RI-INBRE News ⎮ Winter 2023
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RI-INBRE is working intensely to support students and faculty across all nine network institutions to conduct various biomedical research projects and training activities. The COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, and there is good reason to be optimistic as we gear up for the next five-year INBRE competitive renewal starting in 2024. |
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The Developmental Research Project Program received a record number of FY23 research project grant applications from junior faculty across the Rhode Island network. Our Training Core is preparing for the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) and the Semester Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) programs that provide students with summer and academic year research experience, respectively. Our program secured additional grants in instrument, collaboration, and women's health to help our faculty supplement their RI-INBRE research projects. In addition, we significantly upgraded our core facility capacity, which is critical to fulfilling RI-INBRE workforce development training plans, one of the several initiatives we are advocating in the renewal application. Our staff is extremely excited about the remainder of the current funding year and the challenges we face in securing the subsequent five-year funding. Please enjoy reading the highlights of recent RI-INBRE activities. Bongsup Cho, RI-INBRE Program Director Professor of URI College of Pharmacy |
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External Advisory Committee
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Welcome to our new committee members. Michael Lynes serves as committee chairman and new members Michael Hanley and Stevin Zorn bring an industry focus to the committee. Learn more |
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Susan Meschwitz and Navindra Seeram joined our Steering Committee representing Salve Regina University and the University of Rhode Island, respectively. Learn more |
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Last fall, RI-INBRE representatives attended a number of national conferences, including the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, the Northeast Regional Laboratory Staff and Core Directors Annual Meeting, and the
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eighth biennial National IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence. Learn more |
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Institutional Updates: Bryant University and Providence College
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Bryant University recently launched its new School of Health and Behavioral Sciences, and Providence College recently established a new School of Nursing and Health Sciences. Learn more |
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Developmental Research Project Program (DRPP)
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Our newsletter's banner image features Nicole Urban and her research team from Johnson and Wales University presenting their device prototypes at the College of Arts and Sciences Student Research and Scholarship Showcase in April. Learn more |
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In fall 2022, RI-INBRE solicited letters of intent for the Collaborative Research Early Career Development and SURF Training funding mechanisms proposals for FY2023. Twenty-three investigators were invited to submit proposals in December 2022. These proposals span a broad range of biomedical research topics within the RI-INBRE thematic areas of cancer, neuroscience, and environmental health science. Awards will be announced in early spring.
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The 2023 RI-INBRE Winter Retreat took place on Friday, January 13, 2023, at URI’s Alumni Center. Samantha Meenach, RI-INBRE Training Core director, led a mini-workshop, “Equity and Inclusion in Research Mentoring,” focused on recruiting and training a diverse pool of research students. Program updates and a discussion of our progress preparing the RI-INBRE grant renewal application were led by RI-INBRE Program Director Bongsup Cho. |
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Our goal is to support junior faculty and train students. Currently, 1,685 undergraduate students, 234 graduate students, and 56 postdoctoral fellows have participated in our program. Tracking their progress helps us measure our success. To date, 417 former students are working in the biomedical field. Learn more |
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The Semester Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program will take place again this spring, providing a unique academic year research experience for URI students underrepresented in the biomedical sciences and related fields. |
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The SURE Program involves paid research and professional development activities for its participants and will culminate with a symposium. In 2022, 14 fellows participated, and the inaugural cohort was comprised of 69% underrepresented minorities, 6% identifying as disabled, and 69% from disadvantaged backgrounds. Learn more |
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We are gearing up for our twentieth Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program, which is open to undergraduate students from all nine R.I. institutions. Applications are due February 10. Students from underrepresented backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Learn more |
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The Rhode Island Undergraduate Research Symposium (RI SURS) will take place July 28, 2023, at URI's Kingston Campus. Students from several programs will present their research findings to the scientific community. Learn more |
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Bridge to Graduate School Program
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The 2023 Bridge to Graduate School program will be held May 22–July 28, 2023, in alignment with the SURF Program. This program is a paid 10-week summer research experience for past RI-INBRE SURF students entering graduate school at URI or Brown University. Applications will open in late January 2023 and will close Friday, April 14, 2023. Learn more |
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Giovannia Barbosa, a Bridge to Graduate School fellow (’20), completed her research proposal defense in March 2022. She is now a Ph.D. candidate working in Sarah Delaney’s lab at Brown University researching chemistry and biology of DNA repair. Learn more |
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Molecular Informatics Core (MIC)
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NIH Cloud-Based Computing Supplement
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RI-INBRE was one of 10 programs awarded an administrative supplement through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health to build a cloud-based learning module to teach biomedical data science concepts in a cloud environment. Chris Hemme developed the module “Analysis of Biomedical Data for Biomarker Discovery.” Learn more |
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Sequencing Service Core Update
