ASU-Mayo seed grants support new health studies
Arizona State University and Mayo Clinic have announced the recipients of the 2013 ASU Mayo Seed Grant Program, which provides funding for collaborative research projects between the two institutions. The winning research teams will study health issues that include obesity, brain tumors, heart disease, breast cancer, and a rare but debilitating upper respiratory condition.
The seed grant program began in 2005 and has funded 49 projects, including this year’s five recipients. Each of the research teams will receive $40,000 to initiate studies that will improve human health. The goal of the program is to move projects far enough along that they can attract more substantial funding from outside agencies in the future.
“This is a unique collaboration between basic researchers, clinical researchers and clinicians at Mayo Clinic and ASU, which helps accelerate basic discoveries to practice,” said Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan, senior vice president for Knowledge Enterprise Development at ASU. “The partnership has already resulted in a number of successful projects funded by external agencies that engage students, faculty researchers and clinicians. We are very excited to embark on our next round of studies.”
The winning proposals are judged on five criteria. They must be scientifically interesting and innovative, have valid methodology, show collaborative effort, offer the likelihood of future funding or collaboration, and be feasible to complete within the project period.
"The ASU-Mayo seed grant awards have deepened and broadened our already substantive links in research. This year was our most competitive to date and the awards are a testament to the advantages of bringing together ASU and Mayo faculty to tackle significant health related issues,” said Keith Stewart, dean for research at Mayo Clinic Arizona.
The 2013 studies and their primary investigators are:
• “Effects of Single- and Dual-Disc Mechanical Mitral Valves and their Rotational Orientation on Patient-Specific Cardiac Flow Dynamic and Thrombogenic Conditions.” Ronald Adrian, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering; Hari Chaliki, Mayo Clinic.
• “Defining the Role of Androgen Receptor in Endocrine-Resistant Breast Cancer.” Joshua LaBaer, M.D., Biodesign Institute at ASU; Barbara Pockaj, M.D., Mayo Clinic.
• “Study of Epigenetic Influences on Obese Adults Following Bariatric Surgery.” Dawn Coletta, School of Life Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Lori Roust, M.D., Mayo Clinic in Arizona; James Madura II, M.D., Mayo Clinic in Arizona.
• “Idiopathic Subglottic Stenosis Tissue and Deep Sequencing Study.” Valentin Dinu, Department of Biomedical Informatics; David Lott, M.D., Mayo Clinic.
• “Affinity Maturation of an Antibody Based Therapeutic Targeting Microglial Activation.” Michael Sierks, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering; Joseph Loftus, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
To learn more about collaborations between ASU and Mayo Clinic, visit our partnership site at: mayo.asu.edu
To learn about past seed grant recipients, visit: mayo.asu.edu/seed-grant-program
Media contact:
Amelia Huggins, amelia.huggins@asu.edu
Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development
480-965-1754