Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Interdisciplinary team led by Syracuse University wins $2 million EFRI grant from NSF

Monday, November 7, 2011, By News Staff
Share
College of Engineering and Computer ScienceResearch and Creative

Principal investigator Dacheng Ren, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering (BMCE) in Syracuse University’s L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS) and member of the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute (SBI); and co-PIs professors Rebecca Bader (BMCE and SBI), Yan-Yeung Luk (chemistry and SBI), R. “Suresh” Sureshkumar (BMCE) and Ramesh Raina (biology), have been awarded $2 million by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct research on deciphering and controlling the signaling processes in bacterial multicellular systems and bacteria-host interactions.

This grant comes from the Office of Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) and was only awarded to 14 teams nationally this year.

Bacterial tolerance to antibiotics and disinfectants causes numerous problems of infections and biofouling. Bacteria achieve such tolerance by forming sessile colonies in an extracellular matrix, known as biofilms, and by forming dormant persister cells, similar to spores. Inherent in bacterial populations, persister cells are believed to play important roles in chronic infections like tuberculosis, persistent fungal infections and lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients. The dormant properties of these persister cells make them tolerant to almost all antibiotics. Therefore, infections can reoccur once a person stops antibiotic treatment since the bacteria can regrow from the persister cells and attack again.

By employing a multidisciplinary approach, the team will focus on understanding and manipulating the multicellular and inter-kingdom signaling processes of these complex systems. The team will perform experiments in the areas of material design, functional genomics, bioinformatics, molecular simulation and nanotechnology, with the main goals being to understand persister formation in biofilm development, to investigate the associated signaling processes and to synthesize functional nanoparticles for controlled release of signaling modulators to eliminate persister cells and biofilms.

This award falls into the category of engineering new technologies based on multicellular and inter-kingdom signaling (MIKS). These grants are intended to support the National Academy of Engineering’s grand challenge to engineer better medicine. Due to the broad spectrum of problems and opportunities associated with persister cells and biofilms, the proposed work will have significant impacts on basic science, economy, biosecurity and health care.

Beyond any technical achievements, this project will also play an important role in transforming college engineering education. Unlike traditional projects that focus on relatively narrow topics, this project targets multicellular and inter-kingdom signaling, a highly interdisciplinary area. The advanced topics associated with this research will provide invaluable materials to teach modern biotechnology, molecular simulation, synthetic biology and bioinformatics, providing the students with crucial knowledge and skills to address the scientific, engineering and societal challenges. This research will also create exciting outreach opportunities and bring talented young people, especially underrepresented groups, into science and engineering careers.

The team is comprised of faculty from the departments of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, along with biology and chemistry in The College of Arts and Sciences and also includes collaboration with the University of Rochester and Brookhaven National Laboratory. In addition to the PI and four co-PIs, the research team also includes Shikha Nangia Ph.D. (BMCE), Professor Kyun Koo from the University of Rochester and Oleg Gang Ph.D. from Brookhaven National Laboratory. Of the five SU professors on this grant, four are also winners of NSF’s prestigious CAREER award.

“I am very excited about this award. It gives us a unique opportunity to investigate and control this complex system with new technologies from multiple fields,” Ren says.

“This is a great example of the type of collaboration we hope to continue to see amongst faculty across campus,” says Sureshkumar, professor and BMCE department chair.

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • New Student Association Leaders Aim to Get More Students Involved
    Thursday, September 28, 2023, By John Boccacino
  • Chancellor Syverud Addresses Athletics, Benefits, Sustainability at University Senate
    Wednesday, September 27, 2023, By News Staff
  • Setting the Agenda in Biology Research: 2 Professors Join NIH Peer Review Committees
    Wednesday, September 27, 2023, By News Staff
  • Satisfy Your Research Curiosity at BioInspired Institute Symposium Oct. 19 and 20
    Wednesday, September 27, 2023, By Diane Stirling
  • iSchool Student Selected for Highly Competitive Data Librarianship Internship
    Wednesday, September 27, 2023, By Anya Woods

More In STEM

Setting the Agenda in Biology Research: 2 Professors Join NIH Peer Review Committees

The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) is known as the “gateway” for National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications. Expert peer review groups—also called study sections—formed by the CSR assess more than 75% of the thousands of research grant applications…

Satisfy Your Research Curiosity at BioInspired Institute Symposium Oct. 19 and 20

Are you interested in knowing how living cells function? Do you wonder how scientists grow human tissues in the lab? Have you pondered how robots are programmed to work? If science piques your interest, delve into the topic at the…

iSchool Student Selected for Highly Competitive Data Librarianship Internship

Katya Mueller, a student in the School of Information Studies’ master of library and information science (MLIS) program, was selected as a 2023 National Center for Data Services data librarianship internship participant. Mueller, who plans to graduate in spring 2024,…

Exploring the Existence of Life at 125 Degrees Fahrenheit

There are an estimated 8.7 million eukaryotic species on the planet. These are organisms whose cells contain a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles. Although eukaryotes include the familiar animals and plants, these only represent two of the more than six…

How Climate Warming Could Disrupt a Deep-Rooted Relationship

Children are taught to leave wild mushrooms alone because of their potential to be poisonous. But trees on the other hand depend on fungi for their well-being. Look no further than ectomycorrhizal fungi, which are organisms that colonize the roots…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.