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It has been more than a year since the merger of the URI Genomics and Sequencing Center with the RI-INBRE Bioinformatics Core to form the RI-INBRE MIC. We have been closely monitoring usage to ensure that we are providing sufficient services to our customers. Learn more |
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Centralized Research Core Facility (CRCF)
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Instrumentation in Action
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Researchers from URI and Brown University recently collaborated to create cell membrane-coated nanoparticles that have been gaining attention due to their ability to mimic cell properties, allowing for enhanced delivery and efficacy of therapeutics. Learn more |
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The Roche LightCycler 96 has been purchased to replace the Applied Biosystems Viia7, which is ideal for absolute and relative gene expression quantification, melt curve analysis, and endpoint genotyping. Learn more |
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Demonstrations, Seminars, and Workshops
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Three public events took place at the CRCF utilizing Leica instrumentation with Leica support staff that included a workshop for FILM Microscope STELLARIS 8 FALCON, a live demonstration of the Odyssey M Multimodal Imager, and an artificial intelligence imaging analysis seminar. Learn more |
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Industry Affiliate: ACS Industries
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ACS Industries, a Rhode Island-based manufacturer of water electrolysis applications and steam methane reformation systems, is looking to the CRCF for help with their testing capabilities to support their growth in this area. Learn more |
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Students from Avelina Espinosa’s biotechnology class at Roger Williams University visited the CRCF in October to learn about DNA sequencing and protein purification and analysis. Learn more |
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Developing Photonic Thin Films for Colorimetric Detection of Waterborne Pollutants: Access to safe drinking and recreational water is a concern for many. Brown University chemistry professor Benjamin McDonald is researching simple portable devices needed to detect harmful microbes and pollutants. Learn more |
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Genetic Engineering Models Orchestrated in the Stillwell Lab: Rhode Island College biology professor Geoff Stilwell uses the powerful genetic model organism Drosophila melanogaster to study the consequences of mutations that cause neurodegenerative diseases Learn more |
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Seann Mulcahy, professor of chemistry and biology at Providence College, named program chair for the American Chemical Society’s 2023 Northeast Regional Meeting at Northeastern University, June 14–17.
Christopher Reid, Bryant University, co-chaired the Carbohydrate Division Symposium, “Pathogens and Carbohydrates: Fundamentals to Applications,” at the American Chemical Society fall national meeting, Aug. 21–26, 2022, in Chicago.
Our current and former investigators received several awards and promotions in 2022. Learn more |
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Teaching postdoctoral fellow Toni-Marie Achilli went from adjunct professor at the Community College of Rhode Island to associate dean of Biology Undergraduate Education at Brown University. Learn more |
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Learn what our students have been up to lately, including new careers and promotions, academic advancements, enhanced research opportunities, and more! Learn more |
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Keesha Sanchez has had an interest in the sciences since high school. It was her anatomy and physiology class that really in piqued her interest in biology. Learn more. |
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We are pleased to announce awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) since our summer 2022 update: Mathew Bertin, University of Rhode Island, two-year R21 NIH award for “Shifting paradigms to emerging toxins in freshwater cyanobacterial blooms;” administered by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; $395,356. Amit Basu, Brown University, three-year NSF CHE award for “Model systems for studying carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions;” $450,000.
Nicholas Lux Fawzi, Brown University, four-year NIH R01 award for “Residue-by-residue details of FUS protein phase separation and aggregation;” administered by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences; $1,567,594. Fawzi also received a three-year Helium Recovery Equipment award for “Securing Rhode Island and Southern New England NMR structural biology infrastructure;” $322,300.
Daniel Roxbury, University of Rhode Island, two-year NSF EAGER award for “Multiplexed wound biomarker detection with a nanosensor embedded microfibrous biomaterial;” $200,000.
Jie Shen, University of Rhode Island, four-year NIH U01 award for “In vitro based approaches to evaluate the bioequivalence of locally-acting rectal and vaginal semi-solid drug products;” Food and Drug Administration; $1,000,000.
Ashley Webb, Brown University, five-year NIH R01 award for “Investigation of impaired neural stem cell activation in Alzheimer’s Disease;” National Institute on Aging; $401,100.
View our full list of external funding awards. |
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RI-INBRE initiated the Teaching Postdoctoral Fellows program in 2014. Kristen M. Baker ’21–22 published her first peer-reviewed manuscript with her mentor Seann P. Mulcahy from Providence College. “Design, Synthesis, and Physicochemical Studies of Configurationally Stable β-Carboline Atropisomers” was published on September 29, 2022, in the Journal of Organic Chemistry. PMID36174244 RI-INBRE is proud to share our students’ co-authored peer-reviewed publications, along with our complete list of publications. |
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Kristin Scaplen, Bryant University, "Alcohol and the Nervous System," Gordon Research Conference, October 2022. Andrea Gonsalves (ECD ’18-20) and Jyothi Menon, University of Rhode Island, “The physicochemical properties of inhalable lipid-polymer nanoparticles post-nebulization,” AAPS PharmSci 360 Annual Meeting, Boston, October 2022.
Learn more and check out our full list of presentations. |
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R.I. Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium (RI-SURS): July 28, 2023, Kingston, Rhode Island Northeast Regional IDeA Conference (NERIC): August 16–18, Wilmington, Delaware See our full schedule of events for 2023. |
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Share your RI-INBRE news, photos, and videos with us! We would love to hear from you. Send submissions to: larrighi@uri.edu. |
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University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881 | 401.874.1000 |
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University of Rhode Island
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