Alaska INBRE awards $650,000 for One Health research grants
November 7, 2019
The University of Alaska Fairbanks has awarded nearly $650,000 in Institutional Development
Awards to fund eight pilot research projects. Through the IDeA Networks of Biomedical
Research Excellence, or INBRE, the funding will support studies on a diverse range
of topics that include salmon migration, tick-borne pathogens and the use of pesticides
in Alaska lakes.
The awards represent the first round of funding from a five-year, $19.6 million National
Institutes of Health grant, which UAF received in August to build capacity and increase
diversity of students among its statewide network in biomedical research.
The NIH grant is being used to build interdisciplinary collaborations following a
One Health approach, which investigates the health of people, animals and their shared
environment in Alaska.
Awardees include eight researchers from UAF and the University of Alaska Anchorage:
• Kristen Gorman, a research ecologist for UAF’s College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences,
will receive $98,615 for her project “Effects of energetic state and infectious agents
on migration by sockeye salmon.” Research will explore whether Alaska salmon can be
resilient to infectious agents amid significant environmental changes.
• Micah Hahn, an assistant professor of environmental health for UAA, was awarded
$99,994 for “Understanding the risk of ticks and tick-borne pathogens in Alaska.”
The ongoing study, which is entering its second year, has a goal of identifying and
monitoring ticks in Alaska, and to enhance detection of pathogens they may carry.
• Kristin O’Brien, a professor of biology at UAF, will use $74,874 to study “Effects
of polyglutamine and glutamic acid repeats on HIF-1 function.” The goal of the study
is to determine the capacity of polar fishes to withstand changing conditions, particularly
in oxygen deficient environments.
• S. Ryan Oliver, an assistant professor of chemistry at UAF, was awarded $75,000
for “Skeletal muscle thermogenesis by sarcolipin-uncoupling in ground squirrels.”
The study will work to expand our current understanding of thermoregulation in hibernating
animals, which could eventually translate into future medical treatments.
• Patrick Tomco, an assistant professor of chemistry at UAA, will receive $100,000
to study “Cold-region environmental behavior of rotenone and applications to exposure
prevention.” His research will focus on how rotenone, a pesticide used to control
Northern pike populations, degrades in cold and dark climates.
• Maegan Weltzin, an assistant professor of chemistry at UAF, was awarded $75,000
for “Pharmacology and function of nicotinic receptors altered by an epilepsy mutation.”
The study aims to improve our understanding of the cellular mechanisms underlying
epilepsy.
• Cory Williams, an assistant professor of biology at UAF, will receive $50,000 to
study “Effects of photoperiod and dopamine disruption on sleep and mass gain.” The
study will examine how daylight and diet influence several factors that may play a
role in seasonal affective disorder.
• Matthew Wooller, a professor at UAF’s Institute of Northern Engineering, was awarded
$75,000 for “Dried blood spots as a tool for diet and trace element exposure assessment.”
The research will work to validate a method to assess diet and trace element exposure
levels from dried blood spots.