Building Innovative Research Capacity and Building STEM Infrastructure for Next Generation Scientists and a Vibrant Economy in

RESEARCH

Vermont EPSCoR was awarded a new Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) Track-1, $20M award on June 1, 2016 for research on Lake Champlain Basin Resilience to Extreme Events (BREE). The research will inform public policy and support economic and workforce development. Research questions examine what makes some parts of the Lake Champlain Basin and its watersheds resilient in the face of extreme weather events, increasingly common in a warming Vermont, while other parts fail to recover and rebound. The award from the National Science Foundation will help answer those questions, providing much needed information to decision-makers as they govern the basin and develop policies that reach far into the future. The five-year project will support research teams from UVM and colleges across the state that will collect data from sensors in streams, soil, and the lake. Research teams will also gather information on land use, economic impacts of poor water quality, and more. Seven social and ecological computer models that are calibrated our collected data will be linked together. The resulting integrated model will used to test impacts of management scenarios on Lake Champlain water quality, and can iden- tify strategies for preserving infrastructure, environmental health and drinking water quality as Vermont’s landscape continues to change and the climate continues to show a rise in extreme precipitation.

• The project will be undertaken by a diverse group of scientists and stakeholders working together with Vermont EPSCoR. In addition to UVM, other partner institutions include , , Castleton State College, , Saint Michael’s College, and . Also participating in the project will be key stakeholders, including the Lake Champlain PhD student Wilton Burns, research technician Saul Blocher, and PI Basin Program and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources and Dr. Andrew Schroth hold up an EXO sonde before hooking it up to partners from Quebec and Lake George, NY. the water quality monitoring platform in St. Albans Bay.

• Since June 2016, BREE has engaged 208 Vermont participants, which includes 22 new jobs and 35 Private sector awards. Partners from six Vermont institutions (, Saint Michael’s College, Middlebury College, , Lyndon State College/NVU-Lyndon, and Johnson State College/NVU-Johnson), are also major stakeholders.

• NSF made the award to Vermont EPSCoR partly because both natural and social scientists work together across disciplines on the project in creating their predictive models.

• The BREE award was announced at the White House Water Summit on World Water Day, March 22, 2016.

• A key element of the award is work performed by the Vermont EPSCoR Center for Workforce Development and Diversity at Saint Michael’s College (CWDD), which offers research opportunities to Vermont high schools, middle schools and undergraduates from across Vermont, including the Community College of Vermont and a new partnership with .

• Scholarships are available to Abenaki students and first-generation college students who are seeking science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) majors.

• Girls are supported through the Vermont Works for Women, Rosie’s Girls Program.

• Small businesses are able to participate through pilot awards and funding from the Small Business Innovation Research Phase (0) program and support through Launch VT. SOME RECENT IMPACTS INCLUDE: • The BREE Policy and Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC) convenes two meetings per year during which time BREE researchers and invited speakers shared data and results, posed questions and sought advice from some of our region’s leading experts in water quality. PTAC members are from the Environmental Protection Agency, United States Department of Agriculture, representatives from the Vermont Agencies of Natural Resources, Food, Agriculture & Markets, and Transportation, regional and municipal planners, the Lake Champlain Basin Program, as well as representatives from Quebec and the International Joint Commission.

• Saving Our Waters, a television series including three thought-provoking short documentaries covering steps toward keeping our waterways clean – the impacts of phosphorus and other contaminants and using the science behind the issues to derive solutions that have positive impact on our communities, was produced by VT PBS with major funding by VT EPSCoR and won a 2018 regional Emmy in the Outstanding Environmental category.

• Vermont PBS hosted multiple town hall meetings in three of the communities most affected by watershed issues. Over 200 community members attended the Town Meetings in Burlington, St. Albans and Rutland. The videos of these in-depth conversations may be seen on PBS and by visiting the website https://www.vermontpbs.org/water/

• In early May of 2017 the UVM EPSCoR lake Ecological team deployed two high-frequency water quality monitoring platforms (buoys) in St. Albans Bay. These water quality platforms allow for real-time high-frequency monitoring of St. Albans Bay to better understand the drivers of nutrient dynamics and cyanobacteria blooms.

