODIFY THE OBJECT PROPERTIES TO FACILITATE STABLE CONTACT BEHAVIOR. TO EXAMINE LEARNING, AIM-2 SCALES UP THE DIMENSIONALITY OF THE TASK BY INTRODUCING MORE REAL-LIFE PLANAR CUP MOVEMENTS, WHICH CREATES AN EXPONENTIAL INCREASE IN COMPLEXITY. FOUR EXPERIMENTS TEST TASK GOALS THAT INTRODUCE NEW DYNAMIC CHALLENGES, SUCH AS COMBINATION OF RHYTHMIC AND DISCRETE MOVEMENTS, COMPLEX BALL DYNAMICS WHEN CHANGING MOVEMENT DIRECTIONS, ADAPTATION AND MODIFICATION OF OBJECT PROPERTIES, ALL TO SHOW HOW HUMANS EITHER EXPLOIT OR OVERRIDE INTERNAL DYNAMICS TO ACHIEVE PREDICTABILITY. AIM-3 INTRODUCES A REAL VERSION OF THE TASK WITH A CUSTOM-DESIGNED DEVICE, THE MAGIC TABLE. FOLLOWING A COMPARISON OF THE REAL AND VIRTUAL SET-UPS, THE MAGIC TABLE IS USED TO LEVERAGE THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK TO CREATE NOVEL SENSITIVE METRICS TO QUANTIFY MOTOR FUNCTION FOR CLINICAL APPLICATIONS. SPECIFICALLY, WE ASSESS SEVERITY AND RECOVERY OF MOTOR IMPAIRMENT IN A COHORT OF PATIENTS AFTER STROKE. AS MANUAL DEXTERITY IS COMPROMISED IN MANY INDIVIDUALS WITH NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS, THE EXPERIMENTAL PARADIGM AND ITS QUANTITATIVE ANALYSES PROMISE TO BECOME A USEFUL PLATFORM TO GAIN INSIGHTS INTO NEUROLOGICAL DISEASES.

MULTIPLEXED AND DYNAMICALLY TARGETED PHOTOIMMUNOTHERAPY OF HETEROGENEOUS, CHEMORESISTANT MICROMETASTASES GUIDED BY ONLINE IN VIVO OPTICAL IMAGING OF CELL-SURFACE BIOMARKERS

SEPARATION AND ANALYTICAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR PROTEOMICS

CARDIOPULMONARY OUTCOMES OF DUAL CIGARETTE AND E-CIGARETTE USE IN ANIMAL MODELS OF CHRONIC EXPOSURE - PROJECT SUMMARY NEW GENERATION POD-STYLE NICOTINE SALT E-CIGARETTES (E-CIGSPOD) ARE POPULAR BECAUSE OF THEIR SLEEK DESIGN AND ABILITY TO DELIVER NICOTINE LEVELS SIMILAR TO THOSE OF CONVENTIONAL TOBACCO CIGARETTES (CIGS). NICOTINE SALTS ARE EASIER TO INHALE THAN THE FREE-BASE FORM OF NICOTINE FOUND IN PREVIOUS GENERATION E-CIGS. WHILE THE LONG-TERM HEALTH IMPACT OF CIG SMOKE IS WELL KNOWN, THE CONSEQUENCES OF CHRONIC E-CIG USE REMAIN IN QUESTION, AND DATA IS NEEDED TO JUSTIFY IMMEDIATE FDA REGULATIONS. A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION OF SMOKERS ARE UNSUCCESSFUL IN USING E-CIGS TO SUPPORT THEIR CESSATION EFFORTS AND INSTEAD BECOME DUAL USERS. THE CHEMICAL PROFILE OF CIG SMOKE AND E-CIGPOD AEROSOLS IS DIFFERENT, WHICH SUGGESTS THAT THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF CHRONIC SMOKING AND VAPING MAY NOT FULLY OVERLAP. BUILDING UPON THIS, WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT CIG SMOKING AND E-CIGPOD VAPING, ARE INDEPENDENT RISK FACTORS FOR CARDIOPULMONARY DISEASE, WHOSE SUPERPOSITION EXACERBATES THE MALADAPTIVE REMODELING OF THE LUNGS, HEART, AND VASCULATURE COMPARED TO EITHER PRACTICE ALONE. TO TEST THIS HYPOTHESIS, WE WILL EXPOSE HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIC AND WILDTYPE MICE TO NEBULIZED NICOTINE, AEROSOLIZED SOLVENT CARRIER, E-CIGPOD AEROSOLS, AND CIG SMOKE (NAÏVE MICE), OR A COMBINATION OF THE TWO (BOTH NAÏVE AND PREVIOUSLY CIG SMOKE-EXPOSED MICE) AND WE WILL COMPARE THE STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL REMODELING OF THE CARDIOVASCULAR AND RESPIRATORY SYSTEMS. WE WILL GENERATE E-CIGPOD AEROSOLS FROM PODS IN TOBACCO FLAVOR AT 5% NICOTINE STRENGTH. MOTIVATED BY THE IDEA THAT SMOKERS WHO USE E-CIGS AS CESSATION AIDS MAY VAPE UNTIL THEY SATISFY THEIR NICOTINE CRAVINGS, WE WILL PERFORM EXPERIMENTS TO ACHIEVE EQUAL COTININE BIOAVAILABILITY IN THE MOUSE BLOOD, WHILE MAINTAINING THE SAME DAILY DURATION OF EXPOSURE. WE WILL MEASURE THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THE OF AORTA (TISSUE STIFFNESS, DISTENSIBILITY, AND ELASTIC STORAGE), HEART (FRACTIONAL SHORTENING AND EJECTION FRACTIONS), AND LUNGS (RESISTANCE AND ELASTANCE). WE WILL CHARACTERIZE TISSUE MICROSTRUCTURE (AIR SPACE SIZES, COLLAGEN CONTENT, AND ELASTIC FIBER INTEGRITY) TO HIGHLIGHT THE FACTORS THAT MOST CONTRIBUTE TO THE OBSERVED FUNCTIONAL CHANGES. KNOWLEDGE GAINED FROM THIS PROJECT WILL PROVIDE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF DATA-DRIVEN E-CIG REGULATION UNDER THE FAMILY SMOKING PREVENTION AND TOBACCO CONTROL ACT (FSPTCA), SPECIFICALLY CONCERNING THE HEALTH RISKS OF DUAL COMBUSTIBLE AND ELECTRONIC CIGARETTE USE.

OURSLEEPKIT: A COUPLE-FOCUSED MHEALTH TOOL TO SUPPORT ADHERENCE TO CPAP TREATMENT - PROJECT SUMMARY POOR ADHERENCE TO CONTINUOUS POSITIVE AIRWAY PRESSURE (CPAP) TREATMENT REMAINS THE SINGLE LARGEST IMPEDIMENT TO EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT FOR OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA (OSA) LEADING TO INCREASED MORBIDITY, MORTALITY, AND HIGHER HEALTH CARE COSTS. EXISTING INTERVENTIONS PROMOTING CPAP ADHERENCE FOCUS ONLY ON THE DIAGNOSED INDIVIDUAL AND ARE DELIVERED MOSTLY BY HEALTH PROFESSIONALS, WITH LIMITED SUCCESS. AS SUPPORTED BY THE FINDINGS OF THE PI’S R15 PROJECT, THE PARTNERS OF PATIENTS PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE – EITHER POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE – IN CPAP ADHERENCE, AND ARE PART OF ALL OF THE MAJOR FACILITATIVE ASPECTS AND BARRIERS TO CPAP USE. A DYADIC APPROACH ENGAGING BOTH THE PATIENT AND PARTNER TO PROMOTE CPAP ADHERENCE REMAINS AN UNTAPPED OPPORTUNITY. OUR INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM HAS DEVELOPED A PROTOTYPE OF OURSLEEPKIT, WHICH IS AN INNOVATIVE COUPLE-FOCUSED MHEALTH TOOL TO PROMOTE CPAP ADHERENCE. GUIDED BY THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF PARTNER INVOLVEMENT IN CPAP ADHERENCE, THE GOAL OF OURSLEEPKIT IS TO COACH MUTUAL ENGAGEMENT AND MODEL POSITIVE PARTNER INVOLVEMENT IN CPAP TREATMENT, THUS MOTIVATING GREATER CPAP ADHERENCE. RESPONDING TO THE PA-18- 722, THE GOAL OF THIS R01 PROJECT IS TO REFINE AND TEST OURSLEEPKIT TO SUPPORT ADHERENCE TO CPAP TREATMENT. WE WILL REFINE AND DEPLOY OURSLEEPKIT ON AN ESTABLISHED SECURE MHEALTH PLATFORM, NUCOACH. GETTING USERS TO ENGAGE WITH AN MHEALTH INTERVENTION IS CRITICAL TO ITS SUCCESS, AND LOW USER ENGAGEMENT WITH EXISTING MHEALTH TOOLS REMAINS A BIG CONCERN. TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE, WE WILL USE A PARTICIPATORY APPROACH TO REFINE OURSLEEPKIT AND COMPREHENSIVELY EVALUATE BOTH ITS EFFECT ON CPAP ADHERENCE AND USER ENGAGEMENT. SPECIFICALLY, WE WILL 1) REFINE OURSLEEPKIT USING QUALITATIVE METHODS WITHIN A STANDARDIZED ITERATIVE PARTICIPATORY APPROACH BY WORKING WITH END USERS (OSA PATIENTS AND THEIR PARTNERS); 2) EXAMINE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OURSLEEPKIT ON CPAP ADHERENCE BY CONDUCTING A 6-MONTH RANDOMIZED PARALLEL GROUP CONTROLLED TRIAL IN 180 COUPLES (NEWLY DIAGNOSED OSA PATIENTS AND THEIR PARTNERS); AND 3) EVALUATE USER ENGAGEMENT IN THE INTERVENTION GROUP BY TRACKING OBJECTIVE OURSLEEPKIT USAGE AND UNDERSTANDING THE SUBJECTIVE USER EXPERIENCE. RESULTS OF THIS PROJECT WILL SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EFFECTIVE AND ENGAGING MHEALTH TOOL WHICH CAN BE READILY ADOPTED BY OSA PATIENTS AND THEIR PARTNERS TO SUPPORT ADHERENCE TO CPAP TREATMENT. GIVEN THE FREQUENCY AND DEPTH OF INTERACTION THAT MOST PATIENTS HAVE WITH THEIR PARTNER, OURSLEEPKIT IS LIKELY TO SUCCEED WITH A SUSTAINABLE EFFECT ON CPAP ADHERENCE LEADING TO SIGNIFICANT HEALTH BENEFITS. IF SHOWN TO BE SUCCESSFUL, OURSLEEPKIT CAN BE EASILY INTEGRATED WITH OTHER INTERVENTIONS AND EXISTING TECHNOLOGY TO BETTER PROMOTE CPAP USE. THIS NEW MHEALTH INTERVENTION FACILITATES CHANGING THE CURRENT CARE OF OSA FROM A REACTIVE DISEASE-FOCUSED MODEL TO A MORE PROACTIVE SELF-MANAGEMENT MODEL. GOING BEYOND OSA, OURSLEEPKIT CAN BE AN EXEMPLAR OF USING MHEALTH TECHNOLOGY TO OPTIMIZE TREATMENT ADHERENCE AND SELF-MANAGEMENT INVOLVING FAMILY CARE PARTNERS.

