Fifteen of the 29 Grand Challenges Research grants announced by the University of Minnesota on September 29 are being led by MSI Principal Investigators. These grants are a new initiative to encourage interdisciplinary collaborations that will address critical challenges facing the state and the world. They are part of the U’s overall strategic plan, Driving Tomorrow. There are five areas of focus, four of which include projects headed by MSI PIs. An article with the complete list of grants appears on the Driving Tomorrow website.
The projects led by MSI PIs are shown below. MSI PIs are in bold.
Focus Area: Advancing Health Through Tailored Solutions
A community-based approach toward advancing personalized medicine in underserved populations ($49K GC Exploratory Research Grant)
Co-PIs: Kathleen A. Culhane-Pera, Family Medicine; Robert J. Straka, Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology; Bharat Thyagarajan, Laboratory Medicine & Pathology
Development of a clinical precision medicine program in ovarian cancer as a paradigms for 2ist- century tailored health care solution ($60k GC Exploratory Research Grant)
Co-PIs: Constantin Aliferis, Medicine; Joshua Baller, Supercomputing Institute; Pamala Jacobson, Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology; Andrew Nelson, Laboratory Medicine & Pathology; Boris Winterhoff, Obstetrics, Gynecology & Women’s Health
Toward a Minnesota model for brain health in youth sports ($48k GC Exploratory Research Grant)
Co-PIs: Jessica Brown, Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences; Bharathi Jagadeesan, Radiology; Christophe Lenglet, Radiology; Toben F. Nelson, Epidemiology & Community Health; Moira Novak, Athletics; Francis Shen, Law
Focus Area: Enhancing Individual and Community Capacity for a Changing World
Cracking the speech code: A cross-linguistic neurobehavioral approach to language learning in typical and atypical populations ($51k GC Exploratory Research Grant; includes $4k international enhancement award)
Co-PIs: Yang Zhang, Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences; Jed T. Elison, Child Development; Hui Zou, Statistics; Xiaohu Yang, Laboratory for Language & Cognition; Iku Nemoto, Biomedical Engineering; Hua Shu, National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience & Learning; Suiping Wang, Psychology
Focus Area: Assuring Clean Walter and Sustainable Ecosystems
21st-century technologies for advancing bio-manufacturing ($85k GC Exploratory Research Grant; includes $25k international enhancement award)
Co-PIs: Claudia Schmidt-Dannert, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, & Biophysics; Vincent Noireaux, Physics
Innovations at the nexus of food, energy, and water: Reclaiming wastewater from local food industries to produce energy and high-value urban crops ($60k GC Exploratory Research Grant)
Co-PIs: Alptekin Aksan, Mechanical Engineering; Neil Anderson, Horticultural Science; Bill Arnold, Environmental, & Geo- Engineering; Julie Grossman, Horticultural Science; William Northrop, Mechanical Engineering; Paige Novak, Civil, Environmental, & Geo- Engineering; Mary Rogers, Horticulture Science; Chengyan Yue, Horticultural Science
Protection of biodiversity and ecosystems services through early detection of tree disease using hyperspectral remote sensing ($60k GC Exploratory Research Grant)
Co-PIs: Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Ecology, Evolution & Behavior; Rebecca Montgomery, Forest Resources; Jennifer Juzwik, Plant Pathology
Developing a simple, inexpensive smart chip to detect water pollutants ($300k GC Interdisciplinary Work Group Collaboration; includes $50k international enhancement award)
Co-PIs: Daniel R. Bond, Microbiology & Immunology BioTechnology Institute; Mikael Elias, Biochemistry; Jeffrey A. Gralnick, Microbiology & Immunology BioTechnology Institute; Mark Herzberg, Diagnostic & Biological Science; Lawrence P. Wackett, Biochemistry
Focus Area: Feeding the World Sustainably
Addressing the challenge of tuberculosis in the animal-human interface ($85k GC Exploratory Research Grant; includes $25k international enhancement award)
Co-PIs: Srinand Sreevatsan, Veterinary Population Medicine; David Boulware, Infectious Diseases & International Medicine
Big-data transparency in global food supply ($96k GC Exploratory Research Grant; includes $46k international enhancement award)
Co-PIs: Derric Pennington, Institute on the Environment; Anu Ramaswami, Technology & Environmental Policy; Shashki Shekhar, Computer Science; Timothy M. Smith, Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering
Microbiomes in engineered ecosystems: integrative science to elucidate microbiome roles in mediating plant, soil, ecosystem, and human health ($60k GC Exploratory Research Grant)
Co-PIs: David Baumler, Food Science & Nutrition; Jessica Gutknecht, Soil, Water Climate; Corey Hirsch, Soil, Water, & Climate; Linda Kinkel, Plant Pathology; Jonathan Schilling, Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering
Reinventing year-round food production in Minnesota ($45k GC Exploratory Research Grant)
Co-PIs: John Erwin, Horticultural Science; Ned Mohan, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Charting a path for Midwest agriculture through scenario-based foresight ($150k GC Interdisciplinary Work Group Collaboration)
Co-PIs: Mae Davenport, Forest Resources; Nicholas Jordan, Agronomy & Plant Genetics; David Mulla, Soil, Water, & Climate; David Rand, Psychology, Economics; Tonya Schoenfuss, Food Science & Nutrition Technology; Nathan Springer, Plant Biology; Montserrat Torremorell, Veterinary Medicine
Sustaining food production, health, and the environment ($147k GC Interdisciplinary Work Group Collaboration)
Co-PIs: Allen Levine, Food Science & Nutrition; David Tilman, Ecology, Evolution & Behavior
Focus Area: Integrative GC Research Initiative: Assuring Clean Water and Feeding the World
(Also addresses the Enhancing Community Capacity theme - $250k GC Interdisciplinary Work Group Collaboration)
Backyard phenology: Integrating citizen science and public art to build collective agency on climate change
Co-PIs: Christine Baeumler, Art; Mae Davenport, Forest Resources; Nicholas Jordan, Agronomy & Plant Genetics; Rebecca Montgomery, Forest Resources