• Dr. Carol Adair, BREE Ecological Systems Co-Leader, directed the installation of a new cutting-edge sensor network in the Hungerford Brook watershed in June 2017. The team installed the sensors in several different riparian areas to study what makes those areas effective water filters. Learning this information will enable researchers to maintain the processes when and where the riparian areas fail to filter water after an extreme event or in a riparian area that fails to remove pollution.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

The VT EPSCoR Center for Workforce Development and Diversity (CWDD) located at Saint Michael’s College integrates students and teachers into BREE research while increasing the diversity of participants including students who are under-represented in STEM research: veterans, economically disadvantaged, first generation, minorities and disabled. The CWDD continues to broaden participation in STEM through scholarships to Native American and first generation Vermont students pursuing a STEM major.

Between 2003 and 2018, VT EPSCoR provided funding to 96 graduate

students and 17 Post-doctoral associates. Ten of these graduate students Graduate Research Associate Caitlin Crossett works with elementary have been located in the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies students identifying macroinvertebrates during Watershed Day 2017. (VCET) as MBA or Ph.D. students working with start-up companies. VT EPSCoR is increasing the number of highly trained graduates in Math, Science, and Engineering. The VT EPSCoR Center for Workforce Development and Diversity (CWDD) located at Saint Michael’s College integrates students and teachers into BREE research while increasing the diversity of participants including students who are under-represented in STEM research: veterans, economically disadvantaged, first generation, racial minorities, and disabled. In 2018-2019, 19 undergraduate students received summer research funding through the CWDD, 34 high school students participated in research, and 17 high school teachers received research stipends. The CWDD continued to broaden participation in STEM through scholarships to Native American and first generation Vermont students; five $5,000 scholarships were awarded for the 2018-19 academic year to Vermont students pursuing a STEM major. A total of 46 scholarships have been awarded over the last 7 years.

For more information, please contact:

Arne Bomblies, Ph.D., P.E. Vermont State EPSCoR Director, University of Vermont [email protected] (802) 656-2215 2 RII Track-2 FEC: From Genome to Phenome in a Stressful World: Epigenetic Regulatory Mechanisms Mediating Thermal Plasticity in Drosophila Vermont lead institution with Rhode Island and Kentucky Sara Cahan, University of Vermont, (Principal Investigator) Seth Frietze, University of Vermont (Co-Principal Investigator)

Faculty from the Department of Biology (Sara Helms Cahan, Brent Lockwood ) and the Department of Bio- medical and Health Sciences (Seth Frietze) at UVM have received a $4,771,722 Track-2 award to build a cross-jurisdictional research network with colleagues in Rhode Island (James Waters, Providence College and Heather J. Axen, ) and at the University of Kentucky (Nicholas Teets). In line with the program’s theme of “Genome to Phenome”, the team will be investigating how the genotype and environ- ment interact to determine resistance to temperature stress, using the fruit fly model organism Drosophila melanogaster.

A fruit fly resting on a leaf. The research team brings together scientists with diverse and complementary expertise, from cellular epigenetics to physiology to evolutionary biology, providing multiple opportunities for productive collaboration. At UVM, research will focus on the molecular genetic processes that allow early temperature signals to be translated into chang- es in gene expression later in life. Students and post-doctoral trainees will learn how to generate and analyze large data sets with advanced computational methods, and identify candidate mechanisms that they will experimentally manipulate using a wealth of functional genetic tools available in the fruit fly. The project will build a strong, sustainable connection between flagship universities and smaller, undergraduate-focused institutions that can struggle to support scientific research without the support of colleagues and established infrastructure.

As part of the project’s mission, the team will also be developing outreach activities to broaden STEM participation to underserved communities in Vermont and beyond. These include an intensive summer research program for undergraduates, and weeklong summer workshops to introduce the exciting field of Genetics to high school students.

Associate Professor Sara Helms Cahan with high school students during a summer workshop. Assistant Professor Seth Frietze in the laboratory with a student.