IGERT NANOMEDICINE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ROBUST ULTRA-HIGH SENSITIVITY PROTEOMIC TECHNOLOGIES FOR LIMITED SAMPLES

EVALUATING DAROBACTINS AS ANTIMICROBIAL AGENTS - THE ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE CRISIS (AMR) HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED FOR YEARS, AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS GLOBAL HUMAN HEALTH PROBLEM SETS IT APART FROM OTHER TYPES OF DISEASES, BECAUSE IT AFFECTS NOT ONLY INDIVIDUALS, BUT HAS A POTENTIAL TO DISRUPT THE LIFE OF SOCIETY. WE HAVE A STARK REMINDER OF THE ABILITY OF A PATHOGEN TO BRING NORMAL LIFE TO A HALT, AS WE EXPERIENCE THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. IN THE CASE OF A VIRUS, WE CAN USUALLY COUNT ON A REASONABLY RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF A VACCINE. FOR MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT BACTERIA, WE DO NOT HAVE A SIMILARLY RELIABLE APPROACH, AND THE PIPELINE OF NOVEL COMPOUNDS AGAINST THE MOST PROBLEMATIC PATHOGENS, MDR GRAM- NEGATIVE BACTERIA, IS VERY THIN (LEWIS, CELL 2020). WE RECENTLY DISCOVERED A NOVEL CLASS OF COMPOUNDS ACTING AGAINST IMPORTANT GRAM-NEGATIVE PATHOGENS, THE DAROBACTINS (IMAI ET AL., NATURE 2019). DAROBACTIN A IS A 7- MER MODIFIED PEPTIDE CONTAINING TWO UNUSUAL FUSED RINGS. THIS CREATES A RIGID SS-STRAIN FROM THE PEPTIDE BACKBONE. THE TARGET IS BAMA, AN ESSENTIAL CHAPERONE THAT INSERTS PROTEINS SUCH AS PORINS INTO THE OUTER MEMBRANE. BAMA RECOGNIZES A SIGNAL SEQUENCE OF INCOMING PEPTIDES THAT BIND TO ONE OF ITS SS-STRANDS. DAROBACTIN, WHICH HAS A UNIQUE PREFORMED SS-STRAND, IS A BETTER BINDER AND PREVENTS SUBSTRATES FROM INTERACTING WITH BAMA. IMPORTANTLY, BAMA MUTANTS RESISTANT TO DAROBACTIN A LOSE VIRULENCE. DAROBACTIN A HAS NO CYTOTOXICITY AND SHOWS GOOD EFFICACY IN MOUSE SEPTICEMIA AND THIGH MODELS AGAINST SUCH PATHOGENS AS POLYMYXIN-RESISTANT E. COLI AND KPC K. PNEUMONIAE. DAROBACTIN A IS RIBOSOMALLY TRANSLATED AND CODED BY A RIPP OPERON. BIOINFORMATICS SEARCH OF THE NCBI GENOMES DATABASE RESULTED IN IDENTIFYING 8 ANALOGS WITH THE SAME SCAFFOLD, AND 6 DAROBACTIN-LIKE ANALOGS. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO EVALUATE THE DAROBACTINS AND IDENTIFY THE BEST LEADS. ADDITIONAL ANALOGS WILL BE IDENTIFIED BY SEARCHING THROUGH THE RAW DATA OF THE METAGENOMICS DATABASE. WE WILL SYNTHESIZE THE DAR OPERONS, CLONE THEM INTO E. COLI AND OPTIMIZE PRODUCTION. FOR THIS, WE WILL USE AN APPROACH WE RECENTLY DEVELOPED, SCREENING MUTAGENIZED PRODUCERS IN AGAROSE MICRODROPLETS CONTAINING A YFP-LABELED TEST PATHOGEN. FACS ANALYSIS ALLOWS TO SORT DROPLETS IN WHICH THE TEST STRAIN IS INHIBITED. SPECTRUM OF ACTION WILL BE DETERMINED, RESISTANT MUTANTS WILL EITHER CONFIRM BAMA AS A TARGET, OR POINT TO A NEW ONE. WE WILL ANALYZE VIRULENCE OF RESISTANT MUTANTS IN DETAIL. COMPOUNDS WILL BE TESTED FOR CYTOTOXICITY AND ANIMAL SAFETY AND EFFICACY WITH TARGET PATHOGENS. THIS PROJECT WILL RESULT IN LEADS READY TO ENTER INTO DEVELOPMENT TO TREAT PATHOGENS OF CRITICAL PRIORITY.

NRT-FW-HTF-HDR: PLATFORMS FOR EXCHANGE AND ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES (PEAR) -THE INCREASING DIGITIZATION OF THE ECONOMY AND RESULTING GROWTH OF DIGITAL PLATFORMS LIKE RIDE-HAILING APPS AND ENERGY TRADING PLATFORMS HAVE DRAMATICALLY ALTERED HOW INDIVIDUALS, ORGANIZATIONS AND GOVERNMENTS EXCHANGE AND ALLOCATE RESOURCES. BY 2025 IT IS ESTIMATED OVER $60 TRILLION PER YEAR (~30 PERCENT OF WORLD REVENUE) WILL BE MEDIATED BY DIGITAL PLATFORMS. THESE PLATFORMS HAVE DISRUPTED MULTIPLE INDUSTRIES, UPENDED LABOR ECONOMICS AND PRACTICES, AND FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMED RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, ASSET ALLOCATION AND MARKET DESIGN. WHILE DIGITAL PLATFORMS HAVE DEMOCRATIZED PROVISION AND ACCESS TO SERVICES AND PRODUCTS WITH LOW ENTRY AND TRANSACTION COSTS, THE LARGER IMPACT ON SOCIETY IS NOT FULLY UNDERSTOOD. IT IS CRITICAL THAT THE DEVELOPERS OF NEW PLATFORM TECHNOLOGIES NO LONGER SIMPLY BE TRAINED AS ENGINEERS AND COMPUTER SCIENTISTS, AND THAT POLICY MAKERS AND REGULATORS MUST UNDERSTAND THE ECOSYSTEMS AROUND DIGITAL PLATFORMS. THIS NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION RESEARCH TRAINEESHIP (NRT) AWARD TO NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON, AND HAMPTON UNIVERSITY (TWO OF THREE OF WHICH ARE MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTIONS), ENTITLED PLATFORMS FOR EXCHANGE AND ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES (PEAR), WILL DEVELOP CONVERGENT, TRANSDISCIPLINARY TRAINING PROVIDING STUDENTS WITH (1) THE CAPACITY TO INTEGRATE APPLICABLE FINDINGS AND THEORIES IN BUSINESS, POLICY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE INTO ETHICAL ENGINEERING DESIGN AND PRACTICE AND VICE VERSA, (2) THE ABILITY TO SUCCEED IN EMERGING AND DYNAMIC WORK ENVIRONMENTS THAT ARE YET TO BE REGULATED, AND (3) THE UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS CREATE VALUE FOR DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDERS AND IMPACT SOCIETY AT LARGE. THIS PROJECT ANTICIPATES TRAINING 80+ MS AND PHD STUDENTS, INCLUDING 22 STIPENDED FELLOWS, FROM A RANGE OF DOCTORAL PROGRAMS AT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY (NU) OR UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON (UH), A NEW MASTER?S IN ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT HAMPTON UNIVERSITY (HU) ? THE UNIVERSITY?S FIRST ENGINEERING GRADUATE DEGREE ? OR ONE OF THE TWO NEW GRADUATE CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS AT NU OR UH. THE PEAR TRAINING MODEL IS GUIDED BY EVIDENCE-BASED BEST PRACTICES IN TEACHING, MENTORING AND LEARNING, WITH AN EMPHASIS ON BEST PRACTICES FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT OF UNDERREPRESENTED POPULATIONS. THROUGH CAREFULLY CURATED COURSEWORK AND EXPERIENCES, STRUCTURED MENTORING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, AND STAKEHOLDER CO-DESIGNED RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES, PEAR FELLOWS WILL BE TRAINED TO UNDERSTAND AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL PLATFORMS AND THEIR IMPACT ON EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES IN SOCIETY, SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION, FAIR ACCESS TO GOODS AND SERVICES, ETHICALLY INFORMED TECHNOLOGY DESIGN, AND THE RE-SHAPING OF LABOR AND BUSINESS PRACTICES. THESE PROFESSIONALS WILL BE READY TO DEFINE AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE FUTURE OF WORK AT THE HUMAN TECHNOLOGY FRONTIER AND TO HARNESS THE DATA REVOLUTION (TWO NSF BIG IDEAS) IN MULTIPLE SECTORS SUCH AS ENERGY, HEALTH, TRANSPORTATION, LOGISTICS, HOUSING, COMPUTING, POLICY, AND BEYOND. PEAR IS A COLLABORATION THAT COMBINES EACH INSTITUTION?S STRENGTHS: NU?S LEADERSHIP IN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING, HAMPTON?S IN ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND TEACHING, AND UH?S ENGINEERING PARTNERSHIPS PARTICULARLY IN THE ENERGY SECTOR ? TO DEVELOP THREE NEW GRADUATE PROGRAMS. FORMAL EXTERNAL EVALUATION WILL DOCUMENT OUTCOMES TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE BODY OF KNOWLEDGE ON EFFECTIVE MODELS FOR GRADUATE EDUCATION IN CONVERGENT RESEARCH AREAS SUCH AS DIGITAL PLATFORMS. THE NSF RESEARCH TRAINEESHIP (NRT) PROGRAM IS DESIGNED TO ENCOURAGE THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF BOLD, NEW POTENTIALLY TRANSFORMATIVE MODELS FOR STEM GRADUATE EDUCATION TRAINING. THE PROGRAM IS DEDICATED TO EFFECTIVE TRAINING OF STEM GRADUATE STUDENTS IN HIGH PRIORITY INTERDISCIPLINARY OR CONVERGENT RESEARCH AREAS THROUGH COMPREHENSIVE TRAINEESHIP MODELS THAT ARE INNOVATIVE, EVIDENCE-BASED, AND ALIGNED WITH CHANGING WORKFORCE AND RESEARCH NEEDS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

