UC Merced | HSRI
Table of Contents Health Sciences Research Institute Director’s Note ...................................... 2 New Member Profile: Sidra Goldman-Mellor ............................................... 4 Vaccination Against Measles Protects Entire Community ............................ 6 New Member Profile: Kirk Jensen ................................................................... 9 Translational Research: From Bench to Bedside to the World .................. 10 New Member Profile: Emilia Huerta-Sanchez .............................................. 13 HSRI Professor Contributes to Research on Oil Spills .............................. 14 New Member Profile: Matthew Zawadzki .................................................... 16 NIH Supports Professor’s Work in Inhibiting HIV Infection ..................... 18 New Member Profile: Karina Diaz Rios ......................................................... 21 Unprecedented Melanoma Study Maps Cancer Drivers .......................... 22 2014-15 Financial Reports: ......................................................................... 24
For appendices please visit hsri.ucmerced.edu
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Health Sciences Research Institute Director’s Note How do we get children in the San Joaquin Valley to eat healthier and exercise more? What do we know about how to help people with valley fever, and where should we target our efforts to prevent and detect this disease? How can we reduce adolescent smoking and the use of new products such as hookahs and e-cigs? How much do chronic conditions cost the counties of the San Joaquin Valley, and where should Public Health Departments intervene to alleviate this burden? Over the past year, human health science researchers at UC Merced were actively engaged in answering these and other important questions. With over 80 members, HSRI is the largest group of researchers in the San Joaquin Valley. This important resource for the region is already leading to new discoveries and programs that can help the people in the region, establish UC Merced as an international hub for research and teaching, and train a new generation of researchers who will, hopefully, stay in the San Joaquin Valley. HSRI has been helping promote human health sciences research since its establishment in 2012. In that time, it has helped researchers secure over $4 million in external grants (supporting faculty from Natural Sciences, Engineering, and Social Sciences), lead the discussions on campus about the SJV Prime Program and the future of Medical Education at UC Merced, and helped foster a number of new and innovative initiatives, including: SJV ‘Valley Fever’ Network: Coccidioidomycosis, commonly known as ‘valley fever’, has received much attention in the national media. The incidence of valley fever in California is higher in vulnerable communities in the San Joaquin Valley. A multidisciplinary team of HSRI researchers is working with local communities, health providers, and experts to improve the detection and treatment of valley fever, and helping us to understand how best to develop new treatments and prevent people from getting the disease.
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Translational Research Center: Translational research allows people in communities to get access to the latest treatments and innovations, and to translate the findings into actions that improve lives. Translational Research is a top federal priority for research and development to improve health, and can help reduce health costs and stimulate economic growth. HSRI researchers are developing a Translational Research Center that will focus on disseminating the latest research to the community, to help identify what works in our region, and to implement the latest findings to help benefit the people of the region. Community Nutrition Out-Research program: Researchers at UC Merced have long been engaged in research looking at ways to reduce obesity, promote healthy eating, and help people exercise more. This year, HSRI faculty began a process of bringing this message to the schools in the region. Working with the Robert Ford Foundation, HSRI is working with teachers in the region to promote healthy eating and exercise by training up a group of interested and motivated students. These students will then go to the local schools, thereby showing not only how to promote healthy lifestyles, but also demonstrating to the children in the region that they can pursue a university education. Looking forward, the future is bright for HSRI and human health sciences research at UC Merced. As part of UC Merced’s 2020 plan, the campus plans to nearly double the number of faculty, including significant growth in the human health sciences. This growth will allow the faculty associated with HSRI to make even more discoveries that can help the people in the region.
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New Member Profile Sidra Goldman-Mellor School of School of Social Sciences, Humanities & Arts Mental health issues like depression, anxiety and suicidal behavior are often viewed at the level of the individual, with a focus on a person’s genetics, personality or upbringing. Sidra Goldman-Mellor, a professor in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, is examining mental health from a much broader perspective. Goldman-Mellor, a mental health epidemiologist, is trying to understand how social environment — including factors like economic opportunity, community violence and racism — affects people’s risk of psychological problems. “I want to figure out how we can use knowledge about the social determinants of psychological problems to reduce the burden of mental ill-health among populations in the Central Valley, California and the United States,” she said. In a recent study, Goldman-Mellor showed that young people who attempt suicide are at a high risk for lifelong health, economic and social problems, indicating a need for increased mental health services in the aftermath of suicide attempts. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, Goldman-Mellor did graduate work at UC Berkeley, the University of North Carolina and Duke University before arriving at UC Merced for her first job as a professor. She was drawn by the campus’s small size, interdisciplinary focus, outstanding faculty and freedom to pursue her research. She hopes her work will one day inform policies and programs related to mental health. “If at the end of my career I could say, ‘My work helped push forward our understanding of how to help people suffering from depression and to prevent suicide,’ I would be happy,” she said.