3 RII Track-4: EPSCoR Research Fellow: Laurie Grigg,

Norwich University Professor of Earth and Environmental Science Laurie Grigg has earned a RII Track-4 Award for $132,000 through the National Science Founda- tion’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) to support her research on paleoecological insights into the impacts of climate change on Vermont lakes

Grigg and recent Norwich University undergraduate, Irene Magdon, have been working with Dr. Bryan Shuman at the University of Wyoming since July, 1, 2018 and will finish up in early January, 2019. The first few months of work was spent logging, describing, and sampling a set of cores from Twin Ponds which is located in Brookfield, VT. The cores were taken by Grigg and Shuman, through the ice in the winter of 2014. The facilities and equipment available at the Shuman Lab in Wyoming have enabled Grigg and Magdon to collect a range of paleoenvironmental data in a Research assistant, Irene Magdon, preparing split cores for imaging and relatively short amount of time, including magnetic susceptibility, loss-on-ignition, description. and core density. This baseline of sediment data has informed further sampling and analysis of macrofossils, pollen, organic carbon and nitrogen isotopes and the submittal of 10 samples for radiocarbon dating. Grigg and Magdon have been able to work with the Stable Isotope Facility at the University of Wyoming to develop a method for sample preparation that will be used in future studies.

The preliminary results on the paleoproductivity of the lake show a general increase through time in the remains of the zooplankton, Daphnia, as well as, shorter fluctuations that vary alongside percentages of organic carbon. This correlation suggests time periods in the past of increased phytoplankton abundance. Once the isotope measurements are complete, the source of organic carbon and the types of productivity should be apparent. Ongoing fossil pollen analysis will be the basis for independent climatic reconstructions that will be used to assess the relationship between productivity and climate. Additional climatic reconstruction will be provided by the ongoing work by Shuman and his graduate student on Grigg searching for organic material for radiocarbon dating. the use of compound-spe- cific hydrogen isotopes and branched GDGTs to reconstruct temperatures from a different Twin Ponds core. In addition, to collecting a whole lot of data, Grigg has been meeting weekly with Shuman and his graduate students to discuss issues in Holocene paleoclimate and is working with Shuman and another co-author on a manuscript from previous work. Grigg and Magdon will use the remaining time in Wyoming to finish pol- len analysis, isotope preparation, learn new methods to analyze the data, and will submit an abstract to northeast Geological Survey of America meeting in March, 2019.

Sediment cores from Twin Ponds. The bark brown cores at the top are more recent and then get progressively older towards the bottom of the photo. The total age of the cores is ca. 14,000 years.

4 RII Track-4: EPSCoR Research Fellow: Matthew White, University of Vermont

During the summer of 2018, Assistant Professor Matthew White of the UVM Department of Physics and Materials Science Program and one graduate research assistant traveled to Golden Colorado to spend three months working with global leaders in perovskite solar cells at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Three UVM undergraduate physics majors joined them, with travel supported by the UVM Clean Energy Fund. The team used Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) to construct digital alloy oxide films with precise energy band and doping gradient control. These digital alloys were used as electron-selective contact layers for perovskite solar cells to simultaneously maximize the charge collection efficiency and prevent carrier recombination, improving both the short circuit current and open circuit voltage, as seen in the solar cell J-V curves below. Doing so requires precise, sub-monolayer control of both isovalent substituent (Mg) and dopant (Ga) concentration in an intrinsic ZnO host matrix. PLD offers an ideal tool for digital alloy fabrication as the laser pulses occur on the order of 1 to 10 per second, each depositing a small fraction of a monolayer of material. By switching targets between laser pulses, we fabricated such digital alloy gradient thin films. The tools necessary to fabricate and characterize such advanced nanomaterials are only available at NREL. A publication entitled “Digital alloy contact layers for solar cells” is currently in preparation summarizing the results of our summer research. An additional publication entitled “Nonlinear impedance spectroscopy of organic MIS capacitors and planar heterojunction diodes”, based on our preparatory work during spring 2018, was published in Organic Electronics.[1] The work was also presented at the Materials Research Society Fall 2018 meeting in Boston, MA.

1. Larsen, A., Dahal, E., Paluba, J., Cianciulli, K., Isenhart, B., Arnold, M., Du, B., Jiang, Y., and White, M. S. “Nonlinear Impedance Spectroscopy of Organic MIS Capacitors and Planar Heterojunction Diodes” Organic Electronics 62, (2018): 660–666. doi:10.1016/j.orgel.2018.07.003

5 Vermont NASA EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Development (RID) and NASA EPSCoR Research Group Awards for FY19

Vermont NASA EPSCoR fosters research collaborations among faculty and students at the University of Vermont, Vermont Technical College, Norwich University, Saint Michael’s College, Middlebury College, and as well as local industry. The Research Infrastructure Development (RID) Program provides Small-Scale Grants and Pilot Grants for faculty researchers engaged in projects that are aligned with NASA research priorities. These awards are selected through a competitive, peer-reviewed process. In addition, Vermont NASA EPSCoR also competes at the national level in Research Group Competitions for multi-year, large scale investigations.