IGERT: INTELLIGENT DIAGNOSTICS FOR AGING CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE (ID-ACI)

TRAINING INTERPRETERS FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE DEAF AND INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE DEAF-BLIND - INTERPRETER TRAINING: DISTANCE EDUCATION

SINGLE-CELL DIRECT RNA SEQUENCING USING ELECTRICAL ZERO-MODE WAVEGUIDES AND ENGINEERED REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASES

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY - CARES ACT HIGHER EDUCATION EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND - MINORITY SERVING INSTITUTIONS

FUNDAMENTAL SUBCORTICAL MECHANISMS OF AFFECTIVE PROCESSING

SINGLE MOLECULE HIV-1 NC/GAD-DNA INTERACTIONS

TRANSDISCIPLINARY TRAINING AT THE INTERSECTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SOUTH FLORIDA SCIENCE CENTER

NOVEL RECOMBINANT STREPTOCOCCUS MITIS AS AN ORAL VACCINE AGAINST HIV/AIDS

DESIGN AND CHARACTERIZATION ON CIGARETTES

GPU-ACCELERATED MONTE CARLO PHOTON TRANSPORT SIMULATION PLATFORM

INNOVATIONS IN COMPUTER SCIENCE SUCCESS FOR HISPANIC AND OTHER UNDERREPRESENTED GRADUATE STUDENTS

HEALTH LITERACY ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION TO REDUCE DISPARITIES: FLIGHT/VIDAS II

SUPPORTING IGVF BY MODELING GENETICS, FUNCTION, AND PHENOTYPE WITH MACHINE LEARNING - PROJECT SUMMARY LEVERAGING THE POWER OF THE HUMAN GENOME TO UNDERSTAND THE RISKS, CAUSES, AND TREATMENTS OF HUMAN DIS- EASE REMAINS A GRAND CHALLENGE FOR ALL OF BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE. WHILE SEQUENCING COSTS HAVE PLUMMETED, AND CLINICAL IMPLEMENTATION HAS BECOME COMMONPLACE, INTERPRETING HUMAN GENOMES REMAINS A HIGHLY CHALLENGING TASK. IT IS OUR HYPOTHESIS THAT UNDERSTANDING THE FUNCTION OF THE GENOME AND ITS PRODUCTS AT A MOLECULAR, TISSUE, AND PHENOTYPIC LEVEL USING ADVANCED MACHINE LEARNING WILL HELP UNLOCK THE DOOR TO BETTER INTERPRETATION FOR SCI- ENTIFIC DISCOVERY AND BETTER CLINICAL OUTCOMES BASED ON GENOMIC MEDICINE. TO THAT END, OUR TEAM HAS SPENT THE PAST TWO DECADES WORKING TO DEVELOP COMPUTATIONAL MODELS OF BIOLOGY, TO PREDICT HOW THOSE MODELS ARE PERTURBED THROUGH CHANGES IN THE GENOME, AND TO USE THOSE PERTURBATIONS TO MODEL PHENOTYPE AND DISEASE. WE HAVE HAD MANY RESEARCH OUTPUTS IN THIS AREA, HAVING DEVELOPED AND PUBLISHED A NUMBER OF WIDELY USED METHODS THAT PREDICT BIOCHEMICAL AND PHENOTYPIC CHANGES CAUSED BY GENETIC VARIANTS TO INFER PHENOTYPE AND PATHOGENICITY. HOWEVER, WE BELIEVE THAT THERE IS A COMING CONVERGENCE BETWEEN THE VARIABILITY IN CLINICAL INTER- PRETATION, HIGH-THROUGHPUT BIOTECHNOLOGY ASSAYS, AND MODERN MACHINE LEARNING METHODOLOGY THAT WILL RESULT IN MORE ACCURATE CLINICAL ASSESSMENTS AND IMPROVED CLINICAL CARE. THEREFORE, IN THIS AMBITIOUS PROPOSAL, WE ARE ADDRESSING IMPORTANT QUESTIONS IN VARIANT AND GENOME INTERPRETATION CONSISTENT WITH THIS VIEW AND THE MISSION OF THE IGVF CONSORTIUM. OUR MAJOR GOALS INCLUDE (1) DEVELOPING ADVANCED SEMI-SUPERVISED APPROACHES TO PREDICT VARIANTS THAT DISRUPT MOLECULAR FUNCTION AND/OR ARE CAPABLE OF ALTERING PHENOTYPES; (2) IDENTIFYING IN- FORMATIVE ASSAYS, VARIANTS, AND GENES TO AUTOMATE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN WITH AN EMPHASIS ON RESOURCE ALLOCA- TION AND REDUCTION OF ASCERTAINMENT BIAS IN THE CONSORTIUM; AND (3) DEVELOPING MACHINE LEARNING APPROACHES TO INTEGRATE THESE MODELS INTO A WORKFLOW OF THE IGVF CONSORTIUM AND ENABLE THE INTERACTION BETWEEN COMPU- TATION AND EXPERIMENT IN ORDER TO CATALYZE ADVANCES IN BOTH GENETIC VARIANT INTERPRETATION AND PREDICTIVE MODEL DEVELOPMENT.

A GENERAL MECHANISM OF PERSISTER FORMATION

STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONS - HISPANIC SERVING INSTITUTIONS

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE AND COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE

TRENDS AND DRIVERS OF FAUNAL ABUNDANCE IN THE OFFSHORE GULF OF MEXICO: NARROWING THE LARGEST DATA GAP IN THE GULF???S LARGE MARINE ECOSYSTEM

MULTISCALE MECHANISMS OF LINGUAL MECHANICAL FUNCTION

STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONS - HISPANIC SERVING INSTITUTIONS

OSTEOIMMUNOLOGY OF RETARDED BONE REGENERATION IN PERIODONTITIS

NOVEL MEDICATIONS FOR CANNABIS DEPENDENCE

EXPANDING HOPE

NSU SHARKS: SUPPORTING HISPANIC ACADEMICS, RESEARCH, KNOWLEDGE, AND SUCCESS

PURPOSE: DEEPEND|RESTORE (D|R) HAS DEVELOPED A MULTI-MODE SAMPLING, SENSING, AND ANALYTICAL PROGRAM TO ASSESS TRENDS IN PELAGIC POPULATIONS OF THE DEEP GULF OF MEXICO, AS WELL AS THE PUTATIVE DRIVERS OF VARIABILITY IN THESE TRENDS. WITH RESPECT TO POPULATION TRENDS, THE MOST SUBSTANTIVE FINDING OF THIS PROGRAM IS THE SUDDEN (WITHIN 3.5 Y), SEVERE, AND SUSTAINED (> 10 Y) DECLINE IN THE ABUNDANCE OF OCEANIC MICRONEKTON (DEEP-LIVING FISHES, SHRIMPS, AND CEPHALOPODS) SINCE THE DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL. MICRONEKTON ARE IMPORTANT PREY FOR OVER 130 SPECIES OF MANAGEMENT CONCERN IN THE GULF. WITH RESPECT TO DRIVERS, FINDINGS INDICATE THAT MULTIVARIATE PARAMETERS (DEPTH, MESOSCALE OCEANOGRAPHIC FEATURES, LIGHT ENVIRONMENT) IN CONCERT WITH ANIMAL BEHAVIOR APPEAR TO BE THE PRIMARY DRIVERS OF PELAGIC ASSEMBLAGES. NO NATURAL ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR THAT CORRELATED WITH OBSERVED DECLINES WAS IDENTIFIED. D|R HAS ACTIVELY FOCUSED ON RESOURCE MANAGEMENT APPLICATION AND INTEGRATION, WITH THE MOST FRUITFUL INTERACTIONS OCCURRING IN SIX THEMATIC AREAS: 1) GULF OCEANIC MICRONEKTON AS PREY OF SPECIES THAT ARE ACTIVELY MANAGED, FEDERALLY PROTECTED, OR TARGETS OF ONGOING RESTORATION ACTIVITIES; 2) PROVISION OF INFORMATION FOR PAST, CURRENT, AND FUTURE NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS; 3) QUANTIFICATION OF GULF OCEANIC BIODIVERSITY; 4) ELUCIDATION OF OTHER ECOSYSTEM SERVICES PROVIDED BY OCEANIC MICRONEKTON; 5) QUANTIFICATION OF MICROPLASTIC INGESTION AND ITS ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS IN THE OPEN GULF, AND 6) CAPACITY BUILDING FOR FUTURE RESEARCH AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. THESE AREAS ARE DISCUSSED IN DETAIL HEREIN. IN THE RENEWAL PERIOD, D|R PROPOSES TO CONTINUE DIRECT SAMPLING AND ACTIVE ACOUSTIC SENSING TO ASSESS POPULATION TRENDS, WITH THE NOTE THAT THERE MAY BE SIGNS OF NASCENT RECOVERY IN SOME TAXA. THESE TRENDS TAKE ON ADDED IMPORTANCE GIVEN RECENT REPORTS OF OCEANIC CETACEAN POPULATION DECLINES, RELOCATIONS, AND STRANDINGS OF EMACIATED INDIVIDUALS. OUR STATISTICAL ANALYSES WILL ADD A BIOMASS COMPONENT TO WHAT HAS BEEN AN ABUNDANCECENTERED APPROACH, WHICH SHOULD ENABLE GREATER ECOSYSTEM MODELING UTILITY. AS WITH SAMPLING, D|R PROPOSES CONTINUATION OF GENOMIC DIVERSITY, ORGANIC CONTAMINANT, AND MICROPLASTICS INGESTION ANALYSES, WITH AUGMENTATIONS TO EACH. D|R PROPOSES A NEW HIGHPRIORITY OPTIONAL ELEMENT, DETAILED IN A STAND-ALONE ADDENDUM. THE PROPOSAL CONCLUDES WITH A BRIEF DISCUSSION OF NEXT STEPS IN GULF OPEN-OCEAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT BEYOND THE RENEWAL PERIOD.