Vaccination Against Measles Protects Entire Community Measles was considered eradicated in the U.S. in 2000. But as of this month, nearly 200 cases have already been reported in the U.S., and a child in Merced County was one of the most recent victims (“Merced County child found to have measles,� Merced Sun-Star, March 4, Page A1). The number of measles cases is increasing nationwide, with unproven fears that the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine may cause autism being partly to blame. The measles virus can linger in water droplets in the air for up to two hours, and small babies are especially vulnerable since they lack a mature immune system and are too young to receive the vaccine. While few parents in the U.S. choose to skip the vaccination for their children, communities with high opt-out rates are scattered throughout the country. Most of the recent cases have occurred in people who were not vaccinated against the measles virus. In some ways, becoming vaccinated against measles is a social obligation as much as an individual choice. By becoming vaccinated, we protect our community. Vaccinated people are less likely to contract measles than unvaccinated people, so they decrease transmission of the virus to both vaccinated and unvaccinated community members. In other words, the chain of infection is disrupted when a large percentage of the community is immune to measles. The larger the number of community members who are resistant, the lower the
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chance that a susceptible (unvaccinated) person will come into contact with an infectious person and, in turn, become infected. This phenomenon is known as “herd immunity.” As becomes obvious from the current outbreak, measles is a highly transmissible infection. This high rate of transmission means that more than 90 percent of the population must be vaccinated in order to protect the entire community through “herd immunity.” The sad truth about the current outbreak is that as long as many members of our community have strong negative views about vaccination, we will continue to have outbreaks of vaccinepreventable diseases such as measles. We believe we should strive for the goal of vaccinating 100 percent of the population. Every member of the community who can be vaccinated should receive the vaccine, to protect both himself or herself and our neighbors who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons – because they are too young or have other medical conditions that prevent them from benefiting from vaccination. Nobody should opt-out for personal or religious reasons. We should also try to respect concerns about vaccination, and try to understand the source of those concerns if we are to address them successfully. Written by HSRI Director Paul M. Brown and Prof. David M. Ojcius This article first appeared in the Merced Sun-Star, March 10, 2014
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New Member Profile Kirk Jensen School of Natural Sciences Few scholars can say that their research interests stem from a bout with malaria, but that’s precisely the case for School of Natural Sciences Professor Kirk Jensen. While an undergrad at UC San Diego, Jensen contracted malaria during a trip to South America. His lengthy, difficult recovery triggered a curiosity in Jensen about why there were no vaccines against the disease and why the human immune system can’t defend itself against certain pathogens. Those questions led him on a path of study that culminated during the pursuit of his Ph.D. at Stanford University. There, Jensen published his most cited work to date, in which he characterized how inflammatory responses are generated by a little-understood lineage of T-cells. At UC Merced, Jensen has focused his work primarily on the Toxoplasma parasite, in part because discoveries related to the parasite could have far-reaching implications within the field of immunology. He hopes that by studying the way T-cells interact with Toxoplasma, he can help develop a way to position the cells to better respond to and eliminate parasites during dangerous and potentially lethal infections. “Toxoplasma is a ubiquitous parasite that stealthily infects billions of people and animals around the world, so it must know a thing or two about immunology,” Jensen said. “The central idea of my lab is that by studying this parasite and how it interacts with the host, we can learn novel aspects about our immune system.”