Since 2007 Vermont has received nine national NASA EPSCoR Research Group Awards, each of these being three-year grants valued at $750,000. The most recent project was awarded in November 2017 entitled “Critical Gas-Surface Interaction Problems for Atmospheric Entry” (see Fig. 1); the multidisciplinary research team was comprised of engineering and physics researchers at UVM and Norwich University. Vermont NASA EPSCoR Research Group Awards since 2007 have led to three patents issued in 2013, 2014 and 2016 with one additional patent application that has received a preliminary, favorable international recommendation in 2018.

Fig. 1 - The 30-kilowatt plasma torch At the local level, RID funding provides “small-scale” or “pilot” grants as seed funding experimental facility at UVM. to researchers to initiate projects relevant to NASA priorities. One recent example is “Modeling of Melted Volcanic Ash and Sand Particle Impingement on Gas Turbine Engine Surfaces” awarded to a professor of mechanical engineering at UVM is collaborating with researchers at NASA’s John Glenn Research Center. This project aims to better understand the impact of airborne particles on the performance of gas turbine jet engines operating in desert climates. RID funding also supports travel by researchers to NASA centers and workshops for the purposes of initiating new research projects or fostering existing ones. In 2017, RID funding supported three Vermont physics researchers to attend the NASA Fundamental Physics workshop at NASA JPL (Fig. 2). This group of researchers subsequently leveraged this opportunity in 2018 and were selected to represent Vermont in the national NASA EPSCoR Research Competition.

Finally, NASA EPSCoR also provides support for small business innovative research grants, including the SBIR Phase 0 competition that is coordi- nated with the VT EPSCoR Program. Among the most recent awardees was Benchmark Space Systems Inc., who were notified in November UVM physicists attending a NASA Fundamental Physics 2018 that they were the recipient of a SBIR Phase I award from the Air Workshop at JPL. Force Research Laboratory.

For more information, please contact: Darren L. Hitt, Ph.D. Professor of Mechanical Engineering Director, Vermont Space Grant & NASA EPSCoR University of Vermont [email protected] • 802-656-1940 6 USDA EPSCoR FUNDED RESEARCH TEAM APPLIES COMPUTATIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN TO STUDY BIOSECURITY PRACTICES IN U.S. LIVESTOCK INDUSTRIES

A research team at the University of Vermont uses innova- tive approaches to study animal disease biosecurity. Awarded a five-year, $7.4 million award from the USDA National Insti- tute for Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) (Award #2015-69004-23273) in 2015, the multi-disciplinary team leverages existing Vermont EPSCoR funded infrastructure. Dr. Julie Smith, D.V.M, Ph.D., a research associate professor in the Department of Animal and Veter- inary Sciences at the University of Vermont, leads the effort that brings together researchers and practitioners from several institutions to understand how to influence those involved with Compliance messaging workshop with swine industry stakeholders in August 2018, Northfield, MN animal agriculture to implement practices that can reduce the impact of new or emerging diseases to U.S. livestock populations.

• Emerging diseases of socio-economic importance have food security, perceived food safety, and domestic and inter- national trade implications for the marketing of animals or animal products. Understanding the human behavioral dimensions of the introduction, spread, identification, reporting, and containment of diseases of livestock is critically important for developing effective strategies to sustain a productive and secure food animal sector.

• Experts in animal science and veterinary medicine, agricultural economics, public policy and decision science, anthropology, adult education, and risk communication come together to lead this USDA funded Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP).

• This inter-disciplinary applied research and outreach project focuses on enhancing biosecurity practices and strategies to reduce the impact of incursions of new, emerging, or foreign pests or diseases in our livestock industries, primar- ily dairy, beef, and swine.

• Through engagement with project activities, stakeholders in U.S. livestock are encouraged to implement practices and policies that collectively reduce the impact and threat of new, emerging, and foreign pests and diseases. Educa- tional resources, lab and experimental games, simulations of livestock industries at the state and county levels, and messages developed and tested during the project will be made available beyond the end of the funding period.

• The UVM Social Ecological Gaming and Simulation Laboratory (SEGS Lab: www.uvm.edu/~segs), established with funding from the National Science Foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), leads this dimension of the project under the leadership of project Co-PIs Scott Merrill, Asim Zia and Christopher Koliba. The SEGS lab combines experimental, “serious” gaming and computer simulation approaches for bringing the dynamics of human decision-making into models of ecosystem-level problems, enabling researchers to determine how farmers and producers would react to disease outbreaks without exposing animals to new infectious threats.

