The Boise State TRANSFORM team is pleased to announce the recipients of the second round of competitive Seed Translational Research Projects awards. Funded by the new National Science Foundation Technology, Innovation and Partnerships directive, these sub-awards are part of the Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program that granted Boise State $6 million over four years to “enable academic institutions to accelerate the pace and scale of translational research that will grow the nation’s economy.”
A total of 15 applications were submitted and this year’s Track One (market-oriented) awardee is Professor Daniel Fologea from the Department of Physics, along with co-principal investigator, professor and director of the Biomolecular Doctoral Program, Denise Wingett, from the Department of Biological Sciences.
Their submission, “Liposomes for radiation-controlled release of anticancer drugs and immunotherapy agents,” looks to develop innovative drug release mechanisms for treating cancer. Fologea is partnering with startup RadRelease Pharmaceuticals and GT Medical Technologies for his research.
The 2024 Track Two (community-engaged) recipient is Associate Professor Sven Buerki, assisted by co-principal investigator, Professor Ian Robertson, from the Department of Biological Sciences.
Their proposal is “From Seed to Seeds – Promoting Novel Bioeconomy to Support Restoration of Threatened Plants,” which contributes to mitigating the biodiversity crisis. Buerki has three community partners on this project: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and the Idaho Army National Guard.
The TRANSFORM team extends congratulations to Fologea and Buerki, and gratitude to all of the teams who submitted this year. The breadth and depth of the proposals was truly impressive. The application for the next round of funding opens Jan. 15, 2025, and the TRANSFORM team looks forward to future submissions.