Translational Research: From Bench to Bedside to the World 2014 saw the Health Sciences Research Institute focus its efforts on establishing a Translational Research Center under the leadership of HSRI Director Paul Brown, and HSRI faculty member and psychology Associate Professor Anna Song. In collaboration with community partners, including the Great Valley Center and local nonprofit Make Someone Happy, HSRI researchers embarked upon a pilot project that would serve as a proof of concept that UC Merced researchers can work effectively with local organizations to reach rural populations. The benefits of the pilot project wouldn’t end there, however, as the team committed to studying a health topic of great importance here in the San Joaquin Valley: community members’ perceptions of air quality in the San Joaquin Valley. In addition to UC Merced faculty and community partners, 18 undergraduate Health Sciences Research Assistants (HSRAs), led by HSRI postdoctoral scholar Erin Gaab, assisted with the design, conduction, implementation and analysis of a community-based research pilot study. HSRAs, a team of motivated students of diverse backgrounds, participated in compiling multidisciplinary questions (from the perspectives of Public Health, Health Economics, Health Psychology and Environmental Health faculty members). HSRAs worked collaboratively, often on weekends and into the night (around their busy premedical class schedules) to translate the survey from English to Spanish and English to Hmong. They received training in research ethics and the conduction of sensitive, culturally appropriate, professional survey research. The HSRAs practiced their new skills at over 12 sites in Merced and Stanislaus Counties. They also entered the data and participated in weekly discussions of how to implement their efforts in the community. The students have continued to assist with data cleaning, analysis, and dissemination to community groups in the San Joaquin Valley through talks and printed media.
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New Member Profile Emilia Huerta-Sanchez School of Natural Sciences To learn more about humanity’s ancient past, Emilia Huerta-Sanchez is using some highly modern technology. Huerta-Sanchez, a professor in the School of Natural Sciences, is a computational biologist with an interest in evolutionary biology, using genomic sequencing to uncover new knowledge about human adaptation. “Recent advances in technology have made sequencing human genomes faster and cheaper, and these genomes are full of information about our history,” HuertaSanchez said. “The genomes are also rich in information about natural selection. We can identify mutations that have been beneficial to humans and genes that are harboring harmful mutations and are related to disease.” In her most significant work to date, Huerta-Sanchez helped elucidate genes that contain beneficial mutations that allow Tibetan people to thrive at high altitudes in one of the harshest environments on the planet — and that they acquired these mutations when their ancestors mated with archaic humans. While an undergraduate student at Mills College in Oakland, Huerta-Sanchez participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduates program in Puerto Rico. There she was exposed to applied mathematics research, setting her on a path that led her to a Ph.D. from Cornell University and a postdoc position at UC Berkeley. Now in her first faculty position, Huerta-Sanchez looks forward to continuing her research while inspiring the next generation of scientists. “I am hoping to engage UC Merced’s undergraduates students and motivate them to do research,” she said, “and to also help increase the number of underrepresented minorities studying science.”
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HSRI Professor Contributes to Research on Oil Spills Researching oceanic oil spills can be difficult when you work at a landlocked university like UC Merced. But thanks to a large consortium of researchers from around the country, that’s exactly what Professor Wei-Chun Chin is doing in the hopes of understanding the deeper, long-term effects of spills to better deal with them. The School of Engineering professor, affiliated with the Health Sciences Research Institute, studies microfluidics and the application of polymer physics, microfabrication and engineering principles to biological systems, and has been studying organic particle settlement for many years. His work drew him to the Aggregation and Degradation of Dispersants and Oil by Microbial Exopolymers (ADDOMEX) consortium, one of 12 selected by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) to study the impacts of oil, dispersed oil and dispersants on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem and public health. After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, which killed 11 people and is considered the largest marine oil spill in history, crews tried many methods to “clean up” the Gulf of Mexico. They vacuumed up the oil, sprayed thousands of gallons of detergent to disperse the oil and even burned it off. Researchers found a proliferation of microbes that seemed to consume some of the oil, as well. Dinoflagella, bacteria and phytoplankton helped the Gulf appear cleaner, but even though oil is no longer visible, that doesn’t mean it’s gone, Chin said. “We need to understand it, because this was a whole new experience for us,” Chin said. “I don’t want people — or oil companies — to take this lightly. The oil is gone from the surface, but we do not know the long-term consequences.” The Deepwater Horizon spill wasn’t unique. Significant spills have happened since, and likely will again.
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Professor Antonietta Quigg of Texas A&M University at Galveston, the lead investigator for the group Chin is working with, said spills are an unfortunate reality of oil companies pushing deeper into new drilling frontiers. ADDOMEX studies the formation of “marine snow,” Mother Nature’s effort to clean up spills. “Microbes that enjoy hydrocarbons dine on the all-you-can-eat carbon buffet during a spill,” Quigg said, “and in essence, return the oil back to the bottom of the ocean. Our research is focused on understanding what those microbes are doing and how, which will help us understand the fate and transport of the oil in the oceans.” The microfluids Chin uses in his lab allow for small-scale experiments on samples of ocean water the other researchers send to him. He looks at the effects of microbes on spills, the effects of dispersants on the microbes and microbial interactions. GoMRI began in 2010, after the oil spill, and is funded by British Petroleum (BP) — the company responsible for the Deepwater Horizon event — for 10 years. Each consortium is funded through 2017 and must include researchers from at least four universities. ADDOMEX is led by Texas A&M University at Galveston, which has a marine station at the Gulf where researchers can sample water for their work. Other members include Old Dominion University, UC Santa Barbara and the University of Southern California. “Oil spills can happen anywhere. They can come from ships like the Exxon Valdez, or from drilling operations like Deepwater Horizon,” Chin said. “And it’s true that the oceans can clean themselves, but it takes a long time, and we do not want to abuse them.”
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New Member Profile Matthew Zawadzki School of Social Sciences, Humanities & Arts It’s no secret that stress is bad for a person’s health. Matthew Zawadzki wants to know more — in particular, the effects of prolonged stress brought about by “perseverative cognitions” like the continued ruminating over a past argument or worrying about an upcoming deadline. “Thinking about bad news hours, days and even weeks later can cause a person to feel stressed,” he said. “This creates extra strain on the body, and it also contributes to poor health behaviors, such as eating more and worse food, not exercising and being sedentary, and self-medicating in the forms of alcohol and tobacco.” Zawadzki, a health psychologist in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, studies what leads people to have perseverative cognitions, whether there is a certain type of person who is more prone to them, and what happens to the body when a person has these negative thoughts. After earning graduate degrees in variety of psychology and social sciences-related fields from Columbia University and Penn State University, Zawadzki decided he wanted to focus his research in health psychology, which drew him to UC Merced. “UC Merced is one of only a handful of universities that has a true health psychology program with the goal of merging and synthesizing different fields to understand what affects people’s health and how can we work to make people healthier,” he said. “The San Joaquin Valley is an exciting place to work as it is a culturally rich and ethnically diverse community. But it is also a place with high levels of chronic disease. Coming to UC Merced provides the opportunity to work with members of the community to try to develop ways to improve health.”
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NIH Supports Professor’s Work in Inhibiting HIV Infection Biochemistry Professor Patricia LiWang calls it a stroke of luck that she has become enmeshed in HIV research, but her developments are no accident. The developments coming from LiWang’s lab and her collaboration with three other universities could have global implications in the war against HIV and AIDS. LiWang studies chemokines, signaling proteins that are secreted by cells. On their own they are HIV inhibitors, preventing the virus from binding itself to cells. “But the natural ones in our bodies aren’t so great at it,” she said. “So we started working on the biochemistry to make them better.” LiWang, an HSRI member and Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, thought there must be a way to improve the chemokines’ natural abilities through biochemistry, and began making several variants. She also started working on another inhibitor called griffithsin. But the big question when working with proteins is how to make them into medicine that can be used by people. They can’t be swallowed or the stomach would digest them, she said. That’s when she got the idea to partner with a bioengineer at Tufts University in Massachusetts who designed a silk-protein film that could carry the HIV inhibitors to places in the human body that are most likely to be invaded by HIV – the reproductive and digestive tracts. HIV preventatives have been tested in the forms of pills, gels and creams, and have been introduced in places like eastern and southern Africa, where HIV and AIDS are still at epidemic proportions. However, refrigeration there is a challenge and the creams and gels aren’t popular with at-risk populations, so getting people there to use the inhibitors regularly has proved to be a problem. Gels and creams are messy and must be used every time someone engages in sexual activity that could transmit the virus. LiWang’s team has come up with a different delivery system – an easy-to-use, filmy
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suppository that melts with body moisture and is stable for months, even when temperatures exceed 120 degrees. The team is working on making the inhibitor timereleased, too, so people could use it biweekly or monthly, making it more likely they would use it at all. Professor Satya Dandekar at the California National Primate Research Center, chair of the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology in the School of Medicine at UC Davis, plans to test the inserts in macaques to see if the silk films – which are known to be nontoxic – cause any inflammation. HIV feeds on inflammation, so that is a side effect that would not be acceptable. Meanwhile, a researcher at Imperial College in the United Kingdom is using human reproductive and digestive tissue samples to test the silk films, looking for the same issues. “At the end of the day, the question is: Will this work in humans?” Dandekar said. She’s excited to be part of the collaboration partly because it’s a novel opportunity to test the inhibitors on systems that are the closest to human systems possible, but also because AIDS originated in monkeys. She believes primate testing could hold the key to HIV inhibition. “We’ve probably cured every kind of cancer in mice, but we can’t cure all those cancers in humans,” she said. “We need to use animal models that are relevant to humans, and the primate reproductive systems are very similar to humans – and most appropriate for evaluating preventative measures for infectious diseases.” Many studies are carried out in test tubes and petri dishes, too, Dandekar said, but those also do not present the full picture of what is happening in the whole body. “All of this is a precursor to human trials,” LiWang said. “If we are ever going to be lucky enough to make the leap to human clinical trials, we need to find the optimal protein, make sure the silk films don’t cause problems, find out how long they can be used and whether there are side effects and work on the time-release aspects. “But this shows how important basic research is. This work could, eventually, help people.”
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New Member Profile L. Karina Díaz Rios UC Cooperative Extension, Division of Agriculture & Natural Resources Karina Díaz Rios became fascinated with nutrition while a middle school student growing up in Mexico, wanting to know more about how vitamins and other substances in food work within the human body and contribute to health. She became a dietitian after graduating from the University of Guanajuato, and while pursuing her master’s degree, she was invited to spend three months as a visiting scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She returned there to earn her Ph.D., then studied as a postdoc at Texas Tech University before joining the Health Sciences Research Institute at UC Merced. As she has advanced her education and her academic career, Díaz Rios has broadened her focus from the individual attention of her private practice to the health and well being of entire communities. “Nutrition has been a passion of mine for a long time,” she said. “Practicing as an outpatient dietitian for several years made me realize how critical it is to use the right tools and approaches to guide people towards a sustained behavior change.” UC Merced provides the perfect setting for Díaz Rios to continue her work. She’s working to prevent diet-related diseases by developing approaches that are both feasible for communities and organizations to adopt, and appropriate to the people for whom they’re designed. “I have a particular interest in minorities and disadvantaged groups,” she said. “As a result, my research interests evolved around community nutrition and the development and evaluation of theory-based, culturally sensitive nutrition education programs.”
Unprecedented Melanoma Study Maps Cancer Drivers Researchers at the University of California, Merced, have completed a comprehensive map of the genetic makeup of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. By comparing the genomes of more than 300 melanomas, the researchers were able to identify mutational hotspots that give rise to cancer. The research team, led by Professor Fabian V. Filipp, was able to confirm preeminent drivers of melanoma and identify new melanoma genes. The study, “Cancer systems biology of TCGA SKCM: Efficient detection of genomic drivers in melanoma,” published this spring (Jan. 20) in Scientific Reports, an open access journal from the publishers of Nature. “Now that we have the genomic landscape of melanoma, we can navigate it,” Filipp said. “We can provide the maps to make it easier to identify melanoma risks, develop new therapeutic targets and create better diagnostic readouts.” The team employed a systems biology approach to the study — instead of examining a single DNA change and its role in cancer development, the researchers combed through billons of DNA base pairs. The result was a map showing a dense network of mutational hotspots — areas where a series of related genetic mutations occur. Such hotspots coordinate cell division and are anything but random. The availability of big genomic data — a recent development in scientific research — challenged the researchers to study more melanoma genomes than anyone had before and promises to provide new methods by which scientists can learn about and understand cancer. “Systems biology has a major impact on how we view cancer today,” Filipp said. “An important step was to employ a rigorous filter that separates millions of random molecular events from those events that drive cancer.”
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The study found that in melanoma patients, the signaling pathway of protooncogene BRAF — a gene that causes cancer — is hyperactive, triggering uncontrolled cell division. Filipp and his team determined that BRAF mutations are bona fide drivers of melanoma, then looked for the mutation in other forms of cancer. They found the mutation was also prominent in thyroid cancer, which was previously unknown, and their analysis could lay a foundation for future assessment and treatment of melanoma and other cancers. The study was carried out within the framework of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a big-data project exploring the universe of genomic changes involved in all types of human cancer. Filipp’s research focuses on melanoma and cancer metabolism, and he recently was awarded the prestigious Thomas B. Fitzpatrick Medal, presented only once every three years by the International Federation of Pigment Cell Societies to a handful of researchers worldwide who have made outstanding contributions to the study of melanoma and pigment cells. “Professor Filipp exemplifies the innovative ways in which UC Merced researchers approach issues of local, national and global significance,” said Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development Sam Traina. “We are proud to see that his outstanding work is being recognized.” For the melanoma study, Filipp’s multidisciplinary team — which included Dr. Jian Guan and Ph.D. student Rohit Gupta — received an $800,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Filipp hopes to one day apply the same sort of analysis to melanoma patients in the Central Valley of California, to learn more about risk factors in the region.
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2014-15 Financial Reports The Health Sciences Research Institute currently has 78 UC Merced member researchers from the School of Natural Sciences, School of Engineering, School of Social Sciences, Humanities & Arts, UC Agriculture & Natural Resources and UC Merced Office of Research & Economic Development. In addition, HSRI has a number of affiliate members at regional and statewide organizations including Mariposa County Department of Public Health. A complete list of members is contained in Appendix A. The Health Sciences Research Institute Executive Committee is comprised of faculty leads from each of HSRI’s clusters as follows: Linda Cameron (Cancer Control & Prevention) Jan Wallander (Health Disparities) David Ojcius (Immunity & Infectious Diseases) Michael Dawson (Environment & Health) Jeffrey Gilger (Basic & Behavioral Neuroscience) Néstor Oviedo (Biomolecular Research) Anna Song (Translational Research) Suzanne Sindi (Biosimulation & Modeling) Deborah Wiebe (Health Decision Making) The Executive Committee met three times during FY 2014-15 (10/8/14, 1/28/15 and 4/29/15) and made the following key recommendations: • To fund the foundation of a Translational Research Center, including funding for a pilot project in Merced and Stanislaus Counties. • Explore and establish a Biostatistics Unit as a central resource for inclusion on HSRI investigator grant proposals. • To provide initial investment funding for a Projects Manager as a central resource that can be written into grant funded projects in order for the position to become self-sustaining • Establish an informal undergraduate program: Undergraduate Health Sciences Researchers.
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Minutes from Executive Committee meetings for FY 2014-15 are contained in Appendix B. HSRI events for 2014-15 included Pediatric Palliative Care research presentations (Children’s Hospital Oakland & Valley Children’s) – Oct. 30, 2014; UC Merced Research Week event Translating Health Innovations: Bench to Bedside to the World – March 3, 2015; and UC ANR Healthy Eating & Nutrition meeting – June 19, 2015. The HSRI research week event was largely planned by graduate students from research groups across HSRI clusters as part of our efforts to engage graduate student researchers. Ongoing activities for 2014-15 include translational research pilot projects, valley fever outreach, education and pilot projects. A list of HSRI activities for the year is contained in Appendix C. HSRI has embarked upon a broader communications strategy that makes effective use of social media including Twitter and Facebook platforms with 442 followers on Twitter and 113 “page likes” on Facebook in the first two weeks (the Facebook page was established on June 19, 2015). HSRI has also invested in merchandise to cement and expand brand recognition: these items are also being used to incentivize and encourage participation on social media (for example offering a branded flying disc for active lifestyle ideas) Many of HSRI’s activities, particularly those related to valley fever, health needs assessment and other community-based projects, included a large cohort of UC Merced undergraduate student volunteers. Please see Appendix D for a complete list of undergraduate volunteers. A list of publications that acknowledges the Health Sciences Research Institute can be found in Appendix E. HSRI-managed research funding includes grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01, R15, R21 and R13 mechanisms), the Public Health Institute and First 5 of Merced County. Budgeted direct costs from all grants for FY 2014-15 totaled $1,841,605 with budgeted indirect costs of $622,024. Award dollars on all currently active grants in HSRI (periods of performance vary) total $4,096,221. A complete
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2014-15 Financial Reports list of grants administered in fiscal year 2014-15 is included in Appendix F, which also includes a list of all personnel who are paid from accounts managed by the unit (F105) HSRI continues to offer a comprehensive “cradle to grave” grants service and is the only one-stop-shop on campus to do so. Our staff works directly with the faculty on their grant applications and assists in the development of proposals as well as handling all internal and external administrative tasks associated with all submissions. We have also begun development of a graphics service and have created diagrams and other images for use in faculty proposals, dissemination efforts, research participant recruitment and “one pager” research summaries for use in discussions with agency program officers.
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