A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL OF CULTURALLY TAILORED MI

RISK REDUCTION FOR URBAN SUBSTANCE USING MSM

SYSTEMS GENETICS OF PREMORBID AND COCAINE USE TRAITS IN A RAT REDUCED COMPLEXITY CROSS - PROJECT SUMMARY STIMULANT USE DISORDERS (E.G., COCAINE, METHAMPHETAMINE) ARE A MAJOR PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN. DESPITE A HERITABILITY OF ~40-50%, GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES (GWAS) HAVE IDENTIFIED VERY FEW LOCI, INCLUDING ONE HIT FOR COCAINE (COC) DEPENDENCE THAT MAPS TO FAM53B, A GENE ALSO IDENTIFIED VIA EXPRESSION QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCUS (QTL) ANALYSIS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH COC SELF-ADMINISTRATION IN MICE. THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE IS TO RAPIDLY IDENTIFY NOVEL GENETIC FACTORS IN RATS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO PREMORBID RISK (COMPULSIVITY, IMPULSIVITY) AND COCAINE USE TRAITS IN A SPONTANEOUSLY HYPERTENSIVE RAT (SHR) REDUCED COMPLEXITY CROSS (RCC). A RODENT SYSTEMS GENETICS APPROACH TRIANGULATES ON DISCOVERY-BASED GENETIC AND MULTI-LEVEL FUNCTIONAL GENOMIC ANALYSIS AND CAN PROVIDE A MORE RAPID GENETIC AND NEUROBIOLOGICAL INSIGHT INTO DRUG ACTION AND NEUROPLASTICITY UNDERLYING ADDICTION. FOR SEVERAL YEARS, THE CONTACT PI HAS BEEN EMPLOYING MOUSE REDUCED COMPLEXITY CROSSES (RCCS) BETWEEN NEAR-ISOGENIC INBRED SUBSTRAINS TO FACILITATE GENE MAPPING, VALIDATION, AND MECHANISMS. BECAUSE RODENT SUBSTRAINS ARE > 99% GENETICALLY IDENTICAL AND CONTAIN SEVERAL ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE FEWER VARIANTS COMPARED TO CLASSICAL INBRED STRAINS, MAPPING QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI (QTLS) IN RCCS YIELDS ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE FEWER CAUSAL CANDIDATE GENES TO CONSIDER. WHEN COMBINED WITH FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS, RCCS CAN RAPIDLY LEAD TO CAUSAL GENE AND VARIANT IDENTIFICATION. OUR PRELIMINARY STUDIES ESTABLISH ROBUST, HERITABLE DIFFERENCES IN PREMORBID IMPULSIVITY AND COMPULSIVITY, SUCROSE REWARD SENSITIVITY, AND MULTIPLE COC USE TRAITS BETWEEN SHR/NCRL AND SHR/NHSD SUBSTRAINS, INCLUDING COC-INDUCED LOCOMOTOR ACTIVITY, COC IVSA TAKING, SEEKING, AND INTAKE CYCLES, DEMONSTRATING FEASIBILITY FOR GENE MAPPING IN AN RCC. IN AIMS 1 AND 2, WE WILL PIONEER THE USE OF A RAT RCC WHERE WE WILL CONDUCT WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING (WGS) AND MAP BEHAVIORAL QTLS AND EXPRESSION QTLS (EQTLS) FROM NUCLEUS ACCUMBENS (NAC) AND PREFRONTAL CORTEX (PFC) AT THE WHOLE TRANSCRIPT AND EXON LEVELS IN AN F2 CROSS COMPRISING COC-TRAINED VERSUS YOKED SALINE (SAL)-TRAINED RATS. IN AIM 3, WE WILL CONDUCT PROTEOMIC ANALYSIS OF PFC AND NAC FROM COC VS. YOKED SAL-TRAINED RATS TO TRIANGULATE ON HIGH CONFIDENCE CANDIDATE QUANTITATIVE TRAIT GENES (QTGS) AND VARIANTS (QTVS) AS WE BUILD FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN DNA VARIANTS, TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION, PROTEIN TRANSLATION, AND CELL SIGNALING ADAPTATIONS UNDERLYING PREMORBID AND COCAINE USE TRAITS. THESE STUDIES PIONEER THE USE OF A RAT RCC COMBINED WITH DEEP BEHAVIORAL PHENOTYPING TO RAPIDLY IDENTIFY HIGH-CONFIDENCE CANDIDATE NOVEL GENETIC FACTORS AND MOLECULAR MECHANISMS INFLUENCING PREMORBID RISK FACTORS AND COCAINE USE TRAITS. FUTURE GENE EDITING OF CANDIDATE CAUSAL GENE VARIANTS WILL BE MODELED ON THE TWO NEAR-ISOGENIC SHR BACKGROUNDS TO DEMONSTRATE NECESSITY (MUTATION CORRECTION; “RESCUE”) AND SUFFICIENCY (MUTATION INDUCTION). DELIVERABLES INCLUDE WGS’S OF SHR SUBSTRAINS FOR FUTURE RCCS FOR COMPLEX TRAIT ANALYSIS AS WELL AS ADAPTIVE RAT TRANSCRIPTOMIC AND PROTEOMIC DATASETS IN KEY BRAIN REGIONS OF THE MESOCORTICOLIMBIC CIRCUITRY THAT CAN BE FURTHER MINED BY INVESTIGATORS AND HOPEFULLY INFORM THERAPEUTICS.

IN VIVO ANALYSIS OF MECHANOTRANSDUCTION

PROMOTING POSTBACCALAUREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR HISPANIC AMERICANS (PPOHA)

PROMOTING POSTBACCALAUREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR HISPANIC AMERICANS PROGRAM

STRONG SEEDLING CA

CONTINUOUS, NON-INVASIVE OPTICAL MONITORING OF CIRCULATING TUMOR CELL-MEDIATED METASTASIS IN AWAKE MICE - PROJECT SUMMARY HEMATOGENOUS METASTASIS IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A LARGE MAJORITY OF CANCER-RELATED DEATHS, WHERE CIRCULATING TUMOR CELLS (CTCS) SHED FROM THE PRIMARY TUMOR INTO THE PERIPHERAL BLOOD (PB). A SMALL NUMBER OF CTCS MAY FORM SECONDARY SITES, WHICH ARE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO CONTROL CLINICALLY. MOST METHODS FOR STUDYING CTCS RELY ON DRAWING AND ANALYZING FRACTIONALLY SMALL PB BLOOD SAMPLES (“LIQUID BIOPSY”). ALTHOUGH CTCS AND MULTICELLULAR CTC CLUSTERS (CTCCS) HAVE BEEN STUDIED FOR DECADES, LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT THEIR “DYNAMICS” IN VIVO (TRANSIENT CHANGES IN THEIR NUMBERS IN PB), AND HOW THESE MAY AFFECT METASTASIS DEVELOPMENT AND RESPONSE TO ANTI-CANCER TREATMENT. FOR EXAMPLE, IT IS KNOW THAT RADIATION THERAPY MAY ENCOURAGE METASTATIC DISSEMINATION OF CANCER, YET THE MECHANISMS FOR THIS ARE STILL POORLY UNDERSTOOD. OUR TEAM RECENTLY DEVELOPED A NEW METHOD FOR IN VIVO ENUMERATION OF CTCS IN SMALL ANIMALS CALLED “DIFFUSE IN VIVO FLOW CYTOMETRY” (DIFC). DIFC USES DIFFUSE LIGHT TO DETECT FLUORESCENT-PROTEIN EXPRESSING CTCS IN LARGE, DEEPLY-SEATED BLOOD VESSELS. DIFC CAN SAMPLE APPROXIMATELY 100 MICROLITERS OF BLOOD PER MINUTE, PERMITTING DETECTION OF FEWER THAN 1 CTC PER ML OF PB, AND SAMPLING OF THE ENTIRE PERIPHERAL BLOOD VOLUME IN MINUTES. WE PREVIOUSLY USED DIFC TO STUDY RARE CTC AND CTCC DISSEMINATION IN MOUSE XENOGRAFT MODELS. DIFC REVEALED THAT CTC NUMBERS ARE HIGHLY DYNAMIC AND MAY CHANGE BY AN ORDER-OF-MAGNITUDE OR MORE OVER 24 HOUR PERIODS. THESE CHANGES ARE LARGELY MISSED BY CTC ENUMERATION METHODS THAT INVOLVE INFREQUENT BLOOD DRAWS. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO BUILD A “WEARABLE” TETHERED W-DIFC INSTRUMENT THAT WILL ALLOW CONTINUOUS, NON- INVASIVE MONITORING OF CTC NUMBERS OVER EXTENDED PERIODS IN MICE. THE W-DIFC OPTICAL PROBE AND SIGNAL PROCESSING DESIGN WILL PERMIT DATA COLLECTION IN FREELY-MOVING MICE IN AMBIENT LIGHTING CONDITIONS. WE WILL FIRST USE W-DIFC TO STUDY CTC DYNAMICS DURING DISEASE DEVELOPMENT IN AN ORTHOTOPIC XENOGRAFT AND TRANSGENIC MOUSE MODEL OF METASTASIS. WE WILL USE ALSO W-DIFC TO MEASURE CONTINUOUS CTC DYNAMICS AFTER RADIATION THERAPY IN A MEDULLOBLASTOMA (MB) MOUSE MODEL. MB IS A COMMON FORM OF CHILDHOOD BRAIN CANCER THAT AGGRESSIVELY METASTASIZES TO THE LEPTOMENINGEAL SURFACES OF THE BRAIN AND SPINE VIA THE PB. THERE IS SIGNIFICANT EVIDENCE THAT RADIATION MAY EXACERBATE METASTASIS BY TRIGGERING MOBILIZATION OF CTCS INTO THE BLOOD. WE EXPECT THAT THE ABILITY OF W-DIFC TO MEASURE CTCS OVER SHORT-, MEDIUM-, AND LONG-TERM TIMESCALES WILL PROVIDE UNIQUE INSIGHTS INTO THIS PROCESS. WE WILL ALSO USE W-DIFC TO STUDY THE USE OF ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUGS TO BLOCK THE PRO-METASTATIC EFFECT. HENCE, THE STUDIES PROPOSED HERE COULD ULTIMATELY LEAD TO BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF METASTASIS AND IMPROVED TREATMENT PROTOCOLS FOR CHILDHOOD MB. WE ANTICIPATE THAT THE UNIQUE TECHNOLOGIES THAT WILL BE DEVELOPED HERE WILL HAVE BROAD APPLICATION TO OTHER CANCERS AND ANTI-CANCER THERAPIES IN THE FUTURE.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT IS TO FUND RESEARCH IN SUPPORT TO MTO IN THE AMOUNT OF 276,310 ON CONTRACT NUMBER HR0011-17-2-0002.

