Project Grant 2107619

The National Science Foundation Division of Chemistry awarded a $531,000 Project Grant to the University of California, Santa Barbara for research titled "Assembly and Peptide Cross Talk in Amyloid Systems." The grant period runs from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2024. The research aims to advance understanding of major problems in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program area by investigating amyloid assembly and interactions at the molecular level. Specifically, the university will...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Division of Chemistry under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program supports a collaborative research effort led by Emory University and the University of Illinois Chicago to design and develop peptide-based filamentous nanomaterials. The $300,000 award, effective from August 1, 2024 to July 31, 2027, will leverage computational methods to systematically explore the energetics and structural designability of...

Under this $200,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Chemistry's Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049), the New Jersey Institute of Technology will collaborate with the University of Rochester and University of Virginia to investigate the supramolecular assembly of beta-sheet nanofibrils composed of mirror-image peptides. The collaborative team will determine the structure of these systems with near-atomic precision using cryo-electron...

The National Science Foundation awarded a three-year $400,000 project grant to the University of Rochester under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049). The grant supports collaborative research between the University of Rochester, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and University of Virginia to investigate the supramolecular assembly of beta-sheet nanofibrils composed of mirror-image peptides. The team will determine the structure of these systems with near-atomic...

This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) aims to develop a new blood-based biomarker for the early detection and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The $431,826 award, made on September 15, 2024, will fund the development of monoclonal antibodies to detect a newly discovered, neurotoxic amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptide dimer that is specific to AD pathology in the brain. The project involves the University of Wollongong conducting...

This $534,974 Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Chemistry supports the development of native-like peptoid macrodiscs and advanced solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods for structural studies of membrane proteins. The principal investigator, Professor Alexander Nevzorov and his research group at North Carolina State University (NC State), are designing synthetic lipid-based membrane systems to enable high-resolution NMR spectroscopy of these...

This NSF Engineering Program award of $605,320 to North Carolina State University (NC State) supports the development of a flexible, FMRI-compatible neural probe with multi-modal sensing and modulation capabilities. The novel probe is designed to advance understanding of neural circuit dynamics and enable closed-loop neuromodulation for treating neurological disorders. Key product elements include: Flexible, multi-shank neural probe fabricated using polymeric materials to enable deep brain...

This three-year, $338,355 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Chemistry and Mathematical and Physical Sciences program will support the development of new machine learning methods to design DNA and RNA aptamers for molecular targets. Principal Investigator Petr Sulc of Arizona State University will use restricted Boltzmann machine architectures to analyze sequences from selection experiments and naturally occurring non-coding RNAs to extract structural and sequence...

This $388,983 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Chemistry's Chemical Measurement & Imaging Program and Chemistry of Life Processes Program supports the development of a new optical microscope by Professor Eric Potma at the University of California, Irvine. The instrument leverages chiral sum-frequency generation (SFG) microscopy to visualize protein structures in cells and tissues without the need for chemical labeling. This label-free imaging...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) provides $300,000 to New York University (NYU) to enhance the design of fluorinated protein fibers and hydrogels for medical applications. The key objectives are: 1) generating coiled-coil fluorinated fibers for controlled drug delivery, 2) developing fluorinated coiled-coil hydrogels that change with temperature, and 3) assessing the potential of these materials as...