UTSA's proposed RCMI Center for Interdisciplinary Health Research (CIHR) will expand research infrastructure and expertise to establish a program of excellence in basic and translational health research that will advance both the strategic goals of UTSA and RCMI/NCRR. The RCMI CIHR is greatly needed for UTSA to develop present areas of scientific strength into competitive health research programs to advance our strategic mission. The proposed program will foster and guide the development of UTSA faculty whose research has great relevance to human health and will support translational research projects. The Administrative Core will provide leadership and support for activities to advance the center's mission, develop research cores, and provide administrative and academic support for investigators. It will coordinate the IAC/EAC, establish intra- and inter-institutional collaborations, and execute a Faculty Development Plan and Evaluation Program. A Biophotonics Core will acquire cutting-edge imaging technologies to study biological processes at the molecular level in live cells with exceptional detail. A Computational Systems Biology Core will build high-performance computing infrastructure for simulation of biological systems, livecell imaging, and protein biomarker research. A Protein Biomarkers Core will build infrastructure for protein biomarkers discovery for disease diagnosis and targeted therapy, including biomarkers that are specific to minority populations. A Nanotechnology and Human Health Core will build infrastructure to synthesize nanomaterials for diagnostics, drug/gene delivery, tissue engineering, and for use with electron microscopy to produce 3-D structural information at the finest level. Five pilot project PIs will also be developed. Dr Lorenzo Brancaleon: Photo-induced unfolding of cancer-specific membrane receptors; Dr Thomas Forsthuber: Biomarker discovery in glucocorticoid resistance in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis; Dr Fidel Santamaria:Structural basis of biochemical information processing in neurons; Dr Tao Wei: Molecular mechanisms of A. baumannii biofilm formation; and Dr Jianqiu Michelle Zhang:Advanced Data Processing for Capillary LC/MS data.
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