New Initiative Grants

Chinedum Osuji, Ph.D. (PI)

Arnold Mathijssen, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Active condensate networks driven by liquid-liquid crystal phase separation

Luisa Hiller, Ph.D. (PI)

Phil Campbell, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Xi Ren, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Extracellular vesicles: messengers between kingdoms

David Radice, Ph.D. (PI)

Romit Maulik, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Black hole tomography with gravitational waves and artificial intelligence

Linda Peteanu, Ph.D. (PI)

Rongchao Jin, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Atomically precise metal nanoclusters and their assemblies as ‘ideal’ quantum emitters

Cullen Blake, Ph.D. (PI)

Eric Ford, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Next-generation techniques for analyzing precise radial velocity data

Randall Kamien, Ph.D. (PI)

Genevieve Dion, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Non-isometric origami

Megan Matthews, Ph.D. (PI)

Dr. Donald O’Rourke (Co-PI)

Dr. Zev Binder, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Robert Bowman, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Identification of cofactor-dependent enzymes driving cell growth and differentiation

Andrea Berman, Ph.D. (PI)

Judith Yanowitz, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Translation regulation of TMG-capped mRNAs – an evolutionary remnant of trans-splicing?

Daniel Grin, Ph.D. (PI)

Adam Lidz, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Dark matter and the first galaxies

Alex Jones, Ph.D. (PI)

Michael Hatridge, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Quantum qubit and architecture co-design for high-fidelity quantum computing

Benjamin Lear, Ph.D. (PI)

Raymond Schaak, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Nanoscale optical heating for the generation of high entropy nanomaterials

Eva-Maria Collins, Ph.D. (PI)

Associate Professor, Biology Department, Swarthmore College

Ameet Soni, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Associate Professor, Computer Science, Swarthmore College

Inferring Brain Function via Quantitative Behavioral Phenotyping in Free-Moving Planarians

Nathan Lord, Ph.D. (PI)

Assistant Professor, Department of Computational and Systems Biology

Mo Ebrahimkhani, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and member of the Pittsburgh Liver Research Center at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Spatially guided morphogenesis in human liver organoids

Yongxin Zhao, Ph.D. (PI)

Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University

Alison Barth, Ph.D. (Co-Investigator)

Maxwell H. and Gloria C. Connan Professor of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University

Molecular synaptic profiling of learning-dependent changes in cortical inhabitation

Aditya Khair, Ph.D. (PI) 

Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University  

Lauren Zarzar, Ph.D. (co-investigator) 

Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Penn State University

Physicochemical communication between active droplets

Mikael Rechtsman, Ph.D. (PI) 

Associate Professor, Department of Physics. Pennsylvania State University

Randall McEntaffer, Ph.D. (co-investigator) 

Professor, Department of Physics and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University

Magnetizing light: from X-ray astronomy to silicon photonics

Aurelia Honerkamp-Smith, Ph.D. (PI) 

Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Lehigh University

Damien Thevenin, Ph.D. (co-investigator) 

Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University

Full sail ahead: How do cells sense and decode flow? 

Maria Geffen, Ph.D. (PI) 

Associate Professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. 

Jay Gottfried, Ph.D. (co-investigator) 

Arthur H. Rubenstein University Professor, Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, Department of Neurology and Department of Psychology, Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania. 

Neuronal circuits for auditory-olfactory integration

Andrew J. Gellman, Ph.D. (PI)

Lord Professor of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Materials Science

David Waldeck, Ph.D. (co-investigator)

Professor of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh

Spin chemistry as the basis for enantioselective surface chemistry

Sarah Shandera, Ph.D. (PI)

Associate Professor of Physics, Pennsylvania State University

Donghui Jeong, Ph.D. (co-investigator)

Assistant Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University

Chad Hanna, Ph.D. (co-investigator)

Associate Professor of Physics, Pennsylvania State University

Sub-solar mass black holes as a gravitational wave probe of the hidden universe

Michael Platt, Ph.D. (PI)

Neuroscience, Professor of Psychology, and Professor of Marketing, University of Pennsylvania

Maria Geffen, Ph.D. (co-investigator)

Associate Professor of Otorhinolaryngology, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Associate Professor of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania

Brian Litt, Ph.D. (co-investigator)

Professor of Neurology, Professor of Neurosurgery, and Professor of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania

Optimizing optogenetics in the primate brain

Noel Giebink, Ph.D. (PI)

Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University

Kenneth Knappenberger, Ph.D. (co-investigator)

Professor, Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University

Polariton Chemistry

Seema Lakdawala, Ph.D. (PI)

Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh

Nara Lee, Ph.D. (co-investigator)

Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh

Exploring and Exploiting Influenza Viral Genomic Architecture

Jianhua Xing, Ph.D. (PI)

Associate Professor of Computational and Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh

Yang Liu, Ph.D. (co-investigator)

