PVM Faculty Among Researchers Honored with Purdue Seed for Success Acorn Awards

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Purdue honored more than 100 researchers, including 13 from the College of Veterinary Medicine, with the university’s prestigious Seed for Success Acorn Awards at an awards event last month in the Purdue Memorial Union North Ballroom. The award recognizes Purdue principal investigators and co-investigators who obtained their first research grants with external funding of $1 million or more for a single proposal.

“Being awarded $1 million in research funding is a true milestone,” said Dr. Karen Plaut, executive vice president for research at the awards event on November 1. “It is an important recognition of a researcher’s accomplishments and innovative ideas. It also recognizes not only what researchers accomplished today, but also our hopes and aspirations for the future and the impact that they will have on the world.”

This year’s ceremony honored winners from the past three years, because award ceremonies were cancelled in 2020, 2021, and 2022 due to Covid-related restrictions. “It’s wonderful to be back celebrating this community of scholars engaged in world-class research at Purdue,” President Mung Chiang said. “External funding of your work is an important reflection of your research excellence. We could not be prouder of your accomplishments.”

Congratulations to the following honorees from the College of Veterinary Medicine.

* designates Seed for Success Acorn Award recipients

+ designates those who have left Purdue

2023:

Department of Comparative Pathobiology:

• Dr. Ahmed Abdelkhalek Hassan, research assistant professor; and Dr. Sanjeev K. Narayanan, department head and professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology 

Research grant details: Mark C. Hall, Scott D. Briggs, Ahmed Abdelkhalek Hassan*, Sanjeev K. Narayanan*, from National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Cdc14 phosphatase – novel roles in drug resistance, virulence, and the response to cell wall stress in fungal pathogens, $2,400,438.00

Department of Basic Medical Sciences:

• Dr. Adam J. Kimbrough, assistant professor of basic medical sciences

Research grant details: Adam J. Kimbrough*, from National Institute on Alcohol Abuse, Identifying the relationship between alcohol and Alzheimer’s Disease, $1,716,398.00

Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences:

• Dr. R. Timothy Bentley, professor of neurology and neurosurgery; and Dr. Isabelle F. Vanhaezebrouck, clinical associate professor of radiation oncology

Research grant details: Matthew Louis Scarpelli*, Robin T. Bentley*, Bennett D. Elzey, Philip S. Low, Isabelle F. Vanhaezebrouck*, from National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Improving glioma radiotherapy by theragnostic targeting of tumor-supporting macrophages, $1,906,450.00

2022:

Department of Comparative Pathobiology:

• Dr. Abigail D. Cox, associate professor of veterinary anatomic pathology and director of the Histology Research Laboratory; Dr. Andrea Pires Dos Santos, associate professor of veterinary clinical pathology and director of the Cytology Resource Center

Research grant details: Preeti Mahalakshmi Sivasankar, Abigail D. Cox*, Craig J. Goergen*, Andrea Pires Dos Santos*, Allison J. Schaser*, Jun Xie, from National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, Estrogenic regulation of systemic vocal fold dehydration, $3,653,404.00

Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences:

• Dr. Darryl Ragland, professor of food animal production medicine

Research grant details: Mohit S. Verma, Jonathan A. Pasternak*, Darryl Ragland*, from Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, Point-of-care detection of African Swine Fever Virus: a paper-based device for molecular diagnostics, $1,000,000.00

2021:

Department of Comparative Pathobiology:

• Dr. Sulma I. Mohammed, professor of cancer biology; Dr. Nadia Atallah Lanman, research associate professor; and Dr. Jiang Yang, research assistant professor

Research grant details: Jacqueline C. Linnes, Sulma I. Mohammed*, from National Cancer Institute, Point-of-care screening test for early cervical cancer detection, $1,996,330.00

Timothy L. Ratliff, Majid Kazemian, Nadia Atallah Lanman*, Jiang Yang*, from National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Impact of Inflammation on Adult Prostate Stem Cells, $3,561,043.00

Department of Veterinary Administration:

• Dr. Malathi Raghavan, clinical associate professor and director of outcomes assessment and data management; and Dr. Sandra San Miguel, associate dean for engagement

Research grant details: Susan M. Mendrysa, Latonia L. Craig, Marxa L. Figueiredo, Harm HogenEsch, Loran Carleton Parker, Malathi Raghavan*, from National Institute of General Medical Science, Purdue PREP for Translational Biomedical Sciences, $1,193,892.00

Sandra San Miguel*, Wilella Daniels Burgess, Ladawn T. Lyle*+, Martha Lindley McDavid*, Loran Carleton Parker, Micha C. Simons+, from National Institute of General Medical Science, See Us-Be Us: Inspiring future veterinarians using a Veterinary STEM Ecosystem, $1,350,000.00

Last year, Purdue set a record in external research funding, reaching $613 million. A full list of award recipients, with their research project titles and a listing of their research collaborators, is available at the awards webpage.

Writer(s): Peter Shelby, Purdue Marketing and Communications | pvmnews@purdue.edu