13 from Hopkins BME among those selected to receive Johns Hopkins Discovery Awards
This year, 44 multidisciplinary endeavors have been selected to receive support from Johns Hopkins University’s Discovery Awards program. Each project team is made up of members from at least two JHU entities who aim to solve a complex problem and expand the horizons of knowledge. Of the 44 selected teams, nearly one-third include biomedical engineering faculty.
Altogether, the winning project teams—chosen from a record 286 proposals—include 148 individuals representing 11 Johns Hopkins entities.
“As society confronts challenges of increasing complexity, we require solutions that engage different disciplinary perspectives,” JHU President Ron Daniels said. “This year’s Discovery Awards recipients draw on the remarkable strengths of our faculty across our one university, forging new and impactful collaborations with the potential to improve health care, combat climate change, and harness the power of artificial intelligence.”
The Discovery Awards program was launched in early 2015, as was the Catalyst Awards program for early-career researchers. Together, the two programs represent a $45 million commitment by university leadership, in tandem with deans and directors of JHU’s divisions, to faculty-led research.
The Discovery Awards are intended to spark new interactions among investigators across the university rather than to support established projects. Teams can apply for up to $100,000 to explore a new area of collaborative work with special emphasis on preparing for an externally funded large-scale grant or cooperative agreement.
“Cross-disciplinary collaboration is vital for solving society’s greatest challenges, from developing innovative health technologies to confronting climate change,” Provost Ray Jayawardhana said. “The Discovery Awards foster those crucial partnerships across Johns Hopkins, unleashing the creative potential of our scholars to drive transformative research. Congratulations to the 2024 awardees!”
The 13 teams that include biomedical engineering faculty (noted in bold) are:
A Bone Marrow Targeting Vehicle for IL-15 to Enhance NK Cell Anti-leukemic Effect – Maxim Rosario (Medicine), Scott Wilson (Medicine) & Jay Bream (Public Health)
A Long-read-based, Epigenome-first Approach for Molecular Diagnosis – Carolina Montano (Engineering), Kasper Hansen (Public Health) & Winston Timp (Engineering)
Data Valuation in Distributed and Private Large-Scale Radiology – Jeremias Sulam (Engineering), Harrison Bai (Medicine), Mahyar Fazlyab (Engineering) & Nicolas Loizou (Engineering)
Deep Learning Applications in ECG Analysis for Atrial Fibrillation Patients: A New Horizon in Diagnosis and Monitoring – Eugene Kholmovski (Engineering), Natalia Trayanova (Engineering), David Spragg (Medicine) & Yazan Mohsen (Engineering)
Eliminating Cataract-related Vision Loss Through a New, Artificial Intelligence-based Screening Modality – Kunal Parikh (Medicine), Nakul Shekhawat (Medicine), Rama Chellappa (Engineering/Medicine), Nathanael Kuo (Applied Physics Lab), Rai Munoz (Applied Physics Lab) & Jordan Shuff (Medicine)
Exploring the Neural Architecture of Psychedelic Experience with High-density Electrophysiology – Austin Graves (Engineering), Tim Harris (Engineering) & Kellie Tamashiro (Medicine)
High-throughput Identification of Cell-state Induced Changes in Subcellular mRNA Localization in the Brain – Solange Brown (Medicine), Loyal Goff (Medicine), Genevieve Stein-O’Brien (Medicine) & Jean Fan (Engineering)
Preventing Blindness Using AI-enabled, Point-of-care Diagnosis of Corneal Infections – Nakul Shekhawat (Medicine), Kunal Parikh (Medicine), Rama Chellappa (Engineering/Medicine), Nathanael Kuo (Applied Physics Lab), Rai Munoz (Applied Physics Lab) & Jordan Shuff (Medicine)
Programmed Regenerative Inflammation for Functional Recovery in Repairing Volumetric Muscle Loss – Laszlo Nagy (Medicine), Hai-Quan Mao (Engineering) & Warren Grayson (Medicine)
The Neural Basis of Continual Learning in the Face of Early Life Adversity – Kishore Kuchibhotla (Arts & Sciences), Maya Opendak (Medicine), Adam Charles (Engineering) & Chris Honey (Arts & Sciences)
This IS Your Grandma’s Vaccine!: Engineering Immunity in the Elderly – Scott Wilson (Medicine) & Sabra Klein (Public Health)
Using Nanopore Sequencing of TET3-deficient Cells to Understand and Abrogate Disrupted DNA Methylation States in Human Neurons – Jill Fahrner (Medicine), Winston Timp (Engineering) & Kasper Hansen (Public Health)
Virtual Neurology Clinic: A Human-AI Interface for Remote Autonomous Augmented/Virtual Reality Neurologic Screening and Triaging – Kemar Green (Medicine), John Probasco (Medicine), Ayah Zirikly (Engineering), Ziang Xiao (Engineering), Vishal Patel (Engineering), Peter Kazanzides (Engineering) & Youseph Yazdi (Medicine) *Co-Funded with the Institute for Assured Autonomy*
The full list of recipients and their projects is available on the Office of Research website.