By Wendy Sarubbi | September 17, 2013 1:33 pm

Ten UCF College of Medicine faculty members will share $365,000 in grants for their research, thanks to the medical school’s second annual Competitive Research Program. Selected faculty members received awards from $50,000 to $5,000 for topics ranging from therapeutic horseback riding for autistic children to the molecular foundations of Parkinson’s disease.

Last year, the College of Medicine funded 13 investigators for a total amount of $260,000. This year, 27 faculty members applied for the internal competitive grants. In response to the quality of the submitted proposals, Dr. Deborah German, vice president for medical affairs and dean allocated an additional $65,000 more than the original allotment to fund awards.

“The College of Medicine values the research enterprise,” said Dr. Richard Peppler, associate dean for faculty and academic affairs and interim director of the college’s Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences. “This effort indicates how important the success of the research enterprise is to the college.”

Winning proposals were selected by the Executive Faculty group and other faculty members. The grants will fund new scientific ideas and continue existing faculty research. The winners, their research project and grant amount are:

  •  Dr. Lisa Barkley, “Expansion of the ‘My Sports Pulse’ Educational Game to Enhance Middle School Minority Student STEM Knowledge, Wellness and Health Career Interest,” $25,000
  • Dr. Debopam Chakrabarti, “2-Nitrophenyl Ethenyl Quinolone, a Novel Antimalarial Scaffold,”  $25,000
  • Dr. David Harris, “TeamSTEPPS & Importance of Teamwork and Communication Skills in the Healthcare Setting,” $4,981
  • Dr. Caridad Hernandez, Using Immersive Learning Simulations for Interprofessional Education (IPE): A Pilot Study Adapting an Existing Platform for Health Professions Student Education,” $48,466
  • Dr. Travis Jewett, “The Hijacking of Mammalian Cells by Chlamydia Trachomatis,” $49,000
  • Dr. Yoon-Seong Kim, “Examination of the Role of A-synuclein MRNA Transport Into Neurites as a Potential Mechanism for Parkinson’s Disease Pathology,” $48,100
  • Dr. Manette Monroe, “Efficacy of Therapeutic Horseback Riding on Physical Activity in Children with Autism 6-11 Years Old,” $30,750
  • Dr. Sampath Parthasarathy, “Diabetic Hypertriglyceridemia — Synthesis and Testing of Novel Agents to Validate the Hypothesis,” $50,000
  • Dr. Kyle Rohde, “Novel Diagnostic and Drug Discovery Platforms for Nontuberculous Mycobacteria,” $50,000
  • Dr. Ken Teter, “A Molecular Basis for the Protective Role of Protein Disulfide Isomerase in Parkinson’s Disease,” $34,500
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