GSI 2024 Pilot Grant Competition: Winners
The Genome Science Institute is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Pilot Grant Competition. We were able to support nine one-year pilot projects; each to enhance genetics and genomics research at Boston University/Boston Medical Center, with the use of kits, reagents, and other services with new genomic technologies.
1. “Analysis of RNA modifications associated with Alzheimer’s disease”
Benjamin Wolozin, Ph.D.– Department of Neurology and Xiaoling Zhang, MD, Ph.D. – Biomedical Genetics
2. “The role of Fli1 in scleroderma cardiomyopathy”
Andreea Bujor, M.D.,Ph.D, and Maria Trojanowska, Ph.D. – Department of Rheumatology
3. “Elucidating the role of adipose tissue in metabolic regulation and cancer progression”
Gerald Denis, PhD – Department of Hem/Onc; Stefano Monti, PhD – Computational Biomedicine; Stephen Farmer, PhD – Biochemistry and Cell Biology; Christina Ennis
4. “Understanding and modulating tissue-specific endothelial responses to ischemia”
Elliot Hagedorn, Ph.D. – Department of Hematology and Oncology
5. “Astrocytes from different regions of the brain have distinct transcriptomic, proteomic, and homeostatic signatures in vivo”
David Harris, PhD and Nadia Mirza, PhD – Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
6. “Unlocking the potential of the archival tissues at Boston Medical Center to study triple-negative breast cancer disparities using the 10X Genomics Flex Kit”
Naomi Ko, MPH, MD and Ruben Dries, MD – Department of Hematology
7. “Studying aberrant vascular signals that contribute to the evolution of pulmonary fibrosis”
Bob Varelas, Ph.D. – Department of Biochemistry & Cell Biology and Giovanni Ligresti, Ph.D. – Department of Medicine
8. “Elucidating changes in neuronal activity and transcriptional profiles in Down Syndrome (DS)-derived human cortical organoids transplanted into mouse cortex”
Ella Zeldich, Ph.D. – Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, BUSM and Martin Thunemann, Ph.D. – Department of Biomedical Engineering
9. “Single-Nucleus RNA Sequencing Analysis of Transcriptome Changes in the Postmortem Ventral Tegmental Area of Individuals with Alcohol Use Disorder”
Huiping Zhang, Ph.D. – Department of Psychiatry