Project Team: Diana Mitchell (PI), Ousseini Isaaka Start Date: August 1, 2018 For the 19 genes without significant similarity to genes in humans, the following analyses will be performed in order to identify their putative functions: identify conserved proteins or protein domains predict protein localization search for functional domains predict cellular and functional pathways synteny…
Project Team: Craig Miller (PI), Aniruddha Belsare, JT Van Leuven Start Date: June 2018 Context Rabies kills an estimated 59,000 people every year. Most of these deaths are from the poorest sectors of society in low- and middle-income countries, where dogs are the principal reservoir of rabies [1]. There are two ways to limit human…
Project Team: Paul Rowley (PI), Jagdish Patel Start Date: April 1, 2018 This Modeling Access Grant (MAG) is to: build homology models for four toxin sequences based upon the KP4 toxin (~150 amino acid residues) crystal structure, run one micro second long molecular dynamics simulations of four homology models and KP4 toxin, and analyze simulations.
Project Directors: Kyle Harrington, Nathan Schiele Project Team: Leo Epstein, Sophia Theodossiou, Aniruddha Belsare Tendons are collagen-rich musculoskeletal tissues that transfer mechanical forces from muscle to bone to allow for normal human movements, such as locomotion. Unfortunately, tendon injuries are frequent, treatment options are limited, and the mechanical function of tendon rarely returns to pre-injury…
Aniruddha Belsare, Ph. D. has recently joined the cohort of postdoctoral fellows in the CMCI Collaboratorium and is available to help with appropriate Modeling Access Grants (see below). Aniruddha is a disease modeler with a background in veterinary medicine, disease ecology, and conservation research. He uses an agent-based modeling approach to investigate complex host-pathogen systems….
Project Team: Jakob Magolan (PI), Xiong Zhang, Jagdish Patel Depression is a common psychiatric disorder. According to the most prevalent monoamine theory, depression is caused by an imbalance of brain neurotransmitters: serotonin, noradrenaline, and dopamine. All currently available antidepressant drugs act mainly by increasing the concentration of these in the brain. Primary drawbacks of current…
Project Team: Helen Brown (PI), Christopher Murphy, Chantal Vella, Marco Mesa-Frias, Michelle Wiest This project will aim to develop or adapt an existing model to generate small area estimates in Idaho counties of the factors that place individuals at highest risk for obesity (e.g. sedentary behaviors, food insecurity, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption). Knowledge of the local…
Project Director: Mark McGuire Project Team: Janet Williams, Sarah Brooker, Chris Remien, Ben Ridenhour, JT Van Leuven Myriad microbial communities within and on the human body interact constantly with each other and environmental factors, and although much work has focused on characterizing these various community structures (especially in adults), almost nothing is known about how…
Project Team: Alex Vakanski (PI), Stephen Lee, Jake Ferguson The current methods in the literature for representing human motions are based on modeling the movements at a single level of abstraction, either at a low-level (i.e., trajectory level) of abstraction or at the high-level (i.e., symbolic level) of abstraction. The proposed project will exploit the latest advances in…
Project Team: Deborah Stenkamp (PI), Diana Mitchell, Robert Mackin, Jagdish Patel Gene replication is an established mechanism for the generation of raw genetic material upon which evolution may act. For example, tandem replication of genes to generate arrays of paralogs underlies functional diversification in vertebrate sensory systems. Tandem replication of opsin (visual pigment) genes and subsequent neofunctionalization provide…