Award Data

PROJECT SUMMARY Deformability and non-adherence are the most intrinsic biorheological properties of red blood cells (RBCs), as they play a critical role in modulating RBC perfusion through the microvasculature. In acquired or inherited blood disorders, such as sickle cell disease (SCD), these two interrelated properties are pathologically altered. SCD is an autosomal recessive disorder associated ...

Project SummaryWe propose developing and validating a novel platform technology that combines the collection and chemical analysis of ultrafine particles using an in-situ multispectral technique. The sample, collected directly onto the analysis substrate, is analyzed via excitation-emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy. This approach will be validated against laboratory combustion-generated aerosols, ...

Machine learning algorithms have demonstrated performance on par with or superior to human analysts on large datasets when sufficient training data is available.  For military applications obtaining sufficient, truthed data is always a challenge.  Three approaches have been used for measured data collections to support sensor exploitation programs: coordinated collections, turntable measurements ...

Project Summary: Over 1.5 million Americans suffer from type 1 diabetes (T1D), an autoimmune disorder involving insulin, a hormone that is essential for blood glucose regulation and overall energy metabolism. When first diagnosed with T1D, it is estimated that the patient’s insulin has been reduced by 70-90%. By this point, the immune system has already targeted and destroyed a vast majority of ...

The recent proliferation of next-generation sequencing (NGS) - based methods for the analysis of expression, chromatin and protein-DNA interactions has created tremendous opportunities for gaining insights into biology, health, and disease. However, analysis of the data requires computational expertise that many biologists do not possess. Hence, when dealing with genomics data, majority of biologi ...

TBD

Current treatments for asthma, while reducing exacerbations in a subset of patients by focusing on airway inflammation, do not eliminate them. Asthma exacerbations are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in asthma as they can lead to airway injury, lung function decline and death. Exacerbations in more severe asthmatics are of particular concern, as health care costs and lost productivi ...

TITLE: Critical angle reflection imaging (CARi) for label-free quantification of molecular interactions SUMMARYMeasuring molecular interactions of proteins are critical for understanding protein functions and cellular processes, for discovery and validating biomarkers, and for developing and screening drugs. In particular, membrane proteins play key roles in many cellular functions and are the lar ...

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) needs a capability to collect and provide immediate presumptive analysis of radiological/nuclear samples of concern at the source of collection. Such in-field technologies should be capable of detecting and identifying trace quantities of elements and/or chemicals containing plutonium (Pu) and uranium (U), with a focus on chemicals specific to the nuclear ...

To support DTRA’s agent-defeat efforts, we will refine a laser-based Optical Thermocouple (OTC) technology and build and deliver to DTRA a hardened OTC prototype. This OTC system will be capable of quantifying the localized temporal evolution of temperature inside a detonation environment. The OTC technology is based on two-color fluorescence thermometry to determine the temperature. After laser ...