From left: Dr. Francesca Leasi, Dr. David Giles, Dr. Loren Hayes and Dr. Azad Hossain.
A trio of research proposals led by University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of Biology, Geology and Environmental Science (BGE) faculty members has secured over $1.8 million in external grant and contract awards, marking a successful summer for funding.
Dr. Francesca Leasi (BGE), in collaboration with Florida International University, received $696,680 from the National Science Foundation for the project titled “The Evolution of Salinity Tolerance in Monogonont Rotifers.”
Dr. David Giles (BGE), Dr. Bradley Harris (Civil and Chemical Engineering) and Dr. Steven Symes (Chemistry and Physics) received $396,750 from the National Institutes of Health for the project titled “In vitro and in silico investigations of changes in bacterial cell membrane dynamics due to polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) modifications.”
Dr. Loren Hayes and Dr. Azad Hossain (BGE), Dr. Krysta Murillo (School of Education) and Dr. Jin Wang (Mathematics) received $749,999 from the National Science Foundation for the project titled “Integrating biological, geospatial, and math modeling to understand how a changing climate impacts animal social systems.”
“This series of funded grants in the Department of Biology, Geology and Environmental Science is yet another indicator of the nationally competitive scholarship that is taking place on UTC’s campus,” College of Arts and Sciences Dean Pam Riggs-Gelasco said. “These faculty involve undergraduate and graduate students in their work, and this experience working on cutting edge research questions amplifies their employment options after graduation.”
BGE Department Head Gretchen Potts said grant funding “empowers faculty to explore new research in their fields and make substantial contributions to scholarship.”
“This significant funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health will be used by Drs. Giles, Hayes, Hossain and Leasi to advance their individual projects and elevate the institution’s research capacity,” Potts said.
“Most importantly, the funding will provide resources that benefit students, fellow researchers and the broader scope of our University’s mission. I am extremely excited for these faculty as they move forward with their exciting projects.”
Dr. Francesca Leasi, left, works with students in her Holt Hall lab.
UC Foundation Associate Professor Francesca Leasi
Leasi’s four-year NSF-RUI (National Science Foundation Facilitating Research at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions) project aims to understand how certain microscopic aquatic organisms, called monogonont rotifers, can survive changes in their environment—specifically salinity (salt level) fluctuations caused by climate and environmental changes.
These tiny animals, she said, play a critical role in maintaining ecological balance by recycling organic matter and serving as a food source for larger species.
“Natural salinity fluctuations occur because of seasonal water evaporation and rainfalls, tide dynamics and extreme weather events like hurricanes and drought,” Leasi explained. “Unfortunately, global warming is greatly intensifying salinity variation by increasing the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events and, more gradually, raising sea level. Many times, estuaries get diluted or rivers become more saline, and microscopic life typically can’t withstand such a variation. But some of these animals have been found in a very broad salinity range. The question is, how do they cope with that? What does it take to survive climate and environmental changes?
“Knowing how microinvertebrates survive and how and how fast salinity tolerance evolves is key to understanding which traits allow animals to persist in the face of anthropogenic salinization or dilution—and whether or not adaptation to climate-change-related salinity variation is possible for many organisms.”
The research, she said, has three main objectives: surveying species distribution along the southeastern coast of the United States from North Carolina to Florida, studying the physiological responses of the rotifers in different salinity conditions, and investigating the genetic and evolutionary factors that contribute to this organism’s survival.
In addition to advancing scientific knowledge, the project will train a new generation of scientists—including undergraduates from underrepresented groups, two master’s students, a Ph.D. student and a postdoctoral associate—in cutting-edge research methods.
“Many UTC students in biology and environmental science are very interested in marine biology, but there isn’t much offered because of our location,” said Leasi, who joined the UTC faculty in 2018. “So students are joining me in the field and they are exposed to a research-focused university—Florida International—which is my collaborator in this proposal.”
She said that local research will involve collecting water samples to check conductivity, which is similar to salinity and can be affected by pollutants in freshwater. This gives students practical experience in monitoring environmental changes due to pollution.
A first-generation college student, Leasi—who received a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy—noted the importance of introducing undergraduates to research. During the second half of the four-year grant period, additional summer research opportunities will be provided to students.
“We plan to invite at least 20 students, 10 from UTC and 10 from Florida International, who will come together to learn computational biology tools and molecular work in the lab,” Leasi said. “This initiative will allow undergraduate students not working with us in our lab to join us for a couple of weeks here at UTC.”
Dr. David Giles, right, works with UTC student Meredith Grant.
Professor David Giles
Giles was the principal investigator on a three-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, an achievement that is “extremely noteworthy,” according to UTC Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Meredith Perry.
“The University has not received many National Institutes of Health grants, and that’s always been a potential area of growth for us. So it’s really exciting to see biomedical research activity getting funded,” Perry said.
