Michael Ferguson - US grants

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the Abstract): Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous organism which maintains the ability to adapt to almost any environmental situation. This allows the organism to exist very effectively in the absence of a eukaryotic host or an infectious process. If, however, P. aeruginosa is allowed entry into a host due to damage of normal physical or immunological barriers, it produces infections with high morbidity and mortality. Both the adaptability and pathogenicity of P. aeruginosa are multifactorial and reflect the organism s ability to produce a variety of cell associated and extracellular products. The focus of this proposal is one of these products, an ADP-ribosylating enzyme, exoenzyme S (ExoS). ExoS production has been associated with increased P.aeruginosa virulence, but the function of ExoS in vivo remains unknown. ExoS production, however, is not unique to clinical isolates, with >90% of the P. aeruginosa environmental isolates also being found to produce ExoS. This implicates the importance of ExoS to the survival of the organism in the environment. The hypothesis of the proposed studies is that an increased understanding of the regulation and role of ExoS in the environment will help elucidate the role of ExoS in the infectious process. In the first specific aim of this project ExoS produced by soil and clinical P. aeruginosa isolates will be compared to determine if biochemical, enzymatic or nucleotide sequence differences exist between the two sources of ExoS. In the second specific aim, soil conditions associated with enhanced ExoS production will be defined to gain an increased understanding of mechanisms of ExoS regulation. In the third specific aim, the role of ExoS in the survival of P. aeruginosa in the soil will be examined to help clarify the function of ExoS in vivo. An understanding of the expression of ExoS in nature should result in new insights into the evolutionary conservation of highly regulated an metabolically expensive protein and will help to explain the role of ExoS in the production of disease in clinical situations.

The objective of this research is to develop new designs for neural prostheses used in stimulating the auditory system that improve the transfer of information supporting speech recognition into surviving auditory pathways. Although this project is directed primarily towards animal studies, the work scope requires careful evaluation of the feasibility for the project to provide advancements to the design of neural prostheses used in humans. The development of shared technical resources uniquely suited to neural prosthesis research and development will also be supported.

A goal of the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) is to increase the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research capacities of specific institutions of higher education that serve the Nation's indigenous students. The PEEC-II track provides support for studies or educational research conducted by institutions that have had earlier Pre-Engineering Education Collaborative (PEEC) awards. The intent of PEEC-II is to capture, analyze, and disseminate the impact of these awards on the participating institutions, faculty, or students, and their communities. PEEC and PEEC-II are partnerships between TCUP and the Directorate for Engineering.

Kapiolani Community College (KCC), as the lead institution of a University of Hawaii (UH) System collaboration that includes Honolulu Community College (HCC), Leeward Community College (LCC), Maui College (MC), and Windward Community College (WCC) and University of Hawaii Manoa (UHM), proposes to build on the foundation of their PEEC award which created pre-engineering tracks and transfer agreements between the colleges and UHM as well as instituted student support activities. The Hawaii PEEC II goals are: 1) to build capacity at Native Hawaiian-serving institutions to prepare students for engineering degree completion, seamless transfer to a four-year institution, and entry into the workforce; and 2) to implement, investigate, and evaluate the effect of discipline-specific undergraduate research on student success.

Along with expanding the sense of place for Native Hawaiian students on each campus through facilities and resources that support the community, the project will contribute to a better understanding of retention and student success in formal pre-engineering programs especially for Native Hawaiian students. The project will investigate the effect of undergraduate research on student success and the utility of vertically-integrated projects for university and community college students around the themes of robotics, space & astronomy, maker, and sustainability. PEEC II will provide evidenced-based practices to help resolve a major national problem for community colleges attempting to develop effective engineering transfer pathways to universities for students underrepresented in STEM.

A goal of the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) is to increase the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research capacities of specific institutions of higher education that serve the Nation's indigenous students. Expanding the outreach, research, and STEM instructional capacity at these institutions expands the opportunities for students to pursue challenging, rewarding careers in STEM fields, provides for research studies in areas that may be locally relevant, and encourages a faculty community to look beyond the traditional classroom for intellectual and professional growth. This project aligns directly with that goal, and moreover will serve as a model for novel pathways to careers in the geosciences for students underrepresented in that field.

The Partnerships in Geoscience Education (PAGE) collaborative among these Hawaii community colleges and the University of Hawaii Department of Oceanography will implement a strategic approach to increasing the number and success of Native Hawaiians majoring in the geosciences that will include outreach to local high schools, the implementation of a summer bridge that will increase mathematics readiness through calculus, the infusion of Native Hawaiian traditional knowledge into an expanded geoscience curriculum at the participating institutions, locally and culturally relevant research opportunities for undergraduates, community outreach to share the results of that research, and the engagement of environmental science specialists at each participating institution to ensure the greatest likelihood of students? academic success.