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Authorized by the 77th Texas Legislature in 2003, the University of Texas System, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) formed the San Antonio Life Sciences Institute (SALSI) to promote greater scientific collaboration between the two institutions and to increase both the UTHSCSA's and UTSA's research-funding base with cross campus collaborative programs. This program aims to encourage interaction between investigators in support of the acquisition of established extramural, peer-reviewed research funding. Funding for support of SALSI by the Texas Legislature for the FY 2010-2011 biennium has allowed us to re-establish this grants program.

Background

The SALSI proposal to the legislature was funded with the understanding that a portion of the funds would be targeted to support research in areas that had developed or were emerging from the previous SALSI program and were of strategic interest to the two institutions. The two administrations, with input from our legislators and the UT System, agreed that these targeted areas would include Bioengineering, Neurosciences, Health Disparities, Medicinal Chemistry and Regenerative Medicine. This was stated on the SALSI website. Each institution set aside $1,575,000 for these projects. In addition, $125,000 was set aside from each institution for developing intellectual property from these projects and administering the program.

First Competitive Cycle

In the first competitive research cycle 37 proposals were received. They were reviewed using the Criteria below by the Review Committee. From this the proposals shown below have been awarded.

Criteria Used in Review of Proposals:

1. Scientific merit, innovation, appropriate environment, investigator (i.e. NIH review criteria);
2. Programmatic/Institutional relevance to both campuses;
3. Potential for near-term future extramural funding;
4. Evidence of either current or well planned cross campus collaborators;
5. Specific plan for use of funds over 12-month period;
6. Specific plan for how program will be supported at the end of the 12-month support from SALSI-REF;
7. Specific statement about expenditure of funds matching with goals of ARRA program;
8. For non-research proposals, including joint educational efforts, criteria should include relevance to the missions of the two institutions and need for the program.

Awards from Cycle 1 Competition

Project Title	UTSA	UTHSCSA
Microencapsulated delivery of oncolytic respiratory syncytial virus for targeting prostate tumor in vivo	Yusheng Feng, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering Computational Bioengineering and Nanotechnology Lab	Santanu Bose, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Microbiology and Immunology
Preclinical Optimization of a Novel Antitumer Agent CB694	Doug E. Frantz, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Chemistry	Susan L. Mooberry, Ph.D. Professor, Pharmacology
Whole-spectrum Fluorescence Microscopy with Ultrafast Supercontinuum Excitation	JingYong Ye, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering	James Donald Lechleiter, Ph.D. Professor, Cellular and Structural Biology
Aging, Hearing Loss, and the Cocktail-Party Problem	Rama Ratnam, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Biology	Suzette D. Tardif, Ph.D Associate Professor, Cellular and Structural Biology/Barshop Institute for Aging and Longevity Studies
Neighborhood-Level Nutritional Assessments as an Innovative Teaching Approach to Understanding Root Causes of Health Disparities	Thankam Sunil, MPH, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Sociology	Adelita Gonzalez Cantu, Ph.D, RN Assistant Professor, Chronic Nursing Care
A computational proteomics approach for genome-wide identifying microRNA targets	Jianqiu (Michelle) Zhang, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering	Shou-jiang Gao, Ph.D. Professor, Pediatrics
Dysregulation of ocular blood flow in glaucoma: application of novel MRI technologies	Rena Bizios, Ph.D. Peter Flawn Professor, Biomedical Engineering	Timothy Duong, Ph.D. SI Glickman Professor, MRI Division Chief, Ophthalmology/Research Imaging Center
Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine: New Solutions to Old Problems	John R. McCarrey, Ph.D. Professor, Biology	Christi A. Walter, Ph.D. Professor and Chair, Cellular & Structural Biology
Molecular Changes in Aging Breast Stroma	Jianhua Ruan, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Computer Science	Rong Li, Ph.D. Professor, Molecular Medicine

Second Competitive Cycle

In the second competitive research cycle 41 proposals were received. They were reviewed using the Criteria described above by the Review Committee. From this the proposals shown below have been awarded.

Project Title	UTSA	UTHSCSA
Development Of A New Lipid Nanoparticle Platform for Drug Delivery	George R. Negrete, Ph.D. Professor, Chemistry	Ande Bao, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Otolaryngology/Radiology
Decoding variable gene expression of CCR5, the HIV coreceptor, using a genetic-proteomic approach	Harry Wellington Jarrett III, Ph.D. Professor, Chemistry	Sunil Ahuja, MD Professor of Medicine Microbiology/Biochemistry Director, VA HIV/AIDS Center
Francisella tularensis Pathogenicity Island Secretion Proteins	Karl E. Klose, Ph.D. Professor, Biology	John P. Hart, Ph.D. Professor, Medicine
Effects of food restriction on dopamine neuron firing patterns	Carlos A. Paladini, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Biology	Michael Beckstead, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Physiology
Dynamic regulation of dentate gyrus granule cell excitability through calcium-activated potassium channels	David B. Jaffe, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Biology	Robert Brenner, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Physiology
Science Partnerships to Adapt Research for K-5 Teachers (SPARKT)	Carmen Fies, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching	Michael J. Lichtenstein, MD F. Carter Pannill Jr. Professor of Medicine Chief, Div. Geriatrics
Alkaline Phosphatase - An Early Appearing Marker for Pneumonic Tularemia	James P. Chambers, Ph.D. Professor, Biology	Guangming Zhong, Ph.D. Professor, Microbiology and Immunology
Blockade of breast tumor cell invasion through RON tyrosine kanase inhibitor(s)	Anand K. Ramasubramanian, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering	Sudhakar Ammanamanchi, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Medicine
The Role of BIGH3 in Diabetic Complications	Richard G. LeBaron, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Biology	Reto Asmis, Ph.D. Professor, Director of Research Development Clinical Laboratory Sciences and Biochemistry
Development of new technologies to target 26S proteasome with anticancer drugs	JingYong Ye, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering	Maria Gaczynska, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Molecular Medicine
Ligand-induced conformational changes in ion channels detected by luminescence resonance energy transfer	Robert D. Renthal, Ph.D. Professor, Biology	David S. Weiss, Ph.D. Professor & Chair, Physiology
Building a Healthy Temple	Meizi He, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Health and Kinesiology	Deborah Parra-Medina, Ph.D. Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Chromatin modulation of neural stem cells in the adult and developing brain	Gary O. Gaufo, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Biology	Olivia M. Pereira-Smith, Ph.D. Professor, Cellular & Structural Biology