Associate Professor of Medicine and Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh

Characterization of Dynamic Nanoscale Chromatin Reorganization During Induced Cell Reprogramming

Jun Zhu, Ph.D. (PI)

Associate Professor, Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University

Chaoxing Liu, Ph.D. (co-investigator)

Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University

Direct Evidence for Non-Abelian Anyons in an Interferometer

Tia-Lynn Ashman, Ph.D. (PI)

Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh

James Pipas, Ph.D. (co-investigator)

Molecular Biology Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh 

Pollen as the next viral frontier: Unrecognized threat to food security and native biodiversity

James Marden, Ph.D. (PI)

Professor, Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University

Scott Medina, Ph.D. (co-investigator)

Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University

Defining the Glycan-Specificity and Mechanisms of Action for Antitumor Lectin

Michael Hatridge, Ph.D. (PI)

Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Pittsburgh

Roger Mong, Ph.D. (co-investigator)

Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Pittsburgh

Protecting quantum wires for quantum computing

Ekaterina Grishchuk, Ph.D. (PI)

Associate Professor of Physiology, University of Pennsylvania

Ben E. Black, Ph.D. (co-investigator)

Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania

Reconstitution and Dissection of Chromosome Segregation

Roberto Bonasio, Ph.D. (PI)

Assistant Professor, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania

Arjun Raj, Ph.D. (co-PI)

Assistant Professor, Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania

Single-cell dissection of social behavior in ant brains

Paul Babitzke, Ph.D. (PI)

Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University

Sarah M. Assmann, Ph.D. (co-PI)

Professor, Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University

Philip C. Bevilacqua, Ph.D. (co-PI)

Professor, Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University

Discovery and Characterization of Novel RNA Switch Chemistry and Biology via RNA Structure-seq

Brian D’Urso, Ph.D. (PI)

Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh

Gurudev Dutt, Ph.D. (co-PI)

Associate Professor, Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh

Trapped Diamond Nanocrystals for Precision Gravitational Measurements and Tests of Quantum Gravity

Elias Aizenman, Ph.D. (PI)

Professor, Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh

Michael Palladino, Ph.D. (co-PI)

Professor, Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh

Genetic Programming of a Neuroprotective Pathway in Fly Models of Neurodegeneration

Brooke M. McCartney, Ph.D. (PI)

Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University

Jonathan Minden (Co-PI)

Professor of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University

N. Luisa Hiller (Co-PI)

Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University

‘Mind-altering bugs’: Dissecting the gut-microbiome-brain connection using a multidisciplinary approach in Drosophila melanogaster

Andrea J. Liu, Ph.D. (PI)

Hepburn Professor of Physics, University of Pennsylvania

Benjamin L. Prosser (co-PI)

Assistant Professor of Physiology, University of Pennsylvania

Dennis E. Discher (co-PI)

Robert D. Bent Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania

Mechanical signaling in early hearts: Theory & Experiment

Justin Khoury, Ph.D. (PI)

Associate Professor, Physics, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Affairs, University of Pennsylvania

Tom Lubensky (co-PI)

Christopher H. Brown Distinguished Professor of Physics, University of Pennsylvania

New Approach to Dark Matter

Alison Sweeney, Ph.D. (PI)

Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania

Randall Kamien, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania

Living Photonic Devices: Self-assembly from Proteins as Patchy Colloids

Ayusman Sen, Ph.D. (PI)

Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemistry, Penn State University

Anna C. Balazs, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, University of Pittsburgh

Autonomous Interacting Microrobotic Systems

Alexander Deiters, Ph.D. (PI)

Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh

Michael Tsang, Ph.D. (co-PI)

Associate Professor, Department of Development Biology, University of Pittsburgh

Expanding the Genetic Code of Zebrafish

Alison L. Barth, Ph.D. (PI)

Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University

Marcel Bruchez, Ph.D. (co-PI)

Associate Professor, Biological Sciences and Chemistry, Associate Director, Molecular Biosensors and Imaging Center, Carnegie Mellon University

Neural circuitry of the mammalian neocortex: which neurons are connected to each other, and how can these patterns of connectivity be altered by experience?

Christine D. Keating, Ph.D. (PI)

Professor of Chemistry, Penn State University

Theresa Mayer, Ph.D. (Co-PI)

Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering & Materials Science & Engineering, Penn State University

Probing the Role of Interparticle Forces in the Collective Behavior of Particle Assemblies

Veronica Hinman, Ph.D. (PI)

Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University

Jonathan Minden, Ph.D. (co-PI)

Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University

Bruce Alan Armitage, Ph.D. (co-PI)

Professor, Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University

Danith H. Ly, Ph.D. (co-PI)

Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University

Developing a Sea Star Model for Regenerative Biology

Sergey M. Frolov, Ph.D. (PI)

Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh

W. Vincent Liu, Ph.D. (co-PI)

Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh

Topological Quantum Wire Emulators