Research Insider April 2021

Office of Research, Scholarship, and Sponsored Programs

Congratulations!

Dr. Ali AzghaniDr.Andrey Komissarov

Dr. Ali Azghani, Professor of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences recently received a subaward on a National Institutes of Health grant awarded to Dr. Andrey Komissarov, Dr. Galina Florova, and Dr. Steven Idell,professors in the School of Medical Biological Sciences at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (North Campus). The project, entitled Delivery of PAI-1-Targeted Intrapleural Fibrinolytic Therapy for Empyema, was awarded $492,378/yr in funding for 2021-2025.

Barbara Brown-Elliott

Barbara Brown-Elliott, Associate Professor in the School of Medical Biological Sciences at the North Campus, was awarded $86,292/yr in funding from a private company for a 19-month project entitled Comparison of In Vitro Susceptibility of Gepotidacin with Ciprofloxacin, Moxifloxacin and Other Comparator Antimicrobials Against Isolates of Nontuberculous Mycobacteria.

Dr. Larry Lowry

Dr. Larry Lowry, Professor in the School of Community & Rural Health at the North Campus, received a subaward of $6,500/yr from Texas Tech University Health Science Center at El Paso’s American Academy of Pediatrics award. The three and one-half year instructional project is entitled Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit.

Dr. Eileen Hehme Haily, Assistant Professor in the School of Community & Rural Health at the North Campus, has been awarded $75,959 from the Methodist Healthcare Ministries for a one-year project entitled Cultivating Charitable Food System and Health Care Partnerships Across Texas.

Dr. Carl David Rowlett

Dr. Carl David Rowlett, Associate Professor in the School of Community & Rural Health at the North Campus received $100,000/yr in funding from the Department of Energy. The five-year service project is entitled Pantex Former Worker Medical Surveillance Program.

Dr. Sreerama Shetty

Dr. Sreerama Shetty, Professor in the School of Medical Biological Sciences at the North Campus has been awarded a two-year grant from the Department of Defense for $244,262/yr. The project is a continuation of the research on a novel intervention therapy he and his research team have developed for scarring of the lungs. The project is entitled Development of a Novel Drug Candidate, CSP7, for the Treatment of COVID-19

Dr. Arun Kulkarni

Dr. Arun Kulkarni, Professor of Computer Science, and undergraduate students Aavash Sthapit, Ashim Sedhain, Bishrut Bhattarai, Saurav Panthee developed a model for classifying texture images and a new algorithm for extracting texture features based on ring and wedge detectors. The algorithm can be useful for image texture and object recognition, which has many applications for computer vision, medical image analysis, robotics, military reconnaissance, and remote sensing. The research project, which was supported by a UT Tyler internal undergraduate student research grant, took about a year to complete. It was presented as a poster session at the 2021 Lyceum conference and published as the lead article in the March 2021 Issue of the International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications (IJACSA).

Time and Effort Certification

Time and Effort Certification opened on April 16, 2021 and will continue through May 16, 2021. This certification period will include payroll activity from September 1, 2020 through February 28, 2021. All primary investigators with projects that incur salary expenses should have already received an email notification from ECRT indicating that there are statements requiring review. Primary investigators should review a time and effort statement for all individuals receiving salary from their projects.

Primary investigators who have not received notification from ECRT or who have concerns about the attestation should contact Office of Research and Scholarship at research@uttyler.edu for further assistance.

Research Fellows Program

The AY 20-21 Research Fellows Program finished up on April 22, 2021. Congratulations to Stephen Andrew Cage, Dr. Samantha Estrada Aguilera, Dr. Jounsup Park, Dr. Shawana Tabassum, Dr. Mohammad Biswas, Dr. Julie Hebert, Dr. Fletcher Njororai, Dr. Brittany Parmentier, Dr. Shannon Rice, and Dr. Zhi Pei for completing the workshop series. Three Fellows: Dr. Mohammad Biswas, Mechanical Engineering; Dr. Jounsup Park, Electrical Engineering, and Dr. Shawana Tabassum, Electrical Engineering; developed and shared their concept papers for colleague feedback during the sessions.

Three participants submitted proposals to external funding opportunities during AY 20-21: Dr. Mohammad Biswas, Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Shawana Tabassum, Electrical Engineering; and Dr. Julie Hebert, Health & Kinesiology.

The summer workshop series will start in June and all positions are filled. A new series for AY 21-22 will start in the fall and applications will be requested later in the summer.

Research Volunteers Needed!

Texas/Oklahoma Winter Storm Study Seeking Survey Participants

UT Tyler researchers are seeking participants who are at least 18 years of age or older and who lived in Texas or Oklahoma during the recent winter storms (February 14 to February 26, 2021) to take a 15-20 minute survey about their experiences with boil water notices. Participants are invited to take the survey March 9 - May 9, 2021.

For more information please contact Ashleigh Day, Ph.D. at aday@uttyler.edu.

STOP THE BLEED Training Program Seeking Volunteers

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STOP THE BLEED is a free class that was designed by the American College of Surgeons and others, to teach non-medical bystanders what to do in the event of a life-threatening bleeding emergency (www.StopTheBleed.org). Our research team consists of UT Tyler faculty, staff and students. We are studying how well participants retain knowledge and skills after taking the STOP THE BLEED class.

Volunteers can sign up until May 5, 2021. The last class is being offered on May 7, 2021.

For more information contact Dr. Katheryn Courville at StopTheBleed@uttyler.edu.

Scan QR Code to Register:

Center for Clinical Research study seeks volunteers

Make your colonoscopy count for you and others. Preempting colorectal cancer starts with you. Join us. We are developing a new blood test to detect colorectal cancer at its earliest, most treatable stages. You can participate in this study if you are 45-85 years of age and are:

  • Planning to undergo a screening colonoscopy within the next 90 days.
  • Willing to provide relevant medical records.

You will receive compensation for your time and blood sample. Contact Benji Hawkins, senior clinical research coordinator, at the Center for Clinical Research at 903.877.5831 for more information.