“Davy has been an amazing researcher and has been so deliberate and conscientious about engaging undergraduates in his work and making sure his undergraduate students have opportunities for publications and presentations. To see his research affirmed by an extremely rigorous peer review process like the one the National Institutes of Health has in place for proposals is just beyond thrilling.”
Giles’ research will explore how Vibrio cholerae—a type of bacteria that can cause serious disease if left untreated—takes in fatty acids and how the changes to its membrane might make it more or less resistant to treatments. By using laboratory techniques and computer modeling, the study will uncover how these fatty acids alter the bacteria’s membrane, potentially revealing new ways to combat infections.
The grant aims to explore the “intriguing ability” of many bacteria to acquire fatty acids from their environment,” he said.
“We’ve known that bacteria can take in fatty acids to generate energy because they are carbon sources,” said Giles, a member of the UTC faculty since 2012. “But over the last decade, I’ve focused on showing that many bacteria also use fatty acids they can’t produce themselves but can absorb from their environment for other purposes, like altering their membranes.”
Giles’ primary focus will be on how these changes in membrane permeability impact antimicrobial resistance.
“That’s the most interesting aspect from the NIH’s standpoint. Can we make bacteria more vulnerable to antibiotics?” he asked. “I like to use a ‘Trojan horse’ analysis. Bacteria take up all these fatty acids, and as we study this further, we might discover ways to use this uptake as a treatment strategy—making bacteria more susceptible to existing antibiotics or even opening up new treatment avenues.
“We’ve got in this grant a nice blend of analytical chemistry, microbiological assays and the computational methods to investigate the changes in these bacterial membrane dynamics.”
Key collaborators include Harris, who is conducting molecular dynamics studies; Symes, leading instrumental analyses with advanced techniques like ultra-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry; and Dr. Myriam Cotten from Oregon State University, who will provide fish antimicrobial peptides for testing on PUFA-treated bacteria. Numerous student researchers are also involved in this project.
Preliminary data generated by UTC student Meredith Grant “was a wow factor” in the grant proposal, he said.
“Meredith has been with me since her freshman year,” he said of Grant—now a junior, “and I trained her to become an expert in performing minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assays. She will soon start working on a separate collaborative project testing novel cobalt compounds with Dr. John Lee in chemistry.
“One of the core goals for this grant is to create opportunities for undergraduate research, and we have integrated at least three positions each year so that we can give those opportunities to UTC students. We hope to be able to use this grant as a recruiting tool to get more students interested in research and working on these federally-funded projects.”
Dr. Loren Hayes, left, and Dr. Azad Hossain
Guerry Professor and Associate Department Head Loren Hayes and Associate Professor Azad Hossain
Hayes and Hossain were co-PIs on a five-year NSF-IRES (International Research Experiences for Students) cross-disciplinary research grant project involving biology, geology and mathematics that aims to explore how environmental conditions influence animal social systems and reproductive success—focusing on the social behavior of a small rodent species in Chile called Octodon degus.
Over the course of five years, 30 undergraduate and graduate students will collaborate with experts from various Chilean universities. They will gain experience in project planning, data analysis and manuscript preparation while learning valuable skills such as behavioral observation, social network analysis, geospatial analysis and mathematical modeling.
This project builds on over 20 years of data collected by Hayes, which examines the social interactions and habitat preferences of these degus.
Thanks to the collaboration with Hossain, the research now integrates geospatial data to analyze how environmental factors like soil moisture, temperature and vegetation impact the degus’ behavior and habitat use.
“The strength of this project is in combining Loren’s long-term behavioral data with geospatial information, allowing us to identify patterns and predict future changes,” Hossain explained.
The collaboration also involves advanced mathematical modeling to predict how environmental shifts driven by climate change might affect degus and similar species worldwide.
The project offers a unique cultural experience, as students will engage with the local community in Chile, providing a well-rounded educational opportunity.
“It’s rewarding to involve students in this research, helping them develop skills that will make them competitive for jobs or academic positions,” said Hayes, a UTC faculty member since 2012. “We interact with the local community in Chile, giving presentations and answering questions, which makes the research even more meaningful.”
This engagement, he said, allows the researchers to communicate their findings in ways that resonate with non-scientific audiences, further enhancing the impact of their work.
Earlier this year, Hossain—an environmental geoscientist—was the PI on funding received from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for a Research Initiation Award (RIA).
The NSF-IRES project will leverage NASA satellite data to enhance the geospatial analysis of the degus’ habitat. By incorporating this satellite data, the researchers can gain a more comprehensive understanding of environmental variables—such as vegetation changes and temperature fluctuations—that impact the degus’ survival.
“We are going to use lots of data from the NASA satellites,” said Hossain, who came to UTC in 2016. “This will allow us to integrate cutting-edge geospatial technology with biological and environmental science, providing our students with a unique opportunity to work on real-time applications that solve complex problems.”
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