University of Alabama in Huntsville

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-06

This project is a continuation of the successful CyberCorps Scholarship for Service project at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), J.C Calhoun Community College, and Northeast Alabama Community College. Thirty-two students will be awarded two-year or three-year scholarships to study in various cybersecurity related degree programs. After graduation, all scholarship recipients will be placed in Federal, local, state, or tribal government jobs related to cybersecurity and serve in government for a period equal to the length of their scholarships. UAH is designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CD) and a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Research (CAE-R) by the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (NCAE-C). SFS scholars at the three partner institutions will major in computer science, computer engineering, cybersecurity engineering, electrical engineering, or information systems at the bachelor’s, master’s, or Ph.D. level and will undertake a prescribed set of cybersecurity courses in their major. Students will also participate in the UAH Cyber Force Incubator program where they will work on research in partnership with federal partners at the US Army, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Missile Defense Agency. Students will also be paired with mentors who are former recipients of scholarships. UAH Center for Cybersecurity Research and Education staff will work closely with students to help them find internships and post-graduation jobs that meet the placement requirements of the program. This project is supported by the CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service (SFS) program, which funds proposals establishing or continuing scholarship programs in cybersecurity and aligns with the U.S. National Cyber Strategy to develop a superior cybersecurity workforce. Following graduation, scholarship recipients are required to work in cybersecurity for a federal, state, local, or tribal Government organization for the same duration as their scholarship support.  This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2022-02

ABSTRACT As cartilage has poor innate repair and regeneration capacity, therapies that can address early cartilage injury and prevent further osteoarthritic deterioration would have a large clinical impact. Due to the ease of isolation and multi-lineage differentiation potential of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), methods that rely either on matrix assisted mesenchymal-stromal-cell-implantation (MSCI) or microfracture (MF) have attracted clinical attention. Currently, the functional outcomes of MSCI or MF, including approaches that deliver growth factors in vivo, are characterized by biomechanically inferior fibrocartilage, and poor integration scores. Joint inflammation has been identified to inhibit chondrogenesis of MSCs, thus contributing to the low efficacy of cartilage repair outcomes. Critically, approaches that offer chondroprotection by the mitigating the catabolic effects of the pro- inflammatory joint environment while promoting in situ chondrogenesis are required. To address the critical challenge of improving functional-cartilage-repair outcomes, a non-invasive adjunct; continuous low- intensity ultrasound (cLIUS) with recently published chondroinductive and chondroprotective properties to demonstrate enhanced chondral repair for both MACI and MF procedures will be employed. The ability of cLIUS to improve cartilage repair outcomes will be demonstrated via three specific aims: AIM 1: Demonstrate cLIUS-induced chondrogenesis of MSCs in a pro-inflammatory environment. RNA-sequencing will be employed to gather an in-depth transcriptomic profiling and underlying pathways that drive MSC chondrogenesis under cLIUS in a pro-inflammatory environment. AIM 2: Develop a computationally validated and optimized regimen of cLIUS therapy. Computational grids will be built from magnetic resonance images (MRIs) coupled with a biphasic finite element model for wave propagation in the joints to determine the specific cLIUS regimen for sheep joints. Models will be validated with acoustic propagation experiments in sheep-cadaver knee joints. AIM 3: Demonstrate Improved Functional Outcomes of Cartilage Repair Under cLIUS. Demonstrate the superior repair of critically sized chondral defects via MF and MSCI in the articular cartilage of sheep using an optimized transdermal delivery of cLIUS and evaluate at six months. Analysis of regenerated cartilage will be through histological, biomechanical and biochemical methods. Successful completion of this work is expected to lead to the development of a cLIUS-based regimen and delivery system capable of generating a stable hyaline cartilage phenotype via minimally invasive procedures, while advancing the fundamental understanding of MSC preconditioning under cLIUS. This would, in turn, directly address the treatment of 46 million Americans who suffer from OA at an estimated cost of $128 billion annually.