Research initiatives score Dunn Awards

Annual seed grants support work on antibiotic resistance, the microbiome, epigenetic remodeling with light and auditory processing

Four teams of scientists at Rice University and other Gulf Coast Consortia (GCC) institutions have earned research seed grants from the John S. Dunn Collaborative Research Awards. This year’s winning teams will use the grants to studyantibiotic resistance, microbiome influence on developing organisms, light control of epigenetic factors involved in disease and sound-based virtual reality to enhance learning and memory.

The winners were chosen from among 21 pre-proposals. Nine of those teams were invited to submit full proposals.

The annual program that began in 2008 supports new collaborations among researchers associated with Rice’s BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC) and their partners at other institutional members of the GCC. The program is funded by the John S. Dunn Foundation and administered by the GCC.

The Dunn Foundation is a longtime supporter of collaborative research through the GCC, which builds interdisciplinary research teams and training programs in the biomedical sciences that involve the computational, chemical, mathematical and physical sciences. GCC member institutions include Rice, Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Houston, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), the Institute of Biosciences and Technology of the Texas A&M Health Science Center (IBT) and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Three research seed grants for $98,000 and one for $62,345 were awarded to the following winners:

Natasha Kirienko

Barbara Murray

Natasha Kirienko of Rice and Barbara Murray of UTHealth have developed the first nematode worm model systems to study infection by gastrointestinal bacteria that can be infectious and develop resistance to antibiotics. They plan to assess the virulence of more than 400 strains of Enterococcus faecalis, analyze the genomes of 80 critical strains and use their results to develop small-molecule therapies. Kirienko is an assistant professor of biosciences. Murray is division director and a professor of infectious disease at UTHealth’s McGovern Medical School.

Rosa Uribe

Anne-Marie Krachler

Rosa Uribe of Rice and Anne-Marie Krachler of UTHealth will study how the microbiome influences organisms early in their lives and through development. They plan to establish the role of microbiota in the nascent enteric nervous system through real-time, microscopic analysis of developing, transparent zebrafish. Their work will expand knowledge of nervous system formation and host-microbe interactions. Uribe is an assistant professor of biosciences. Krachler is an associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics.

Yubin Zhou

Han Xiou

Yubin Zhou of IBT and Han Xiao of Rice plan to design photo-induced, epigenetic remodeling synthetic devices, or PiERS, to control the function of cytosine, one of the four main bases in DNA and RNA, with light. Such control will help validate therapeutic targets to treat immune disorders and cancers rooted in DNA methylation and demethylation at cytosine sites. Zhou is an associate professor in IBT’s Center for Translational Cancer Research. Xiao is the Norman Hackerman-Welch Young Investigator and an assistant professor of chemistry.

Caleb Kemere

Matthew McGinley

Caleb Kemere of Rice and Matthew McGinley of Baylor are developing a platform for neuroscience experiments in which mice navigate a virtual reality environment using acoustic “landmarks.” They hope to better link the mechanisms that integrate audio information with the brain’s broader cognitive maps, and in the process improve technologies like cochlear implants and develop better methods to measure large numbers of cortical and hippocampal neurons. Kemere is an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering. McGinley is an assistant professor of neuroscience.