The recipients of the 2009 UCHC/Storrs and Regional Campus Incentive Grants (UCIG) were announced recently by Suman Singha, vice president for research, and Marc Lalande, senior associate dean for research, planning, and coordination at the Health Center.
The goal of the UCIG program is to promote inter-campus research programs among the researchers at the Health Center and other UConn campuses. The year-long grants are jointly funded from the research budgets at Storrs and the Health Center, using money derived from indirect costs on extramural grants.
Research proposals were peer reviewed by a committee comprising researchers from both Storrs and the Health Center. Criteria for evaluating the proposals included the potential to attract extramural funding after the current funding expires, the interdisciplinary nature of the project, and the project’s capacity to support the University’s application for a Clinical and Translational Science Award – a National Institutes of Health program intended to speed up the translation of scientific research into practical applications in the medical field.
Twelve full proposals were invited, and six awards were made. The recipient research teams and their projects are:
Molecular Mechanism of Beta-Blocker Action in the Brain
Anastasios Tzingounis, Physiology & Neurobiology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Kimberly Dodge-Kafka, Cell Biology/Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center, Health Center
Exercise as an Alcohol Use Disorders Intervention for Sedentary Non-Treatment Seeking Adults
Nancy Petry, Medicine, Health Center
Linda Pescatello, Kinesiology, Neag School of Education
Jeremiah Weinstock, Medicine, Health Center
Disseminating the Options Project Physician-delivered Intervention to HIV Care Providers
Jeffrey Fisher, Psychology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Judith Fifield, Family Medicine, Health Center
Mechanically and Biologically Compatible Novel Biodegradable Polymer-Carbon Nanotube Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering
Syam Nukavarapu, Orthopaedic Surgery, Health Center
Barry Carter, Chemical, Materials, and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Engineering
Cato Laurencin, Orthopaedic Surgery, Health Center
Use of Novel Nanopolymer Scaffolds for Human Articular Cartilage Repair
Hicham Drissi, Orthopaedic Surgery, Health Center
Mei Wei, Chemical, Materials, & Biomolecular Engineering, School of Engineering
Sex Differences in Cellular and Behavioral Response to Brain Injury Across the Lifespan
Roslyn Holly Fitch, Psychology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Louise McCullough, Neurology & Neuroscience, Health Center