RELATING NEUROIMMUNE AND NEUROVASCULAR ALTERATIONS DURING ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE PROGRESSION

DATING VIOLENCE PREVENTION FOR JUVENILE JUSTICE GIRLS

DEVELOPING HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTIONS PROGRAM

SCC-LSR: FROM TECHNOLOGY TO HUMANS: PROTECTING USERS OF NEURAL AND MEDICAL IMPLANT TECHNOLOGIES THROUGH RESILIENCE AND SAFETY ENGINEERING -THIS RESEARCH WILL ADVANCE COMMUNITY PRIORITIES IN THE AREAS OF SAFETY, SECURITY, AND HUMAN HEALTH AND WELLNESS PERTAINING TO EXISTING AND FUTURE NEURAL IMPLANT DEVICES. THE TEAM INCLUDES COMPUTER SCIENTISTS, ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, MDS, NEUROSCIENTISTS, NEURAL IMPLANT COMMUNITY GROUPS, AND MANUFACTURERS. THE PARTNER COMMUNITY GROUPS INCLUDE PATIENTS AND THEIR SUPPORTING FAMILIES AND CAREGIVERS FROM WHOM THE TEAM WILL UNDERSTAND THE PERSONAL IMPACT OF NEURAL IMPLANT TECHNOLOGIES. EXPANDING ENGAGEMENT WITH PARTNERED COMPANIES WHO MANUFACTURE AND MEDICAL DOCTORS WHO USE NEURAL IMPLANTS, THE TEAM WILL ADDRESS THESE COMMUNITY CHALLENGES AND COLLABORATIVELY DELIVER A NEURAL IMPLANT HARDWARE/SOFTWARE CO-DESIGN SOLUTION THAT EMPOWERS THE USE AND FACILITATES THE SAFE ADOPTION OF EMERGING NEURAL IMPLANT TECHNOLOGIES. THE RESEARCH TECHNIQUES DEVELOPED FOR CHIP SECURITY WILL HAVE APPLICABILITY TO OTHER SECURITY RELATED CHIP-BASED DEVICES. THIS PROJECT WILL ADVANCE THE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL SECURITY AND CHIP HARDWARE DESIGN BY MODELING THE OPERATIONS FROM A SECURE AND DEPENDABLE CONTROL PERSPECTIVE AND DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE DEFENSE MECHANISMS THAT CAN BE APPLIED TO EMERGING SMART HEALTHCARE DEVICES. FINALLY, BY ADDING LOW-RESOURCE CHIP DESIGN, THE TEAM WILL ADVANCE MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES FOR CHIP-BASED DEVICES ADDING ADDITIONAL SECURITY FEATURES WITHOUT IMPACT TO OVERALL PERFORMANCE OR LIFETIME. RESEARCHERS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE IMPACT OF ?BRAIN-JACKING? IN MOUSE MODELS BUT HAVE NOT PROVIDED SOLUTIONS. THIS TEAM?S MULTIPRONGED PROJECT RESOLVES THESE CHALLENGES BY LEVERAGING EXPERTISE IN COMPUTER SECURITY, SENSING, MICROELECTRONIC DESIGN, AND STRONG AFFILIATIONS WITH CLINICAL SETTINGS. THE APPROACHES INCLUDE THE DESIGN OF (1) VERIFIABLY RESILIENT CONTROL SYSTEM AND SIMULATIONS AND DESIGN UPGRADES THAT BUILD UPON MODELS OF NEURAL SENSING AND STIMULATION AND EXPLAINABLE AI TECHNIQUES, (2) AUTOMATED CYBERSECURITY AND RESILIENCE TESTBEDS THAT HOST PHYSICAL NEURAL IMPLANT DEVICES FOR FAULT-INJECTION, SIDE-CHANNEL INFORMATION LEAKAGE, AND REMOTE CONNECTION SECURITY ANALYSIS, AND (3) LOW-RESOURCE (I.E., COMPUTATIONAL TIME, POWER, FOOTPRINT) INTRUSION DETECTION WITH ON-CHIP SENSING TO CONTINUOUSLY MONITOR ANOMALIES AND DETER ADVERSARIAL MANIPULATIONS. THE TEAM WILL IMPROVE THE RESILIENCE AND SECURITY OF NEURAL IMPLANTS BY PROTECTING SYSTEM HARDWARE AND AI-IN-THE-LOOP CONTROL SOFTWARE FROM MALICIOUS INFORMATION INJECTION, DISRUPTION IN OPERATION, AND PRIVACY LEAKAGE. A TEST BED WILL BE DEVELOPED TO VALIDATE AND TEST PHYSICAL DEVICES, SEE THE RESULTS FROM MODELING AND MICROELECTRONIC DESIGN CHANGES, WITH REAL WORLD DATA COLLECTED IN LAB AND TRANSLATED BACK TO THE MODEL FOR UPDATING AND CONTROL OF REALISTIC INTERACTIONS. TESTING THE INSERTION OF MALICIOUS INTENT OR UNINTENDED INTERFERENCE WILL ALLOW THE TEAM TO DISCERN IMPACT AND IDENTIFY POTENTIAL DESIGN CHANGES ON THE DEVICE HARDWARE TO PREVENT FUTURE INCIDENTS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

CONGESTED AND CONTESTED RF EMULATIONS WITH COLOSSEUM

A SYNERGY-BASED THERAPY AGAINST C. DIFFICILE

INFLUENCE OF LEGAL CONTEXT ON TOBACCO INDUSTRY BEHAVIOR

CRISP TYPE 2: INTERDEPENDENT NETWORK-BASED QUANTIFICATION OF INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENCE (INQUIRE)

MOLECULAR BASIS OF CANNABINOID ACTIVITY

NEW COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT: PERCEPTIVE AND REACTIVE AUTONOMOUS NAVIGATION IN CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENTS (PRANCE)

A VERSATILE HIGH-PERFORMANCE OPTICAL MAMMOGRAPHY CO-IMAGER

CENTER OF EXCELLENCE - CENTER FOR EXPLOSIVES (CER) CENTER LEAD

INTRA-CARTILAGE DEPOT DELIVERY OF ELECTRICALLY-CHARGED IL-1RA FOR TARGETING OSTEOARTHRITIS-ASSOCIATED INFLAMMATION AND CATABOLISM IN MULTIPLE JOINT TISSUES

3D OCEAN CIRCULATION AND ITS MAGNETIC SIGNATURE ON THE SOUTHEAST FLORIDA SHELF

ORIGINS AND FUNCTIONS OF MAMMALIAN FEMALE GERMLINE STEM CELLS

STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONS - HISPANIC SERVING INSTITUTIONS

SCC-IRG TRACK 1: COMMON SENSES (STANDARDS FOR ENACTING SENSOR NETWORKS FOR AN EQUITABLE SOCIETY) : COMMUNITY-LED, SCIENCE-DRIVEN CLIMATE RESILIENCE IN BOSTON, MA -COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE WORLD ARE EXPERIENCING A CHALLENGING PARADOX: ACCELERATING DEVELOPMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE. OFTEN, THE IMPACTS ARE CONCENTRATED IN DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES, REQUIRING NEW APPROACHES TO PURSUING LOCAL AND EQUITABLE SOLUTIONS TO CLIMATE RESILIENCE. COMMON SENSES WILL DEMONSTRATE SUCH AN APPROACH BY INTEGRATING CUTTING-EDGE SCIENCE WITH COMMUNITY PRIORITIES IN CONJUNCTION WITH A CAPITAL REDEVELOPMENT OF BLUE HILL AVE. IN BOSTON, MA, A LONG-NEGLECTED THOROUGHFARE RUNNING THROUGH THE HEART OF THE CITY?S HISTORICALLY BLACK COMMUNITIES. NETWORKS OF SENSORS INSTALLED THROUGHOUT BLUE HILL AVE.?S NEIGHBORHOODS WILL MEASURE THE THREAT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS, INCLUDING EXTREME HEAT AND RAINWATER FLOODING, FROM STREET TO STREET. THESE DATA WILL BE EXPLORED COLLABORATIVELY WITH COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDERS IN WORKSHOPS THAT WILL CULMINATE IN PROPOSALS FOR THE PLACEMENT OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE (E.G., RAIN GARDENS, GREEN ROOFS) OPTIMIZED TO MITIGATE HAZARDS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD FOLLOWING THE REDEVELOPMENT. THE PROJECT IS A COMMUNITY-CITY-UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE DUDLEY STREET NEIGHBORHOOD INITIATIVE (DSNI) AND PROJECT RIGHT, WHICH SERVE COMMUNITIES ALONG THE BLUE HILL AVE. CORRIDOR; THE CITY OF BOSTON?S MAYOR?S OFFICE OF NEW URBAN MECHANICS (MONUM); AND AN INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM AFFILIATED WITH NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY?S BOSTON AREA RESEARCH INITIATIVE (BARI). COMMON SENSES WILL MAKE FOUR MAJOR ADVANCES. (1) IT WILL GENERATE NEW TECHNIQUES FOR MODELING SENSOR DATA TO QUANTIFY DISPARITIES IN HAZARDS FROM BLOCK TO BLOCK WITHIN COMMUNITIES, OR MICROSPATIAL INEQUITIES. (2) IT WILL DEVELOP NEW PRACTICES AND TOOLS FOR PARTICIPATORY MODELING, OR THE PROCESS OF GENERATING SOLUTIONS BY PLACING COMPLEX DATA IN THE HANDS OF COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDERS. (3) IT WILL EVALUATE THE IMPACTS THAT GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE CAN HAVE ON MITIGATING MICROSPATIAL INEQUITIES IN COMMUNITIES. (4) IT WILL DEMONSTRATE HOW SENSOR NETWORKS CAN BE BEST INTEGRATED WITH COMMUNITY NEEDS AND PERSPECTIVES TO HAVE TRUE PUBLIC IMPACT, SOMETHING THAT THIS EMERGENT TECHNOLOGY OFTEN LACKS. THE PROJECT WILL HAVE EXTENSIVE BENEFITS FOR THE BLUE HILL AVE. CORRIDOR AND WILL DEMONSTRATE A MODEL FOR SIMILAR PROJECTS LOCALLY AND GLOBALLY. THE TEAM WILL WORK WITH THE CITY OF BOSTON TO REPLICATE THE APPROACH IN OTHER PROJECTS THROUGHOUT THE GREATER BOSTON REGION. THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO PUBLISH THE COMMON SENSES PLAYBOOK, A NON-ACADEMIC PUBLICATION SUMMARIZING THE INSIGHTS, TOOLS, AND PRACTICES DEVELOPED THROUGHOUT THE PROJECT TO ENABLE OTHER COMMUNITIES TO INCORPORATE IN THEIR OWN PURSUIT OF LOCAL SOLUTIONS TO CLIMATE RESILIENCE. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

