University Research Funding Opportunities Spring 2024 Major Awards Announced

University Research Funding Opportunities Spring 2024 Major Awards Announced

The University of Toledo's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs recently announced its University Research Funding Opportunities awards for Spring 2024.

"URFO funding is vital for UToledo faculty to make progress on research projects. The return, whether measured in publications or external grants, is very high," said Eva English, UToledo's director of grants development in the Department of Research and Sponsored Programs. "We are continually impressed by the high quality of research and scholarship submitted each year. The Research Council works hard to make difficult selections from the many worthwhile proposals submitted."

The research grants awarded are:

Interdisciplinary Research Initiation, $81,000

• Dr. Robert Smith, professor and chair for the Department of Neurosciences, "Kinome Array Screening of Novel Hybrid PI3Ka/CDK7 Leads."

• Dr. David Bazett-Jones, associate professor and program director for athletic training post-professional program, "Role of explicit and implicit expectations in the efficacy of musculoskeletal rehabilitation."

Research Innovation Program, $143,980

• Dr. Mohammad Elahinia, professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering and newly appointed interim dean of the College of Engineering, "3D Printing of Self-Expanding Stents: Model-Informed Design, Hemodynamics, and Fabrication."

• Dr. Guofa Liu, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, "MiR-219a functions as a molecular switch to control spinal cord commissural axon guidance."

• Dr. Robert Blumenthal, professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, "Identifying Ortholog-Specific Inhibitors of Adenosylmethionine Synthetase."

Research Awards and Fellowships, $110,068

• Dr. Cin Cin Tan, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, "The Role of Repetitive Exposure in Modifying Food Acceptance Among Emerging Adults: A Study of Picky Eaters."

• Dr. Jennifer Stevens, assistant professor in the Department of Marketing and International Business, "The New Wave of Service Workers: An Investigation of Gig Worker Benefits."

• Dr. Jami Taylor, professor for the Department of Political Science and Public Administration and director of master of public administration, "Public Opinion on Transgender Rights 2015-2024."

• Dr. Joey Kim, assistant professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, "The Racialized Woman in Romanticism."

• Deborah Orloff, professor and associate chair in the Department of Art, "Elusive Memory: Lost Histories."

• Dr. Ala Qattawi, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, "Material-By-Design Enabled by Additive Manufacturing: LPBF Sandwich Structure for Nickel Super Alloys and Refractory Metal for High Temperature and Strength Applications."

DeArce-Koch Memorial Fund for Medical Research, $95,200

• Dr. Heather Conti, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, " The immunological properties of newly discovered oral megakaryocytes."

• Dr. Terry Bigioni, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry "Molecular Silver clusters as Penetrating Broad-Spectrum Antimicrobials."

• Dr. Song-Tao Liu, professor and chair for the Department of Biological Sciences, "Phenotypic Plasticity of Breast Cancer Cells in response to MCL1 inhibitors."

• Dr. Mahasin Osman, associate professor in the Department of Medicine, "Probing the Molecular Determinants of Chemotherapy-induced Kidney Damage."