Research Wire

Dustin Baldridge, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine, has received a 2023 Avenir Award in Genetics and Epigenetics of Substance Use from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Nhial Tutlam at the Brown School, associate director for research at the International Center for Child Health and Development, won a research scientist career development award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Song Hu at the McKelvey School of Engineering plans to develop deep-brain fiber-optic techniques to investigate the cause of memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease.

Ali Ellebedy, an associate professor at the School of Medicine, and colleagues have received a $13 million grant renewal from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a project that will bring together experts from multiple disciplines across five research institutions to create better vaccines to fight against current and emerging coronaviruses. 

A team led by scientists and engineers, including researchers from the McKelvey School of Engineering, has created a unique, record-setting material that can bend one infrared ray of light in two directions.

Jason Yi and Harrison Gabel, both at the School of Medicine, each have received two-year, $300,000 pilot grants from the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative. The researchers will use the funds to investigate genetic diseases that result in autism.

Ying (Maggie) Chen, MD, PhD, at the School of Medicine, has received a match grant of $30,000 from the Center for Drug Discovery at Washington University. The grant will help fund proof of concept and related research directed toward targeting a novel receptor to treat uromodulin-associated chronic kidney disease.

Matt Gabel, a professor of political science in Arts & Sciences, received a two-year $325,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study ways to protect minority voting rights and representation.

Natalie M. Niemi, an assistant professor at the School of Medicine, received a five-year $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research on mitchondrial function.

Alex Chen and Yajie Yuan, both assistant professors of physics in Arts & Sciences, have received a $447,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to create a unified model of pulsars, rapidly rotating neutron stars that release mysterious pulses of electromagnetic radiation.