Last spring, the Warner School of Education and Human Development embarked on a new approach to faculty hiring, one that has resulted in three new tenure-track faculty members focused on interdisciplinary research around diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ). The successful faculty cluster hire—the first of its kind for Rochester—demonstrates how the Warner School is advancing the University’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and institutional strengths in interdisciplinary research.

Cluster hiring generally involves hiring multiple faculty members for one or more departments based on shared interdisciplinary research goals. This type of faculty search aims to enhance diversity and inclusion by attracting talented candidates who bring impressive research and teaching portfolios around a common theme.

The new Warner School tenure-track faculty hires are:

• Amanda McLeroy, an assistant professor in counseling and human development.
• Sloan Okrey, an assistant professor in counseling and human development.
• Tiffany Steele, an assistant professor in educational leadership.

Each new faculty member brings a different type of experience and research focus to the Warner School, all with the same ultimate goal—to lead research on diversity, equity, and inclusion in education, counseling, and human development, including equity-oriented scholarship that addresses the effects of racism or discrimination and oppression in underrepresented communities. Learn more.

University researchers will play leading roles in a new grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to accelerate our understanding of the glymphatic system, which removes waste from the brain. A better understanding of this system could lead to new therapies for diseases like Alzheimer’s.

The goal of this grant is to develop a more detailed, mechanistic understanding of the movement of the cleansing cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) during sleep and wakefulness and the neural processes that control it.

The new research program will be led by Maiken Nedergaard, co-director of the Center for Translational Neuromedicine, whose lab first discovered the brain cleansing role of the glymphatic system. Scientists and engineers from the Penn State University, Boston University, and the University of Copenhagen will also collaborate.

A team led by Douglas Kelley, associate professor of mechanical engineering, will build detailed fluid dynamics computer simulations that show how changes in blood vessels and neural activity drives the flow of CSF into and out of the brain.

The Nedergaard lab will examine how certain patterns of neuronal signaling and activity, support cells called astrocytes, and the smooth muscle cells that control blood flow in the brain all combine to turn the glymphatic system on and off.

Kelley will also lead one of the three “cores” that will support the research, specifically a data science core to provide innovative methods for storing, organizing, processing, analyzing, and internally sharing the enormous, multi-modal data sets that will be generated.

Mujdat Cetin, director of the Goergen Institute for Data Science and professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Jiebo Luo, professor of computer science, are co-PI’s for the data core.

Learn more.

Azmeer Sharipol, PhD student in biomedical engineering, and Benjamin Frisch, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and biomedical engineering, with a modular bone-marrow-on-chip device developed in Frisch’s lab.

A new microchip-like device developed in the lab of Benjamin Frisch, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and biomedical engineering, can reliably model changes in the bone marrow as leukemia takes root and spreads.

The modular bone-marrow-on-chip device recapitulates the entire human bone marrow microenvironment and its complex network of cellular and molecular components involved in blood cancers. It has two key features that similar tissue-chip systems lack: osteoblast cells, which are crucial to fuel leukemia, and a readily available platform.

Azmeer Sharipol, a second-year graduate student in biomedical engineering, is taking charge of the project in Frisch’s lab and is first author of a paper describing the device in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. Maggie Lesch, now a first-year graduate student, kicked off the project during her time as a technician in the lab.

Often when scientists study leukemia in the lab, Sharipol notes, they are limited to human or mouse cells and not able to see the bigger picture of how disease develops. “We hope that by modeling the bone marrow niche, we will gain a better understanding and be able to discover potential therapeutic targets,” he says. Learn more.

What do car engines and human brains have in common?

Using that intriguing question as a starting point Aditya Raghunandan of mechanical engineering, won first place and $1,000 at last year’s competition for the Steadman Family Postdoctoral Associate Prize in Interdisciplinary Research.

University postdoctoral associates and postdoctoral fellows are encouraged to register by Friday, September 2 for this year’s competition, which recognizes high impact research that exemplifies the importance of a cross-discipline approach. Participants should be engaged in a field of study that bridges at least two of these five disciplines: humanities, science, mathematics, engineering, and medicine. A Steadman Prize ($2,000), an Award for Interdisciplinary Research ($750) and an Award for Innovative Research ($750) will be given.

Applicants should submit a current curriculum vitae and a two-page, single-spaced summary of how their research crosses disciplinary boundaries including implications for science and future objectives. This summary should be written for a general audience. Submit to asegepa@rochester.edu.

Finalists will be selected to give 3-minute oral presentations to a faculty panel at a presentation to be held from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Friday, September 23 at the Sloan Auditorium and Munnerlyn Atrium in Goergen Hall. Winners will be announced at a reception immediately following.

Question? Contact kristina.lantzky-eaton@rochester.edu.

The World Universities Network research development fund 2022 is now open. The annual competitive fund is aimed at bringing together researchers to undertake innovative, high-quality, sustainable research to address global challenges.

Each member institution is permitted to lead two proposals per year but can collaborate on as many as desired. If you are interested in leading a proposal effort or would like more information, contact Megan Bennett-Spears. View the guidelines and more information on the Global website. Internal applications are due Monday, September 12.

Register now to hear scholars from various departments across the University discuss the process of successfully obtaining an NIH-sponsored mentored research grant (K award) from 4-5:30 p.m., September 14.

In the latter half, there will be an interactive session using the NIH Assisted Referral Tool, so please bring an abstract or aims page, if you have one.

Associate professors and professors in academic medicine: Apply now to participate in a free, year-long (October 2022 – June 2023) course designed to help you gain the skills you need to remain productive and engaged and to smoothly transition from one stage of your career to the next. This program, which uses evidence-based, collaborative learning and reflective practice, is sponsored by the UR CTSI and the Dean’s office. Apply by Sept. 15. Learn more.

The University is hosting the I-Corps@NCATS Regional Short Course this fall, which is specifically designed for biomedical scientists, clinician scientists and engineers to provide them with a new approach to accelerate the translation of their discoveries from the lab to clinical practice.

This free, on-line program will begin the week of October 17 and will run for 5 weeks. Course graduates receive National Science Foundation (NSF) lineage and can apply to other NSF grant awards, including the National I-Corps Team program, which carries a grant award up to $50,000. Apply online by Monday Oct. 3.

The University’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UR CTSI) is now accepting applications for two funding programs with a potential start date of July 1, 2023:

The Pilot Studies Program supports translational science projects that focus on a scientific or operational principle underlying a step of the translational process with the goal of developing generalizable principles to accelerate translational research. View the RFA and learn more about our three pilot award categories: Faculty, Trainee and UNYTE Translational Research Network. Submit initial abstracts by Monday, October 3.

The Novel Biostatistical and Epidemiologic Methods Awards support the development of novel biostatistical and epidemiologic methods that overcome analytic limitations and enhance the validity, accuracy, scope or speed of clinical or translational research. A maximum of $35,000 will be awarded for a one-year period. View the RFA and submit initial abstracts by October 17.