• To achieve project objectives UVM researchers are collecting social-behavioral data using realistic experimental game environments. These data, along disease characteristics, economic cost-loss functions, and supply chain dynamics, are integrated into simulation models to provide digital decision support tools to help reduce the impact of livestock disease.

• “The SEGS lab is placing farmers and producers into simulated environments to see how they react to different situations,” said Scott Merrill, a research assistant professor in UVM’s Department of Plant and Soil Science and the lab’s managing director.

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Vermont Lung Center (COBRE) VermontVermont Lung Center CenterLung diseasefor (COBRE) Immunology is a significant and cause Infectious of mortality Diseas and esespecially (COBRE) morbidity in the U.S. Lung disease is a Whilesignifi thecant other cause six ofleading mortality causes and of death especially have decreased morbidity over in thethe last U.S. decade, all WhileThe the Vermontother sixforms Centerleading of lung forcauses diseaseImmunology of death continue haveand to decreasedInfectiousrise. If we overareDiseases to the make last (VCIID) signi decade,fi cantis designedallprogress into formsintegrate of lung thedisease combastudies conting ofti this nueimmunology pressing to rise. health andIf we problem,infectious are to we make disease will needsigni since toficant have the progress trainedprimary scien functionin tists and of combatheting immune this pressing resystemsources health isto astudy defenseproblem, the causes against we willand infection. needcures ofto lunghave Microorganisms disease. trained The scien Vermont interacttists and Lung with Center two (VLC), a Program on Lung Biology and Disease, has been in existence at the UVM resourcesfundamental to study components the causes andof the cures immune of lung system, disease. the The evolutionary Vermont olderLung Centerinnate immune College of Medicine since 1972. It has had a rich and productive past that has a significant impact nationally. (VLC),system a Program using largelyon Lung invariant Biology nonpolymorphic and Disease, has receptors, been in andexistence the newer at the adaptive UVM immune system that usesThe keystonehighly polymorphic to the VLC receptors.program is Centertranslati investigatorsonal research. Theare examininggoals of the genes VLC are to investigate the College of Medicinemechanisms since 1972. of Itlung has biology had a and rich disease, and produc and toti veprogram past that and hasretain a signi outstandingficant impact transla tinaonaltionally. research at that regulate the pathogenicity of infectious organisms as well as how the immune system The keystone to theUVM. VLC Our programkey product is is trans excellence.lational research. The goals of the VLC are to investigate the responds to these agents. Some of the findings will lead to better vaccine development. mechanisms of lung biology and disease, and to program and retain outstanding translational research at UVM. Our key productThe current is excellence. program centers around an award from the IDeA program of the National Institute of General The goals of the VCIID COBRE are to build a robust and vibrantth center that supports and mentors talented young Medical Science of the NIH that has just finished its 15 year. The VLC is a Center of Biomedical Research faculty, recruitExcellent additional (COBRE). faculty, The goalsprovide of the a dynamic VLC‐ COBRE seminar during series, the last and5 years expand are to: core develop facili theties careers in proteomics of a group and The current program centers around an award from the IDeA program of the National Institute of General microarray. ofThe talented Center MD also and PhDprovides biomedical support investigators, for students, provide postdoctoral skilled mentoring fellows, and consultation and retreats. on A special Medical Science of the NIH that has just finished its 15th year. The VLC is a Center of Biomedical Research emphasis is placedcompetitive on promo scientificting approaches, an atmosphere maintain that a fosters“cutting sedge”timula researchting discussions milieu and between to develop basic a clinical and studies clinical Excellent (COBRE). The goals of the VLC‐ COBRE during the last 5 years are to: develop the careers of a group scientists. Thesecore, interac maintaintions transgenic/knockout will also include animal the state and small health animal department phenotyping in ancore e ff. ortThere to havedirectly been improve 44 new the of talented MD and PhD biomedical investigators, provide skilled mentoring and consultation on health of Vermonters.hires since The2002 VCIID and there COBRE are currentlyprogram 74 centers people employedaround a at5‐ theyear Vermont award Lungfrom Center. the IDeA The proprincipalgram of the competitive scientificinves approaches,tigator is Charles maintain Irvin, PhD a “cutting ([email protected] edge” research). To milieu learn more,and to visit develop: a clinical studies National Institute of General Medical Science of the NIH. The principal investigator is Dr. Ralph Budd core, maintain transgenic/knockoutwww.uvm.edu/medicine/vermontlung/ animal and small animal phenotyping core . There have been 44 new ([email protected]). To learn more, visit: http://www.med.uvm.edu/vciid hires since 2002 and there are currently 74 people employed at the Vermont Lung Center. The principal investigator is Charles Irvin, PhD ([email protected]). To learn more, visit: www.uvm.edu/medicine/vermontlung/ 8

