The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology held an open competition for awards to seed new interdisciplinary research directions in engineering and the physical, social, and life sciences. The competition brought many new ideas to the table and the Beckman Institute selected 11 proposals to receive support.
The competition and funding of these seed proposals is critically important to the Beckman Institute's mission of fostering interdisciplinary research. This competition continues the self-renewal and reinvention process that is critical to maintaining the vitality of the Beckman Institute. The expectation is that these selected proposals will lead to externally funded programs within a couple of years and will form the building blocks of a new research theme at the Beckman Institute.
The proposal titles are as follows:
Muscle Imaging and Speech Animation Using MRI Input Data (David Kuehn)
Nanofibrous Scaffolds for Cartilage Engineering (Dominique Griffon)
Multi-modality Molecular Imaging of Breast Cancer (Michael Insana)
Exploring Analogies Between Neural and Social Systems (Thomas J. Anastasio)
Targeted Contrast and Therapeutic Agents for Molecular Biomedical Imaging (Stephen Boppart)
Application of Molecular Motors for Local and High Resolution Characterization of Single DNA Molecules (Alexey Bezryadin)
The Phenotypic Impact of Substrate Dimension and Geometry: Interactions between Articular Chondrocytes and Microfilamentous Scaffolds (Matt Stewart)
Combining Cells and Silicon (Nicholas Carter)
Single Molecule Detection in Living Cells and Tissues Using a New Class of Optical Sensors Based on Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes (Michael S. Strano)
Generating Extreme Speeds and Force from Small, Simple Materials: Biologically Inspired Models from Striking Ability in Trap Jaw Ants (Andrew Suarez)
Developing Novel Methods for Neuroimage Analysis with Applications to Cultural Psychology (Y. Michelle Wang)