Grants Illustrate Impact of UAMS Research Center at UAMS Showcase of Medical Discoveries
| The recent UAMS Showcase of Medical Discoveries featuring the UAMS Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Host Inflammatory Responses was a bad news/great news event for Mark Smeltzer, Ph.D., who leads the center.
More than 60 people attended the Showcase of Medical Discoveries.
Smeltzer’s Showcase poster, an overview of the center’s achievements since its 2012 inception, included an impressive list of grant awards by 20 individual researchers that totaled more than $84 million. The bad news was that the numbers were outdated by the day of the event.
The great news was that the numbers were outdated because three new grant notices arrived for center-supported researchers after the poster went to the printer two days before the May 22 showcase.
“This is amazing to me,” said Smeltzer, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in the College of Medicine. “We had another almost $7 million in funding between Monday and Wednesday.”
The latest awards were more evidence of the important role played by the center in helping UAMS investigators secure external funding to advance their research and their careers.
The center provides grants and mentoring to researchers who have never received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grant, which is considered the gold standard for independent researchers and intended for mature research projects with strong preliminary data.
Among the three new grants that Smeltzer mentioned was the first NIH R01 received by Josh Kennedy, M.D., totaling $3.3 million. Kennedy is an associate professor in the College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.
“Not counting that grant, Dr. Kennedy had already received over $10 million in funding, so he is one of our best funded investigators,” Smeltzer said.
Daniel Voth, Ph.D.
The center supports researchers with funding from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at the NIH. More than $27 million has been awarded to the center since 2012 in three phases. The third and final phase of funding from the NIGMS Centers for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) came in 2022, when the center received $5.7 million for five years.
Daniel Voth, Ph.D., UAMS vice chancellor for Research and Innovation, noted that the center is the longest-running COBRE-funded center at UAMS, making it the perfect group to feature at the first in-person showcase since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The center’s productivity and success make it a great example from which other COBRE-funded centers are able to learn,” said Voth, also a professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
The COBRE-funded center has been a magnet for talented researchers in the field, Smeltzer said.
“We have brought in 10 tenure-track faculty from outside the state of Arkansas, some of whom are now professors,” Smeltzer said. “They’ve all told me that having this center was a primary consideration in their recruitment.”
To date, the center has supported almost 30 investigators from basic science and clinical departments across UAMS and the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute.
“In addition to its long track record of supporting the growing careers of numerous junior faculty, spurring them to long-term, independent funding, the center has provided critical equipment and support for core facilities that have enhanced the research opportunities available at UAMS,” Voth said. “The center has continually reached across campus to engage investigators in multiple research areas, allowing the center to grow and accommodate innovative areas of research.”
The event was a great opportunity for researchers to network.
More than 60 people attended the showcase, which included 19 scientific posters highlighting its supported research and important research infrastructure, such as UAMS’ Flow Cytometry Core, Microscopy and Cellular Imaging Core and DNA Sequencing Core.
“Dr. Smeltzer and his team have done a fantastic job of developing the center and using it to support numerous faculty at UAMS,” Voth said in his remarks at the event. “This was the perfect kickoff to our showcase season and displayed the power of collaborative thinking in advancing the research mission of UAMS.”
Those presenting posters on their research and their project titles are:
Youssef Aachoui, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, College of Medicine — “Neutrophil Inflammasomes are Essential for Defense against Gram-negative Bacterial Infections”
Ryan Allen, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, College of Medicine — “The Roles of VLDL and TLR8 in the Pathogenesis of Sepsis”
Jon S. Blevins, Ph.D., professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine — “Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever”
Mara Campbell, (M.D./Ph.D. candidate), Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine — “Cortical Bone Loss Is Dependent on RANKL-Stimulated Osteoclast Formation in a Murine Model of Staphylococcus Aureus Osteomyelitis”
Ruud P.M. Dings, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, College of Medicine — “Gastrointestinal Tract Dysbiosis Enhances Distal Tumor Progression through Suppression of leukocyte Trafficking”
Researchers discuss a poster at the May 22 Showcase.
En Huang, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health — “Mechanisms of Cefiderocol Nonsusceptibility and Resistance Evolution in Multidrug-Resistant Pathogens
Lu Huang, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine — “β-Glucan-Induced Monocyte-Derived Alveolar Macrophages Confer Protection against Mycobacterium Tuberculosis
Matthew A. Jorgenson, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine — “Developing a Genetic Toolbox to Engineer Bacterial Glycoconjugates”
Samantha Kendrick, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine — “Transcriptomic and Proteomic Profiling of HIV Seropositive and Seronegative Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma”
Lin-Xi Li, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine — “CXCR6+ Polyfunctional CD4 T Cells Are Essential for Protective Immunity against Chlamydia in the Female Reproductive Tract”
Mark Manzano, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine — “Orthogonal CRISPR Tiling Screens Identify Viral Genes Essential for the Survival of KSHV-Transformed B Cells”
Roger Pechous, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine — “The Yersinia Pestis Plasminogen Activator Protease is Negatively Regulated by the PhoP/PhoQ Two-Component System”
Jason Stumhofer, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine — “Bhlhe40 Expression Is Essential for Parasite Control During Early Acute Infection with Plasmodium Yoelii 17XL”
Zachary Waldrip, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine — “A Functional Surface Display System in Saccharomyces Boulardii Demonstrating Protein Absorption in Simulated Intestinal Fluids”
Tiffany Weinkopff, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine — “Hypoxia-Inducible Factor Signaling in Macrophages Promotes VEGF-A/VEGFR-2-Mediated Dermal Lymphangiogenesis in Leishmania Infection”