Vermont Center on Behavior and Health (COBRE)

An $11.7 million COBRE research grant from the National Institute of General Medicine (NIGMS) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) supports the development of the Vermont Center on Behavior and Health (VCBH) at the University of Vermont. The COBRE is currently in its second five‐year phase and supports research on addressing and better understanding the unhealthy behaviors that negatively impact health.

This grant supports research projects led by five outstanding UVM junior faculty that include studies of breast cancer incidence in high‐risk women; improving linkage to care after ocular telehealth screening in diabetic adults; smartphone‐based financial incentives to promote smoking cessation in pregnant women; the effects of stress on capillary‐to‐arteriole communication in the brain; and improving smoking cessation in socioeconomically disadvantaged young adults.

The VCBH integrates an interdisciplinary group of accomplished senior scientists, promising junior investigators, and distinguished advisors and collaborators to establish a center of excellence focused on understanding the mechanisms underpinning vulnerability to unhealthy behavior patterns and developing effective behavior‐ change interventions. The Center, led by UVM faculty members Stephen Higgins, Ph.D., and Philip Ades, M.D., has already made considerable progress in this area. Higgins and the UVM COBRE faculty and collaborators have published an impressive 185 peer reviewed publications in the area of behavior and health in the past five years. They have also garnered nearly $60 million in additional external grant funding. COBRE PI and Director is Stephen Higgins ([email protected]). To learn more, visit: http://www.med.uvm.edu/behaviorandhealth

The Translational Global Infectious Disease Research Center (TGIR): a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE)

We are pleased to announce the receipt of a $12.3 million award for the Translational Global Infectious Disease Research Center (TGIR), a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) at the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine. The TGIR‐COBRE will aspire to decrease the burden of global infectious diseases, particularly in low‐income countries, and has two major objectives. The first is to develop institutional strengths in global infectious disease research. The second is to develop the research careers of outstanding junior faculty in this field, under the mentorship of scientific advisors from three UVM colleges and five departments. A particular focus will be to train biomedical and quantitative data scientists so that these two traditionally distinct groups of investigators can collaborate and communicate effectively in the new era of big data. By leveraging existing strengths at the University of Vermont, the TGIR‐COBRE will bridge the gap between the biologic and quantitative data fields of biomedical research to create a robust, well‐organized academic home for the COBRE junior faculty and their mentors, as well as other faculty interested in global infectious diseases.

Effective responses to infectious disease burden and threats must capitalize on new technologies and analytical tools. The TGIR‐COBRE will create a strong backbone of translational research in global infectious diseases. This backbone will incorporate the human immunology, clinical trials platforms and biorepositories of the UVM Vaccine Testing Center (VTC), in addition to other existing Infectious Disease research strengths. It will also incorporate the substantial expertise in complex systems and mathematical/computational modeling that exists within the UVM College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (CEMS). COBRE PI is Beth Kirkpatrick ([email protected]). To learn more, visit: http://www.med.uvm.edu/tgircobre/home

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BUIL DI N G VERMONT’ S BI OM ED ICA L SCIE NCE INF R AST R UC TUR E Neuroscience (COBRE)

Vermont Genetics NetworkThe (INBRE) primary goal of the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence The Vermont Genetics Network(COBRE) (VGN) in is Neuroscience, in its third phase created of funding with a five‐year $17.8 million award from the IDeA Networks of Biomedicalin Research2001 by aExcellence grant from (INBRE) the NIH National Center of Research Resources, is to enhance Neuroscience research and program of the Nationaltraining Institute infrastructure of General Medical across multiple colleges at the UniversityVermont of Vermont. EPSCoR Two sophisticated multi‐user Sciences (NIGMS) at the Nationalresearch Institutes cores: of an Health Imaging/Physiology (NIH). Core, which provides access to sophisticated imaging equipment dedicated The mission of VGN is toto livebuild imaging human andand aphysical Cell/Molecular Core, which provides personnelUniversity and access of toVermont sophisticated equipment infrastructure in Vermont for biomedical research. At the lead institution, the Universityrequired of Vermont to complete (UVM), we cellular have developed and molecular state‐of‐the‐art biology facilities experiments, for Microarray Marshare supported Life by Science COBRE funding. Building These multi‐ and Proteomics to provideuser to researchers facilities acrossare a Vermontcritical, theunique resources resource they need for tofaculty, carry out postdoctoral world class trainees, residents,BUIL and DIgrad Nuate, G VERMONT medical ’ S research and compete for federal funding. To address workforce development and its diversity, we buildCarrigan Drive and undergraduate students. Multiple multi‐year research projects and one‐year pilotBI O projectsM ED IC forA Ljunior SCI E NCE cultures of research by supportinginvestigators faculty were and studentfunded research in the fi atrst our 10 Baccalaureateyears of the Partneraward. Institutions: Burlington, VT 05405 Castleton University, Johnson and Lyndon State Colleges, Middlebury College, Norwich University, Saint Michael's College and . We also work with students in college lab classes throughout INF R AST R UC TUR E Vermont in order to bring state‐of‐the‐artThe current transiresearchtional resources COBRE into grant,their education which, wasincluding awarded at the Community for 5 years in 2011, continues to support the shared College of Vermont and Landmarkresearch College cores. and funds one‐year pilot projects in the areas of stroke and neurovascular interactions or neural regulation of autonomic nervous system development, function and disorders. A recent highlight for the Vermont Genetics Network (INBRE) VGN impacts STEM employmentNeuroscience in Vermont COBRE by supporting was the faculty award and staffof a members $600,000 at UVMNIH andShared BPIs: Instrument4 full grant to obtain a second Multiphoton time faculty at UVM and Norwich University, 3 partThe time Vermont faculty at UVM Gene andti 28cs atNetwork BPIs, and 5(VGN) full time is staff in itsat third phase of UVM and Norwich University.Microscope Since 2005 toVGN be has housed funded 31in graduatethe Imaging students, Core. 104 project,In sum, 69 the pilot Neuroscience awards COBRE‐supports research cores that and 15 small awards to BPIbroaden faculty members,faculty 135researchfunding student withcapabilisummer a firesearchtivees‐ yearand awards $1access7.8 to millionBPI to undergraduate these award core from facili theties IDeA has significantly increased the students and use of facilitycompe awards titito 12veness UVM facultyofNetworks neuroscience members. of Our Biomedical students’faculty careersfor Research extramural in medicine, Excellence funding.biomedical (INBRE) The Neuroscience program COBRE program centers research and STEM teachingaround have beena 5‐ yearinfluenced awardof by the fromopportunities Na titheonal IDeA Insmadeti programtute possible of Generalbyof VGN.the Na MedicalThetional principal Ins Sciencesti tute of (NIGMS) General Medical Science of the NIH. investigator is Judith Van Houten, PhD ([email protected]). To learn more, visit: http://vgn.uvm.edu/ The Principal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The mission of VGN Investigator is Rodneyis to L. Parsons,build human PhD ([email protected] physical infrastructure). in Vermont for Vermont Center for Immunology and Infectiousbiomedical Diseases (COBRE) research. At the lead institution, the University of To learn more, visit: http://www.uvm.edu/neuroscience The Vermont Center for Immunology and InfectiousV Diseasesermont ( VCIID)(UVM), is designed we have to developed state‐of‐the‐art facilities for Microarray and Proteomics to provide to integrate the studies of immunology and infectiousresearchers disease since across the primary Vermont the resources they need to carry out world class research and compete for function of the immune system is a defense againstfederal infection. funding. Microorganisms To address workforce development and its diversity, we build cultures of research by interact with two fundamentalVermont components Center onof theBehavior immune and system, Health the (COBRE) evolutionary older innate immune system using largelysuppor invariantting faculty nonpolymorphic and student research at our