ADAPTIVE COMPUTING MODELS FOR CYBERSECURITY THREATS AND INFORMATION ANALYSIS

FW-HTF-RL: CO-WORKER ROBOTS TO IMPACT SEAFOOD PROCESSING (CRISP): DESIGNS, TOOLS AND METHODS FOR ENHANCED WORKER EXPERIENCE

CRISP TYPE 2: IDENTIFICATION AND CONTROL OF UNCERTAIN, HIGHLY INTERDEPENDENT PROCESSES INVOLVING HUMANS WITH APPLICATIONS TO RESILIENT EMERGENCY HEAL

PROMOTING POSTBACCALAUREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR HISPANIC AMERICANS (PPOHA)

PERSONALIZED THERAPEUTICS FOR INHIBITING BREAST CANCER METASTASIS

MECHANISMS DRIVING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THREAT SENSITIVITY FOLLOWING EARLY LIFE ADVERSITY - EXPOSURE TO EARLY LIFE ADVERSITY (ELA) CONFERS SIGNIFICANT RISK FOR PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS THAT ARE OFTEN UNRESPONSIVE TO TRADITIONAL TREATMENTS. IMPORTANTLY, MOST ELA-ATTRIBUTABLE PSYCHOPATHOLOGIES INVOLVE HEIGHTENED RESPONSIVITY TO POTENTIAL THREATS, YET OUR MECHANISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF THIS SUSCEPTIBILITY REMAINS INCIPIENT DUE TO INSUFFICIENT KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HOW EXPERIENCE, SEX, AND AGE INTERACT TO AFFECT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THREAT-RESPONSIVE CIRCUITS. THUS, THIS PROJECT AIMS TO IDENTIFY CAUSAL MECHANISMS INITIATED BY ELA THAT DRIVE HEIGHTENED CORTICOLIMBIC CONNECTIVITY AND ENHANCED THREAT RESPONSIVITY. OUR LONG-TERM GOAL IS TO ENABLE TRANSLATION OF THESE FINDINGS INTO INDIVIDUALIZED INTERVENTION STRATEGIES. OUR GROUPS HAVE SHOWN THAT ELA LEADS TO DEVELOPMENT OF HEIGHTENED ANATOMICAL (INNERVATION) AND FUNCTIONAL (BOLD; LOCAL FIELD POTENTIAL) CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN THE BASOLATERAL AMYGDALA (BLA) AND THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX (PFC) IN EARLY ADOLESCENCE, AS WELL AS HIGHER ANXIETY-LIKE BEHAVIORS. SEVERAL OF THESE EFFECTS EMERGED EARLIER IN FEMALES THAN IN MALES, AND OUR PRELIMINARY FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT PUBERTAL SEX HORMONES MAY IMPACT THE SEX-SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT OF BLA-PFC CONNECTIVITY FOLLOWING ELA. WE WILL THEREFORE TEST THE CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS THAT ELA DISRUPTION OF PERI-PUBERTAL BLA ACTIVITY AND HORMONAL SIGNALING ACCELERATE DEVELOPMENT OF BLA-PFC CONNECTIVITY IN A SEX-SPECIFIC MANNER, ALTERING PFC-REGULATED THREAT RESPONSIVITY ACROSS THE LIFESPAN. OUR STUDIES WILL FIRST USE ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL AND CHEMOGENETIC APPROACHES TO REVEAL SEX-SPECIFIC CRITICAL PERIODS OF BLA ACTIVITY THAT DRIVE HYPER-CONNECTIVITY WITH THE PFC (AIM 1), ENHANCED RESPONSIVITY TO POTENTIAL THREAT (AIM 1), AND GLUTAMATE RECEPTIVITY IN THE PFC (AIM 2). AIM 3 WILL INVESTIGATE A PERI-PUBERTAL NEUROENDOCRINE MECHANISM USING RNA SILENCING TO DETERMINE WHETHER ESTROGEN RECEPTOR SIGNALING IN THE BLA DRIVES HYPER-CONNECTIVITY TO THE PFC, GLUTAMATE TRANSMISSION IN THE PFC, AND HEIGHTENED THREAT RESPONSIVITY. TOGETHER, THESE STUDIES WILL FILL CRITICAL GAPS IN KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENTAL AND SEX-SPECIFIC NATURE OF ELA EFFECTS ON BLA-PFC CIRCUITRY AND ARE EXPECTED TO HAVE SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIFIC TARGETS FOR PREVENTION IN ELA-EXPOSED POPULATIONS.

NEW CONDITIONAL AWARD TO NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY FOR A PROJECT ENTITLED, “WIRELESS HYDROGEN INTEGRATED SENSING VIA PIEZOELECTRIC RESONATORS AND SWITCHES (WHISPERS)'' FOA NUMBER DE-FOA-0002784 ET: H2SENSE AND CONTROL NUMBER 2784-1893

THE PURPOSE OF THIS AGREEMENT IS TO FUND RESEARCH SUPPORTING THE DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY (DARPA) PERCEPTUALLY-ENABLED TASK GUIDANCE (PTG). THIS EFFORT SHALL BE CARRIED OUT GENERALLY AS SET FORTH IN EXHIBIT B, RESEARCH DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT, DATED NOVEMBER 9, 2021, AND IN THE RECIPIENTS PROPOSAL TITLED, AI2ART: ADAPTIVE AND INTERACTIVE AI-AR TASK ASSISTANCE, PROVIDED TO DARPA ON MAY 14, 2021,

ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE, SPECTROSCOPY, AND CORRELATION EFFECTS IN NOVEL MATERIALS

COMMUNITY BASED DENTAL PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM

IDENTIFYING AND ADDRESSING SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH TO REDUCE THE NATIONAL BURDEN OF AND INEQUITIES IN DEMENTIA - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND RELATED DEMENTIAS (ADRD) ARE AN ESCALATING NATIONAL CRISIS THAT SHAPES OVERALL LEVELS OF POPULATION HEALTH INCLUDING AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY. CRITICALLY, IN ORDER TO EFFECTIVELY ADDRESS THIS CRISIS, IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT WE IDENTIFY ITS ROOT CAUSES, WHICH MAY INCLUDE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH (SDOH) SUCH AS EDUCATION SPENDING AND SOCIAL MOBILITY, AND THAT WE MODIFY THESE ROOT CAUSES THROUGH CORRESPONDING POLICIES. WHILE A HANDFUL OF SDOH HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO PREDICT COGNITIVE DECLINE AND ADRD, IMPORTANT QUESTIONS REMAIN ABOUT WHICH SDOH ARE ROOT SOCIAL DRIVERS I.E., HAVE THE GREATEST IMPACTS. DESPITE INCREASING CALLS FOR COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENTS TO UNPACK AND ADDRESS THE ROOT CAUSES—THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS—OF ADRD, WE LACK KNOWLEDGE ON THE RELATIVE ADRD BURDEN AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS ASSOCIATED WITH MODIFYING SDOH, INCLUDING POLICIES SUCH AS THE SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS TAX. FURTHERMORE, WE HAVE YET TO ESTABLISH WHICH SUBPOPULATIONS ARE MOST AFFECTED BY SDOH. GIVEN THIS INFORMATION, THERE ARE CRITICAL NEEDS TO ACCURATELY ESTIMATE SDOH IMPACTS, INCLUDING BY SUBPOPULATION; AND TO TRANSLATE THESE ESTIMATES INTO PRIORITY-SETTING TOOLS INCLUDING IMPACTS ON ADRD BURDEN AND COSTS. LEFT UNADDRESSED, THESE CRITICAL NEEDS WILL HINDER THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLICIES TO MORE EFFECTIVELY REDUCE ADRD BURDEN AND INEQUITIES. OUR OVERALL OBJECTIVE IS TO USE LARGE MULTILEVEL, LONGITUDINAL DATASETS AND QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHES TO CONSTRUCT THE FIRST COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE BASE ON THE SOCIAL DRIVERS OF ADRD BURDEN AND INEQUITIES. WE WILL ACCOMPLISH OUR OVERALL OBJECTIVE BY PURSUING THE FOLLOWING SPECIFIC AIMS USING DATA IN ADULTS AGE 50+ FROM: THE NATIONALLY-REPRESENTATIVE MORTALITY DISPARITIES IN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES STUDY, LINKED TO NATIONAL MORTALITY DATABASES; THE NATIONALLY-REPRESENTATIVE HEALTH AND RETIREMENT STUDY, LINKED TO MEDICARE CLAIMS DATA; AND THE NIH’S ALL OF US PROGRAM, A MULTIETHNIC STUDY LINKED TO ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS (EHR) DATA ON DIAGNOSES/TREATMENTS OF HEALTH CONDITIONS: AIM 1) TO ASSESS THE IMPACTS OF AREA-LEVEL SDOH INCLUDING STATE POLICIES AS PROTECTIVE FACTORS AGAINST ADRD MORTALITY, THAT MAY VARY ACROSS HEALTH DISPARITY POPULATIONS; AIM 2) TO EVALUATE THE IMPACTS OF AREA-LEVEL SDOH ON MEMORY DECLINE IN MIDDLE-AGED ADULTS AND INCIDENCE OF COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT AND DEMENTIA IN OLDER ADULTS; AIM 3) TO EXPLORE THE MECHANISMS THROUGH WHICH AREA-LEVEL SDOH MAY PROTECT AGAINST ADRD INCIDENCE AND COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT/DECLINE, INCLUDING PHYSICAL/MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS AND BIOMARKERS; AND AIM 4) TO ASCERTAIN WHICH AREA-LEVEL SDOH, IF MODIFIED, ARE EXPECTED TO YIELD THE GREATEST REDUCTIONS IN LEVELS OF AND INEQUITIES IN ADRD BURDEN AND COSTS. REGARDING IMPACT, WE WILL IDENTIFY THE MOST PROMISING SDOH ON WHICH TO INTERVENE TO YIELD IMPROVEMENTS IN ADRD BURDEN AND INEQUITIES. WE WILL FURTHER ESTABLISH THE PATHWAYS TO DIFFERENTIAL VULNERABILITIES BY SUBPOPULATION. BY TRANSLATING ESTIMATES INTO POPULATION HEALTH METRICS, WE ANTICIPATE OUR PROJECT WILL HAVE HIGH TRANSLATIONAL IMPACT THROUGH GUIDING POLICYMAKERS' EVIDENCE-BASED DECISIONS ABOUT POLICIES TO MORE EFFECTIVELY REDUCE THE BURDEN OF AND INEQUITIES IN ADRD AMONG AMERICANS.

