{"676143":{"#nid":"676143","#data":{"type":"news","title":"IBB Announces FY25 Seed Grant Recipients","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIBB is excited to announce the awardees of the FY25 IBB Interdisciplinary Research Seed Grant Program. Designed to stimulate interdisciplinary research, IBB proudly supports seed grant programs that provide funding opportunities for bio-related breakthroughs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/amirali-aghazadeh\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAmirali Aghazadeh\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/raquel-lieberman\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERaquel Lieberman\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E were selected for funding for their proposal, \u0022Harnessing Generative AI to Identify Mutations Causing Early-Onset Glaucoma.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAghazadeh is an assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and also program faculty of the Machine Learning, Bioinformatics, and Bioengineering Ph.D. programs. He has affiliations with the Institute for Data Engineering and Science (IDEAS) and the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. His research focuses on developing machine learning and deep learning solutions for protein and small molecular design and engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELieberman is the Sepcic-Pfeil Professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Her research focuses on the biophysical and structural characterization of proteins and the impact of disease-associated mutations on function or dysfunction (e.g., aggregation).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis project will combine our expertise to harness the power of generative artificial intelligence, large language models, and protein sequences to comprehend genetic mutations that cause a severe form of glaucoma that primarily affects children,\u201d said Aghazedeh.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/singh\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAnkur Singh\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/mg-finn\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EM.G. Finn\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E were also selected for funding for their proposal, \u0022Modeling Human Immune Responses to \u03b1-Galactosyl Immunogen in Hydrogel-Based Organoids.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESingh is Carl Ring Family Professor with a joint appointment in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. He is also the director of the Center of Immunoengineering at Georgia Tech. His laboratory develops immune organoids and enabling technologies to understand healthy and diseased immune cells and translate therapeutics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFinn is a professor and school chair in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the chief scientific officer of the Georgia Tech Pediatric Innovation Network. His lab develops chemical and biological tools for research in a wide range of fields, such as chemistry, biology, immunology, and evolution with viruses.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere is an increasing need to find stronger immunogens that can be used to create more effective vaccines. One promising candidate is \u03b1-galactosyl immunogens, which have shown great potential in animals, but we don\u0027t know much about if and how they would work in humans,\u201d said Singh. \u201cWe are excited that the IBB seed grant will allow us to combine the Singh lab\u2019s expertise in creating human immune tissues in the lab with the Finn lab\u2019s unique skills in designing these immunogens. This collaboration will help us better understand how these potential vaccine ingredients perform in human-like systems.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe projects will each receive an award of $40,000 to be spent by June 30, 2025.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIBB is excited to announce the awardees of the FY25 IBB Interdisciplinary Research Seed Grant Program. Designed to stimulate interdisciplinary research, IBB proudly supports seed grant programs that provide funding opportunities for bio-related breakthroughs.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"IBB is excited to announce the awardees of the FY25 IBB Interdisciplinary Research Seed Grant Program. Designed to stimulate interdisciplinary research, IBB proudly supports seed grant programs that provide funding opportunities for bio-related breakthrou"}],"uid":"36454","created_gmt":"2024-08-21 16:47:59","changed_gmt":"2024-08-21 16:49:41","author":"swilliamson40","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-07-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-07-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674667":{"id":"674667","type":"image","title":"FY25seedgrantwinners.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003EFrom top left: M.G. Finn, Raquel Lieberman, Ankur Singh, and Amirali Aghazadeh\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1724258936","gmt_created":"2024-08-21 16:48:56","changed":"1724258936","gmt_changed":"2024-08-21 16:48:56","alt":"FY25seedgrantwinners","file":{"fid":"258219","name":"FY25seedgrantwinners.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/08\/21\/FY25seedgrantwinners_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/08\/21\/FY25seedgrantwinners_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":848957,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/08\/21\/FY25seedgrantwinners_0.png?itok=cjt3C3UC"}}},"media_ids":["674667"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESavannah Williamson\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["swilliamson40@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}