UB Teams Receive Multidisciplinary Research Grants

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Fifteen faculty teams at UB with excellent ideas for original, multidisciplinary research have been awarded grants totaling nearly $300,000 by the university.

The grants, ranging from $16,750 to $20,000, are part of a UB program, now in its fifth year, designed to provide seed funding for multidisciplinary pilot projects in order to improve their chances of attracting external support.

Applications were evaluated by expert reviewers at other institutions around the world who had no personal or financial ties to the applicants. Proposals with the highest ratings were funded.

Research projects had to be in an area central to UB's graduate-education, research and public-service goals. Special consideration was given to proposals that crossed traditional boundaries of distinctly different disciplines.

The funded projects and their lead investigators are:

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Quantitative Measurement of Water Flow and Contaminant Transport in Fractured Rocks, Matthew W. Becker, Ph.D., assistant professor of geology

• Type 2 Diabetes and Non-Invasive Measures of Coronary Heart Disease, Richard P. Donahue, Ph.D., professor of social and preventive medicine

• Function of Polymorphisms in Human CYP1A1, 1A2 and 1B1, Adam T. Drahushuk, Ph.D., research assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology

• Controlled Release of Antimicrobial Proteins from Oral Based Sol-Gel Silica Glass Monoliths, Mira Edgerton, D.D.S., clinical assistant professor of restorative dentistry

• The Public Casting of Cities, Frank Fantauzzi, assistant professor of architecture

• Short-Chain Dehydrogenases and Metabolism of Androgens and Retinoids in the Prostate, Samuel Gallant, Ph.D., associate professor of pathology

• Hepatitis C Virus Infections in Egypt, John Hay, G.T. Fisher Chair and professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology

• Theoretical Models of Hydrogen-Bonded Liquids, Harry King, Ph.D., professor of chemistry

• Virtual Analysis of Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House Complex, Jean LaMarche, Ph.D., assistant professor of architecture

• Effects of Alkylating Minor Groove Binders on DNA Replication, Thomas Melendy, assistant professor of microbiology

• Photonics Crystals: A New Frontier in Photonics Materials, Paras Prasad, Ph.D., Samuel P. Capen Chair and SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry

• Molecular Markers of Drug Action, Robert M. Straubinger, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmaceutics

• NMR and X-ray Crystallography: Synergy and Difference in Gramicidin Structure Determinations, Thomas Szyperski, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry

• Noise-Induced Expression of Inner Ear Genes, R. Thomas Taggart, Ph.D., research associate professor of communicative disorders and sciences

• Development of a Transgenic Model for Parkinson's Disease, German Torres, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology.