{"id":2208,"date":"2023-07-06T19:38:24","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T19:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/evolution\/?p=2208"},"modified":"2023-07-06T19:49:37","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T19:49:37","slug":"evolutionary-studies-pilot-grant-recipients-reflect-on-last-years-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/evolution\/evolutionary-studies-pilot-grant-recipients-reflect-on-last-years-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolutionary Studies pilot grant recipients reflect on last year\u2019s research"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kelly Tingle, Evolutionary Studies communications assistant<\/em><\/p>\n

Last year (2022-2023), Evolutionary Studies at 国产传媒 awarded pilot grants<\/a> to excellent proposals from four members of the ESI community: graduate students Samantha Schaffner (Biological Sciences, Patel Lab), Taiye Winful (Anthropology, Benn Torres Lab), and Katie McCormack (Anthropology, Benn Torres Lab) and Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor Lin Meng<\/a>, who is collaborating with Biological Sciences Professor Carl Johnson<\/a>. Pilot Research Grants are awarded to ESI members\u00ad with proposals for evolution-themed projects\u2013especially trainee led projects\u2013and awards may be up to $5000.<\/p>\n

\"Sam
Sam Schaffner sitting at a microscope<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sam Schaffner studied the effects of gene mutation within the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans<\/em>. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Evolutionary Studies pilot grant has been extremely beneficial in beginning my research project. It allowed me to take risks in my research and study a possible toxin-antidote system in\u00a0C. elegans<\/em>\u00a0related to my gene of interest, spd-3\u201d <\/em>explained Schaffner.<\/p>\n

Schaffner was able to use her pilot grant proposal as an early draft of an NSF GRFP proposal<\/a>, for which she was also awarded funding this year. With her GRFP, Schaffner is working to better understand the function and evolutionary pressures of essential gene loss in some\u00a0Caenorhabditis\u00a0<\/em>species.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Taiye Winful is currently researching biological inflammatory response mechanisms in Nigerians.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taiye Winful \u00a0collected data on chronic stress and biological inflammatory response mechanisms in Nigerians.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe pilot grant especially has given me the ability to focus and perfect my methods before analyzing my Nigerian samples,\u201d described Winful.<\/p>\n

Winful was awarded an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant to continue this research. Winful explained that these funding opportunities have enabled her to better understand how life experiences affect biological systems in African American and Nigerian populations.<\/p>\n

Katie McCormack<\/strong> studied ancient microbiomes within calcified dental plaque of individuals from the archaeological site of La Real in Peru.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Katie McCormack (left) and Professor Jada Benn Torres researching ancient oral microbiomes in the lab.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFunding from the ESI pilot grant has been really instrumental in allowing for training and generating pilot data for my dissertation research,\u201d said McCormack. \u201cIt\u2019s really exciting to be a part of work that can both provide new insights to the lived experiences of people who lived over a millennium ago and potentially contribute to our understandings of how microbes that colonize the human oral cavity have co-evolved with human populations over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor Lin Meng and Biological Sciences Professor Carl Johnson studied the effects of artificial light at night (ALAN) on plants through experiments.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Professor Lin Meng doing plant science research in a greenhouse.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meng is interested in how climate change and urbanization affects urban ecosystems.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy understanding the evolutionary processes underlying the responses of urban trees to environmental stressors, we can gain insights into their resilience and develop strategies for their conservation and management in the face of ongoing climate change,\u201d explained Meng.<\/p>\n

Meng, who just finished her first year as faculty in EES, explained that the Evolution group has provided a supportive environment and opportunity to make connections and collaborations across campus on research projects and grant writing. She also described that ESI\u2019s various funding opportunities enhance the community\u2019s ability to conduct high-quality research, increase academic visibility, and prepare members for application to larger grants.<\/p>\n

Successful pilot grants<\/a>, with awards up to $5000, consist of strong proposals that promote new evolutionary scholarship, develop collaborations across career stages and disciplines, and seed larger projects. Pilot grant recipients are encouraged to regularly attend ESI seminars and journal clubs, which this year\u2019s awardees found extremely valuable.<\/p>\n

Pilot grant awardees note that Evolutionary Studies journal club provides sense of community.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFriday journal discussions always have a diverse range of topics, academic stages, and scientific backgrounds of participants,\u201d described Schaffner.<\/p>\n

McCormack added, \u201cI really value the journal club and other opportunities to engage with evolutionary biology a bit more broadly and have that shared experience of reading and discussing papers with people that come from diverse academic backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winful added that she’s looking forward to attending more of these events next year now that she has returned from field work.<\/p>\n

This year (2023-2024), ESI was able to award Pilot Research Grants to 11 members of the community: Neil Kelley, Brandt Eichman, Gianni Castiglione, Lantana Grub (Patel Lab), Hao Yin (Meng Lab), Jamisha Francis (Hadjifrangiskou Lab), Jay Pardo (DeSantis Lab), Kate Snyder (Creanza Lab), Alejandro Prieto (Darroch \/ Jorge Lab) Owen Hale (Behringer Lab), Marina Watowich (Lea Lab).<\/p>\n

Pilot Research Grants<\/a> for 2024-2025 are due in May of 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kelly Tingle, Evolutionary Studies communications assistant Last year (2022-2023), Evolutionary Studies at 国产传媒 awarded pilot grants to excellent proposals from four members of the ESI community: graduate students Samantha Schaffner (Biological Sciences, Patel Lab), Taiye Winful (Anthropology, Benn Torres Lab), and Katie McCormack (Anthropology, Benn Torres Lab) and Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor Lin…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2421,"featured_media":2218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[7],"tags":[13,14,16,50,15,74],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n