COMMUNITY-BASED DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF A CONVERSATIONAL AGENT TO PROMOTE SARS-COV2 VACCINATION IN BLACK CHURCHES - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT COMMUNITY-BASED DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF A CONVERSATIONAL AGENT TO PROMOTE SARS- COV2 VACCINATION IN BLACK CHURCHES AFRICAN AMERICANS HAVE SUFFERED A DISPROPORTIONATE BURDEN FROM COVID-19, WITH SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER RATES OF INFECTION, HOSPITALIZATION, AND MORTALITY COMPARED TO WHITES. THESE FINDINGS MAY BE COMPOUNDED BY THE FACT THAT AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE ALSO AT HIGHER RISK FOR VACCINE HESITANCY. AS LIMITED HEALTH LITERACY HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS A KEY MEDIATOR OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISPARITIES, INTERVENTIONS THAT ADDRESS HEALTH LITERACY BARRIERS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO AMELIORATE THESE DISPARITIES. OVER THE PAST DECADE WE HAVE DEVELOPED AND TESTED EMBODIED CONVERSATIONAL AGENTS (ECA) — COMPUTER CHARACTERS THAT SIMULATE FACE-TO-FACE COUNSELING USING VOICE, HAND GESTURE, GAZE CUES AND OTHER NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR, AND SUCCESSFULLY USED THEM IN HEALTH BEHAVIOR INTERVENTIONS FOR POPULATIONS WITH LOW HEALTH LITERACY. WE HAVE DEVELOPED ECA-BASED INTERVENTIONS TO ADDRESS A WIDE RANGE OF HEALTH PROBLEMS AMONG LOW LITERACY POPULATIONS, INCLUDING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, DIET, AND MEDICATION ADHERENCE PROMOTION, PROVIDING ACCESS TO AND EXPLANATION OF HEALTHCARE DOCUMENTS, AND COLLECTION OF FAMILY HEALTH HISTORIES. IN THIS PROJECT, WE PROPOSE TO CREATE AN EFFECTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE SMARTPHONE-BASED ECA INTERVENTION DESIGNED TO DELIVER PERSONALIZED AND TAILORED EDUCATION ABOUT SARS-COV-2 AND INFLUENZA VACCINATION. WE WILL COLLABORATE WITH THE BLACK MINISTERIAL ALLIANCE TENPOINT (BMATP) OF GREATER BOSTON TO DEVELOP THE INTERVENTION APP AND EVALUATE IT IN A CLINICAL TRIAL INVOLVING 600 CONGREGANTS FROM 12 PREDOMINATELY AFRICAN AMERICAN CHURCHES. OUR PRIMARY HYPOTHESIS IS THAT PARTICIPANTS WILL HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER SARS-COV-2 AND INFLUENZA VACCINATION SERIES COMPLETION AT 6 MONTHS (H1) AND 12 MONTHS (H2) IN VERSIONS OF THE APP THAT PROMOTE ENGAGEMENT AND INCORPORATE SPIRITUAL TAILORING. OUR SECONDARY HYPOTHESES ARE THAT, AMONG PARTICIPANTS WHO HAVE NOT BEEN VACCINATED, THOSE IN THE HIGH ENGAGEMENT AND TAILORED CONDITIONS WILL HAVE SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS IN INTENT TO OBTAIN SARS-COV-2 AND INFLUENZA VACCINATION AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS SARS-COV-2 AND INFLUENZA VACCINATION.

BUILDING A SHARED INFRASTRUCTURE FOR COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT IN THE SERVICE OF COGNITIVE TRAINING RESEARCH - EFFECTIVE MEASUREMENT OF COGNITIVE ABILITIES IS FUNDAMENTAL TO EFFECTIVE DIAGNOSTICS, RISK ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION OF INTERVENTIONS TARGETED TOWARDS OLDER ADULTS (OA) AND IN PARTICULAR THOSE WITH ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND RELATED DEMENTIAS (ADRD). WITH THE UBIQUITOUS AVAILABILITY OF SMARTPHONE/TABLET TECHNOLOGY IN MODERN SOCIETY A PROLIFERATION OF MOBILE COGNITIVE ASSESSMENTS FROM COMPANIES, HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS, AND RESEARCHERS ARE BEING DEVELOPED. HOWEVER, A DIFFICULTY IN EVALUATING SUCH INTERVENTIONS, AND IN PARTICULAR MAKING COMPARISON BETWEEN THEM IS THE LACK OF STANDARDIZATION/INTEROPERABILITY OF ASSESSMENT TOOLS. THIS IS ESPECIALLY THE CASE FOR EARLY STAGE/MECHANISTIC STUDIES WHERE IT IS COMMON FOR INVESTIGATORS TO EACH USE THEIR OWN LABS' TOOLSET TO EVALUATE INTERVENTION OUTCOMES. HERE WE ADDRESS PARTICULAR NEEDS IN THE FIELD OF COGNITIVE TRAINING, AS WELL AS FOR OTHER LONGITUDINAL ASSESSMENTS FOCUSED ON OA, WHERE THE LIMITED STANDARDIZATION AND ACCESSIBILITY OF COGNITIVE OUTCOME MEASURES MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO EVALUATE EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERVENTIONS. THIS R21/R33 INFRASTRUCTURE PROPOSAL SEEKS TO DEVELOP SHARED TOOLS TO FACILITATE EFFECTIVE TRANSLATION AND SHARING OF COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT AND TRAINING PROCEDURES. WE ACCOMPLISH THIS BY LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGIES, EXISTING ASSESSMENT BATTERIES, AND KNOW- HOW FROM 3 GROUPS THAT HAVE EACH INDEPENDENTLY DEVELOPED ROBUST SYSTEMS FOR COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT AND TRAINING THAT CAN RUN ON MOBILE DEVICES (UCR BRAIN GAME CENTER, UCSF NEUROSCAPE CENTER, AND UCI WORKING MEMORY AND PLASTICITY LAB). WE TARGET DEVELOPMENT OF SYSTEMS THAT ALLOW FOR INTEROPERABILITY OF ASSESSMENTS, ENROLLMENT/PARTICIPANT TRACKING SYSTEMS, DATA VISUALIZATION, AND PARTICIPANT COMPLIANCE SYSTEMS. IN THE R21 PHASE, WE AIM TO DEVELOP SUCH SYSTEMS AND DEMONSTRATE THAT THEY CAN BE EFFECTIVELY SHARED ACROSS LABS, AND IN THE R33 PHASE, THESE SYSTEMS WILL BE BOTH TESTED FOR ROBUSTNESS IN LARGE SCALE-RESEARCH PROJECTS THAT WILL NOW BE ABLE TO SHARE OUTCOME MEASURES, AND FOR DEVELOPING PERSONALIZED, PRECISION TRAINING APPROACHES FOR PARTICIPANTS BASED UPON THESE ASSESSMENTS. FURTHER, THESE SYSTEMS WILL BE DOCUMENTED AND WILL BE SHARED WITH OTHER SCIENTISTS GROUPS TO REDUCE THE BARRIER OF ENTRY FOR OTHER GROUPS. THE LONG-TERM IMPACT OF THIS WORK WILL BE AN INFRASTRUCTURE THAT WILL SUPPORT BETTER COMPARISON ACROSS STUDIES OF COGNITIVE TRAINING, AS WELL AS OTHER INTERVENTIONS THAT ARE INCREASINGLY BEING USED TO AMELIORATE COGNITIVE DECLINES IN OLDER ADULTS SUCH AS THOSE RELATED TO ADRD. THE KEY VALUE OF THIS SYSTEM COMPARED TO OTHERS IS THAT IT WILL SIMULTANEOUSLY SUPPORT THE FLEXIBILITY REQUIRED FOR BASIC RESEARCH, BY FACILITATING GROUPS TO CONTINUE TO USE THEIR OWN LAB'S SOFTWARE SYSTEMS, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME PROVIDING THEM WITH A POWERFUL INFRASTRUCTURE FOR SHARING THAT ALLOWS THEM TO INCORPORATE ASSESSMENTS, SERVER INFRASTRUCTURE AND COMPLIANCE TOOLS INTO THEIR OWN STUDIES. THIS WILL FACILITATE COMPARISONS ACROSS STUDIES USING COMMON OUTCOME MEASURES AS WELL AS THE ABILITY TO USE THE SAME ASSESSMENTS IN NUMEROUS OTHER DOMAINS INCLUDING RISK-ASSESSMENT AND LONGITUDINAL TESTING IN OLDER ADULTS AT RISK FOR ADRD.

