SEED GRANTS

Seed grants are awarded for one year and are intended to enable researchers to make progress in a novel research area, obtain preliminary results and facilitate the application process for external funding.

Seed grants awarded Fall of 2018:

Instrumentation Grant: Educational Microscope Building Sets;

Joerg Bewersdorf, Ziad Ganim, and Hesper Rego
An instrument combining optical tweezers, micropipettes, and confocal imaging to manipulate and measure membrane tension;

Julien Berro, Michael Murrell, and Erdem Karatekin

Defining how skin differentiation is coupled to mechanical cues through the LINC complex;

Valerie Horsley and Megan King
Structure of the severing protein spastin bound to microtubules;

Joe Howard and Charles Sindelar
Sensory information flow during bacterial chemotaxis;

Ben Machta and Thierry Emonet
Exploring cell-cell interactions between macrophages, fibroblasts, and melanoma cells;

Michael Mak and Kathryn Miller-Jensen
Modeling the structural and mechanical properties of tissue during zebrafish tailbud elongation;

Scott Holley and Corey O’Hern

Seed grants awarded Fall of 2016:

How is information integrated during olfactory navigation?;

Thierry Emonet and Damon Clark
Profiling of circulating tumor cells using microengineered tools to identify targets for adjuvant therapy in metastatic triple negative breast cancer;

Anthony Koleske and Rong Fan

Novel protein-based supramolecular structures for use in biosensing applications;

Chinedum Osuji and Lynne Regan
Multi-C2 domain proteins in membrane contact formation, fusion, and lipid exchange;

Erdem Karatekin and Yongli Zhang
Chromatin organization: probing dynamic states in single cells over multiple time scales;

Simon Mochrie and Megan King
Physical modeling of tumor development;

Marcus Bosenberg and Corey O’Hern
Glassy dynamics of myosin motors in skeletal muscle;

Madhu Venkadesan and Michael Murrell

Seed grants awarded Fall of 2011:

DEAD-box protein motor function;

Enrique De La Cruz and Yongli Zhang
Mechanical homeostasis at cellular scale;

Eric Dufrense and Jay Humphrey

Building a laser-scanning microscope used to meaure FCS and FCCS in living cells (instrumentation);

Liz Rhoades
Upgrading an optical trap to enable fluorescence microscopy (instrumentation);

Megan King and Simon Mochrie
Deciphering the mechanisms modulating tissue fluidics during vertebrate body elongation;

Thierry Emonet and Scott Holley
Design of a novel paradigm for protein mediated electron transfer;

Andrew Miranker and Corey Wilson
Thermodynamics of chromatin remodeling;

Lynne Regan and Simon Mochrie
The neglected component of protein folding and protein-protein interactions: Investigating packing by simulation and experiment;

Corey O’Hern and Lynne Regan

Seed grants awarded Fall of 2009:

The Role of Curvature in alpha-Synuclein Binding to Lilpid Bilayers;

Elizabeth Rhoades and Corey O’Hern
Laying the Groundwork for a Revolution in Structural and Molecular Biology Through Single Molecule Imaging with Angstrom Resolution;

Michael Levene and Corey Wilson
Using Proteins to Create ‘Smart’ Stimuli-Responsive Nono-Materials;

Corey O’Hern and Lynne Regan
The Role of Time in Odor Coding;

Thierry Emonet and John Carlson
Single Molecule Studies of the Thermodynamics of Histone Modification / Chromatin Remodeling;

Simon Mochrie and Lynne Regan

Seed grants awarded Fall of 2018:

Instrumentation Grant: Educational Microscope Building Sets;

An instrument combining optical tweezers, micropipettes, and confocal imaging to manipulate and measure membrane tension;

Defining how skin differentiation is coupled to mechanical cues through the LINC complex;

Structure of the severing protein spastin bound to microtubules;

Sensory information flow during bacterial chemotaxis;

Exploring cell-cell interactions between macrophages, fibroblasts, and melanoma cells;

Modeling the structural and mechanical properties of tissue during zebrafish tailbud elongation;

Seed grants awarded Fall of 2016:

How is information integrated during olfactory navigation?;

Profiling of circulating tumor cells using microengineered tools to identify targets for adjuvant therapy in metastatic triple negative breast cancer;

Novel protein-based supramolecular structures for use in biosensing applications;

Multi-C2 domain proteins in membrane contact formation, fusion, and lipid exchange;

Chromatin organization: probing dynamic states in single cells over multiple time scales;

Physical modeling of tumor development;

Glassy dynamics of myosin motors in skeletal muscle;

Seed grants awarded Fall of 2011:

DEAD-box protein motor function;

Mechanical homeostasis at cellular scale;

Building a laser-scanning microscope used to meaure FCS and FCCS in living cells (instrumentation);

Upgrading an optical trap to enable fluorescence microscopy (instrumentation);

Deciphering the mechanisms modulating tissue fluidics during vertebrate body elongation;

Design of a novel paradigm for protein mediated electron transfer;

Thermodynamics of chromatin remodeling;

The neglected component of protein folding and protein-protein interactions: Investigating packing by simulation and experiment;

Seed grants awarded Fall of 2009:

The Role of Curvature in alpha-Synuclein Binding to Lilpid Bilayers;

Laying the Groundwork for a Revolution in Structural and Molecular Biology Through Single Molecule Imaging with Angstrom Resolution;

Using Proteins to Create ‘Smart’ Stimuli-Responsive Nono-Materials;

The Role of Time in Odor Coding;

Single Molecule Studies of the Thermodynamics of Histone Modification / Chromatin Remodeling;

Seed grants are funded by the Physics, Engineering, and Biology Support Fund