Baccalaureate Partner Institutions (BPIs): Castleton University, receptors, and the newer adaptive immune systemJohnson that uses and highly Lyndon polymorphic State Colleges, Middlebury College, Norwich University, Saint Michael's College and An $11.5 million COBRE research grant from the National Institutes of receptors. Center investigators are examiningGreen genes Mountain that regulate College. the We also work with students in college lab classes throughout Vermont in order to pathogenicity of infectious organismsHealth supports as well as thehow developmentthe immune system of theresponds Vermont Center on Behavior and Health (VCBH) at the University of to these agents. Some of theVermont. findings will This lead tocenter bebringtter studiesvaccine state development. the‐of‐ therelationships‐art research between resources perso intonal behaviorstheir educa andtion. risk for chronic disease and premature death. The goals of the VCIID COBRE are to build a robustVGN and impacts vibrant center STEM that employment supports and mentorsin Vermont talented by supporting faculty and staff members at UVM and BPIs: 5 full young faculty, recruit additional faculty, provide a dynamic seminar series, and expand core facilities in proteomics and microarray.This The Centergrant alsosupport providessti meresearch support faculty for projects students, at UVM led postdoctoral and by Norwichfive fellows,outstanding University, and retreats. UVM 4 partjunior ti mefaculty faculty that at include UVM and studies 21 at of BPIs, weight and 4 full time staff at A special emphasis is placedcontrol on promo inti ngbreast an atmosphere UVMcancer and that patients Norwichfosters stiandmula University. tioverweightng discussions Since pregnantbetween 2005 basic VGNwomen; has fundedan intervention 31 graduate to students,increase cardiac98 project awards to BPI and clinical scientists. Theserehabilitation interactions will participation also facultyinclude the members, in state Medicaid health 5 department9 patients; pilot project ina studyan e ffawardsort of to heart directly to diseaseBPI faculty risk inmembers women ,with 114 breaststudent cancer summer; and ,research awards to improve the health of Vermonters. The VCIID COBRE program centers around a 5‐year award from the IDeA program of the National Insati tutestudy of General of the MedicaloriginsBPI Science of undergraduate obesity of the and NIH. heart The students principal disease inves and riskti gatoruse in childhood ofis Dr. facility Ralph psychiatric awards to syndromes.12 UVM faculty members. Our students’ careers in Budd ([email protected]). To learn more, medicine,visit: http://www.med.uvm.edu/vciid biomedical research and STEM teaching have been influenced by opportunities made possible by The VCBH integratesVG anN. interdisciplinary The principal groupinvesFundingti ofgator accomplished provided is Judith by Van seniorNSF Houten OIA scientists, 1556770, PhD promising ([email protected] junior investigators, ). To learn more, and distinguished advisorsvisit: htt andp://vgn.uvm.edu/ collaborators to establish a center of excellence in an area of clinical research that is vitally important to U.S. public health. The Center, led by UVM faculty members Stephen Higgins, Ph.D., and Philip Ades, M.D.,Vermont is one ofLung only Center three in (COBRE) the nation addressing the important challenge of behavioral health from a behavioralLung diseaseeconomics is a signiperspective.ficant cause COBREof mortality PI andand especiallyDirector morbidityis Stephen in the U.S.Higgins ([email protected] the). other six leading causes of death have decreased over the last decade, all forms of lung disease continue to rise. If we are to make significant progress in To learn more, visit:comba http://www.med.uvm.edu/behaviorandhealthting this pressing health problem, we will need to have trained scientists and resources to study the causes and cures of lung disease. The Vermont Lung Center (VLC), a Program on Lung Biology and Disease, has been in existence at the UVM College of Medicine since 1972. It has had a rich and productive past that has a significant impact nationally. The keystone to the VLC program is translational research. The goals of the VLC are to investigate the mechanisms of lung biology and disease, and to program and retain outstanding translational research at UVM. Our key product is excellence.

The current program centers around an award from the IDeA program of the National Institute of General Medical Science of the NIH that has just finished its 15th year. The VLC is a Center of Biomedical Research Excellent (COBRE). The goals of the VLC‐ COBRE during the last 5 years are to: develop the careers of a group of talented MD and PhD biomedical investigators, provide skilled mentoring and consultation on competitive scientific approaches, maintain a “cutting edge” research milieu and to develop a clinical studies core, maintain transgenic/knockout animal and small animal phenotyping core . There have been 44 new hires since 2002 and there are currently 74 people employed at the Vermont Lung Center. The principal investigator is Charles Irvin, PhD ([email protected]). To learn more, visit: www.uvm.edu/medicine/vermontlung/