COASTAL ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH SENSOR DEVELOPMENT

ARBI - ASSESSMENT AND REHABILITATION OF BINOCULAR SENSORIMOTOR DISORDERS - PROJECT SUMMARY BINOCULAR VISION RELIES ON A SYNERGY BETWEEN SENSORY AND MOTOR FUSIONAL MECHANISMS THAT JOINTLY CONSTRUCT A SINGLE PERCEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT FROM THE DIFFERING IMAGES FORMED ON THE TWO RETINAE. A STEREOSCOPIC SENSORY REPRESENTATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT IS REQUIRED FOR ACCURATE BINOCULAR EYE MOVEMENTS, WHICH IN TURN ARE REQUIRED FOR STEREOSCOPIC SENSORY VISION. A FAILURE IN EITHER COMPONENT OF THIS SYSTEM, ESPECIALLY DURING DEVELOPMENT, CAN LEAD TO PERMANENT BINOCULAR VISION IMPAIRMENT. SENSORY IMPAIRMENTS CAN INCLUDE AMBLYOPIA, DIPLOPIA AND SUPPRESSION, OCULOMOTOR IMPAIRMENTS CAN INCLUDE STRABISMUS AND VERGENCE INSUFFICIENCY, WHILE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SEQUELAE INCLUDE LOST EDUCATION, SPORT AND JOB OPPORTUNITIES AND ELEVATED ADVERSE HEALTH RISKS. THE CURRENT TREATMENTS FOR AMBLYOPIA (OCCLUSION AND PENALIZATION) ARE PRIMARILY MONOCULAR AND DO NOT PROMOTE BINOCULAR PERCEPTION OR EYE MOVEMENT COORDINATION. SIMILARLY, TREATMENTS FOR STRABISMUS DO NOT TYPICALLY ADDRESS BINOCULAR PERCEPTION. THESE LIMITATIONS ARE AT LEAST PARTLY DUE TO A LACK OF PRACTICAL METHODOLOGIES FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF SENSORY-MOTOR FUNCTION AND PARTLY DUE TO A LACK OF COORDINATED SENSORY-MOTOR THERAPIES. RECENT DATA SHOW THAT THERE IS SIGNIFICANT PLASTICITY IN BOTH SENSORY SYSTEMS AND MOTOR SYSTEMS, EVEN IN ADULTS. MANY GROUPS ARE NOW EXPLORING METHODS TO PROMOTE SENSORY PLASTICITY WITH DIGITALLY MODIFIED IMAGES IN DICHOPTIC GAMES AND MOVIES, BUT CONSIDERABLY LESS ATTENTION HAS BEEN DIRECTED TO MOTOR PLASTICITY OR SENSORY AND MOTOR PLASTICITY TOGETHER. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT ADDITIONAL THERAPEUTIC GAINS AND A LOWER RISK OF ADVERSE SIDE EFFECTS MAY BE ACHIEVED WITH A COMBINED SENSORY-MOTOR THERAPEUTIC APPROACH THAT IS MONITORED BY EFFECTIVE SENSORY-MOTOR ENDPOINTS. WE ARGUE I) THAT THE PACE OF COMMERCIALIZATION OF VIRTUAL REALITY THERAPIES FOR ANISOMETROPIC AMBLYOPIA INTENSIFIES THE NEED SIMULTANEOUSLY TO UNDERSTAND SENSORY AND OCULOMOTOR DEFICITS IN STRABISMIC AMBLYOPIA AND II) THAT THE HIGH LEVELS OF RECIDIVISM FOLLOWING SURGICAL INTERVENTION MAY BENEFIT FROM COMBINED SENSORIMOTOR REHABILITATION. IN AIM 1, WE DEVELOP AND EVALUATE EFFICIENT METHODS TO MEASURE SENSORY AND MOTOR DEFICITS IN PEOPLE WITH BINOCULAR VISION IMPAIRMENT AND TO PROVIDE A QUANTITATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR EVIDENCE-BASED ASSESSMENT OF SENSORY-MOTOR THERAPY. IN AIM 2, WE MEASURE THE IMPACT ACROSS THE VISUAL FIELD OF STRABISMUS ON THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL REPRESENTATION OF VIRTUAL AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE DISTRIBUTION OF NATURALLY OCCURRING DEPTH STATISTICS ACROSS THE VISUAL FIELD MAY IMPACT THE DEVELOPMENT OF BINOCULAR SENSORY AND MOTOR DEFICITS AND MODERATE THEIR RESPONSE TO TREATMENT. IN AIM 3, WE DEVELOP AND EVALUATE FEEDBACK-BASED METHODS THAT AIM TO FACILITATE AND MAINTAIN OCULAR ALIGNMENT AND EXAMINE THE POTENTIAL BENEFIT OF SIMULTANEOUS SENSORY AND MOTOR INTERVENTIONS FOR BINOCULAR VISUAL FUNCTION. IN EACH AIM, WE EMPLOY BOTH LABORATORY STIMULI, BECAUSE OF THEIR HIGH LEVEL OF CONTROL, AND NATURAL AND VIRTUAL 3D SCENES, BECAUSE OF THEIR RICH STRUCTURE AND RELEVANCE TO REAL-WORLD DEFICITS. THE OVERALL GOAL IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATION FOR COMBINED SENSORY AND MOTOR THERAPEUTIC APPROACHES TO BINOCULAR VISUAL DYSFUNCTION.

RIBOSOME-MEDIATED TRANSLATIONAL REGULATION DURING STEM CELL DIFFERENTIATION

CONFORMATIONAL REGULATION AND THERAPEUTIC TARGETING OF ONCOGENIC KRAS

SEMI-AUTOMATING DATA EXTRACTION FOR SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS

ROLE OF ENDOTHELIAL SOX17 IN EC-SMC CROSSTALK AND HOMEOSTATIC REGULATION OF BLOOD VESSEL ADAPTION TO ARTERIAL HEMODYNAMICS - SUMMARY ARTERIES AND VEINS PLAY DIFFERENT ROLES IN HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY AND VASCULAR DISEASES. NOTABLY, ARTERIAL AND VENOUS ENDOTHELIAL CELLS (ECS) DEMONSTRATE DISTINCT MOLECULAR PROFILES. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SUCH MOLECULAR DISTINCTION IS ORCHESTRATED BY SERIES OF TRANSCRIPTIONAL PROGRAMS, WHICH HAVE BEEN WELL STUDIED IN DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY. HOWEVER, HOW THESE EC TRANSCRIPTIONAL PROGRAMS CONTROL ADULT BLOOD VESSEL STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION, AND HOW TO TRANSLATE THIS KNOWLEDGE INTO CLINICAL APPLICATION SUCH AS VEIN OR TISSUE ENGINEERED GRAFT ADAPTATION IS UNDER- EXPLORED. TO ADDRESS THIS QUESTION, WE EXAMINED THE TRANSCRIPTION PROFILE OF ARTERIAL VS. VENOUS ECS IN ADULT BLOOD VESSELS AND HAVE IDENTIFIED SEVERAL KEY TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS THAT ARE DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED IN ARTERIAL VS. VENOUS ECS. AMONG THEM, SOX13 AND SOX17 ARE HIGHLY EXPRESSED IN ADULT ARTERIAL ECS BUT NOT IN VENOUS ECS. OUR PRELIMINARY STUDIES DEMONSTRATE THAT OVER-EXPRESSING SOX17 IN VENOUS ECS RECONSTITUTES ALL THE KNOWN ARTERIAL MARKERS, SUGGESTING SOX17 IS A KEY REGULATOR OF ADULT ARTERIAL EC PHENOTYPES. IMPORTANTLY, SOX17 INDUCES THE EXPRESSION OF MULTIPLE FAMILIES OF MOLECULES (NOTCH, EPHRIN, CONNEXINS, PDGF) THAT MAY CONFER SIGNALS FROM ECS TO SMOOTH MUSCLE CELLS (SMCS) TO REGULATE SMC PHENOTYPES IN BLOOD VESSELS. EC SOX17 ALSO PROMOTED SMC CONTRACTILE PHENOTYPE IN EC-SMC CO-CULTURE AND GRAFT REMODELING MODEL. ON THE OTHER HAND, OVER-EXPRESSING SOX13 IN ECS FACILITATES THE RECRUITMENT OF SMCS TOWARD BLOOD VESSELS. BASED ON THESE ENCOURAGING PRELIMINARY DATA, WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT ENDOTHELIAL SOX13/17 PLAY SYNERGISTIC ROLES IN THE HOMEOSTATIC REGULATION OF ADULT ARTERY FUNCTIONS BY MAINTAINING ADULT ARTERIAL EC PHENOTYPE AND ENGAGING EC- SMC CROSSTALK. TO TEST THIS HYPOTHESIS, WE WILL INVESTIGATE HOW THE ENDOTHELIAL SOX13/17 REGULATES EC AND SMC PHENOTYPES AND THEIR ROLE IN BLOOD VESSEL STRUCTURES AND FUNCTIONS USING IN VITRO BIOENGINEERED MODELS AS WELL AS IN VIVO ANIMAL MODELS.

ENGINEERING BIOMIMETIC CORNEAL CONSTRUCTS

INFRALIMBIC CIRCUIT CONTROL OVER A SEX-DEPENDENT SWITCH IN THREAT RESPONDING

DIRECT PICOGRAM DNA AND RNA SEQUENCING USING NANOPORE ZERO-MODE WAVEGUIDES

PERSISTER CELLS OF BORRELIA BURGDORFERI

SHF: LARGE: GRADUAL TYPING ACROSS THE SPECTRUM

BRIDGING ATOMISTIC AND CONTINUUM SCALES IN PHASE-FIELD MODELING OF SOLID-LIQUID...

"CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY BY TARGETING A2 ADENOSINE RECEPTOR"