Support for Enhancement Excellence in Research at UPR RP

描述(由申请人提供)：这份来自UPR-RP MBRS评分计划的竞争性续签申请旨在波多黎各大学里约热内卢分校的生物医学研究的质量和数量上的持续增长。认识到提高成就水平需要更高的生产率和更多地强调竞争性研究资金，因此为本资金周期确定了以下目标：1)通过参与具有科学价值的研究项目和参与相关活动，提高教师的生物医学研究竞争力(知识、技能和能力)。2)为符合条件的研究生、本科生和博士后提供更多参与生物医学研究的机会；3)加强普遍定期审议--里约热内卢-皮德拉斯对生物医学研究的机构承诺。这些目标将通过以下方式实现：以每位调查员每年一次的速度增加竞争性补助金申请的数量，将每位调查员每年经同行评审的出版物数量从目前的平均3.8篇增加到4.4篇，将每个实验室每年提交的论文数量从目前的平均8篇增加到10篇，并增加在校园从事生物医学研究的研究人员的人数。这种对研究生产力的更多关注预计将导致参与生物医学研究的合格和富有成效的研究生和本科生的数量增加。 这次更新包括16个常规项目和5个试点项目，来自生物系的7名研究人员、化学系的12名研究人员和数学系的2名研究人员。这些项目旨在进行竞争性生物医学研究，这些主题包括：DNA重组和修复机制在学习和记忆过程中的作用；嘌呤能受体和转导分子在膜微域中的信号事件定位；器官再生的分子方面；脂蛋白相互作用在尼古丁乙酰氯受体构象转变中的功能作用；包埋和释放过程中蛋白质的失活和聚集；影响蛋白质构象稳定性的物理因素；mGluRs在药物成瘾中的作用以及哪些特定的神经连接介导药物诱导的联想学习和成瘾行为；与hrp1反式作用因子相关的无意义介导的mRNAs衰退途径中的反式作用因子；人和海扇感染中曲霉病的机制，大肠杆菌作为基因传播的可能载体的作用，土壤环境作为病原微生物储存库的可能性，致突变污染物的光化学转化；用于治疗癌症的新型鸟苷类似物的合成或开发；用于手性药物合成的选择性不对称试剂和催化剂；用于合成聚丙酸酯抗生素的对映选择性方法；用于疾病诊断的DNA纳米阵列芯片的新型磁共振成像对比剂；发现可用作前药脂类成分的新型脂肪酸；用于治疗结核病的八珊瑚天然产物；用于尿液浓缩机制的理论化学和数学模型的开发和使用；纳米DNA稳定构象的模拟；以及包括纠错在内的遗传网络模型。这些调查人员将得到由该计划资助的行政结构和技术人员的支持。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Competitive Renewal Application from the UPR-RP MBRS SCORE Program aims for continued growth in the quality and amount of biomedical research at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras. Recognizing that raising the level of achievement entails greater productivity and more emphasis on competitive research funding, the following goals have been established for this funding cycle: 1) To enhance the biomedical research competitiveness of the faculty (knowledge, skills and capabilities) by their participation in scientifically meritorious research projects and by their involvement in associated activities. 2) To provide more opportunity for qualified graduate, undergraduate and postdoctoral students to participate in biomedical research; and 3) To strengthen the institutional commitment of UPR-Rio Piedras to biomedical research. These goals will be achieved by increasing the number of competitive grant applications at the rate of one per year per investigator, increasing the number of peer reviewed publications per year per investigator from the current average of 3.8 to 4.4, increasing the number of presentations per laboratory per year from the current average of 8 to 10, and augmenting the number of investigators engaged in biomedical research at the campus. This increased focus on research productivity is expected to result in an increase in the number of qualified and productive graduate and undergraduate students involved in biomedical research. This renewal contains 16 regular and 5 pilot projects from 7 investigators from the Biology Department, 12 from Chemistry and 2 from Mathematics. These projects aim to conduct competitive biomedical research on such topics as the role of DNA recombination and repair mechanism in learning and memory processes, the location of purinergic receptors and transducers within membrane microdomains on signalling events, the molecular aspects of organ regenerations, the functional role of lipid protein interactions in the conformational transitions of the nicotinic acetyl chlorine receptor, protein inactivation and aggregation during encapsulation and release, the physical factors that affect conformational stability of proteins, the role of mGluRs in drug addiction and which specific neural connections mediate drug-induced associative learning and addictive behavior, the trans-acting factors in nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway related to HRP1 trans-acting factor, the mechanism of aspergillosis in human and sea fan infections, the role of E. Coli as a possible vector of gene transmission and the possibility of soil environments serving as a reservoir of pathogenic microorganisms, the photochemical transformation of mutagenic pollutants; the synthesis or development of novel guanosine analogues to create stable G-quadruplexes for the treatment of cancer, selective asymmetric reagents and catalysts for chiral drug synthesis, an enantioselective methodology for the synthesis of polypropionate antibiotics, new MRI contrast enhancing agents of DNA nanoarray chips for disease diagnosis; the discovery of novel fatty acids that could be used as the lipid component of a prodrug, natural products from octocorals for the treatment of tuberculosis, the development and use of theoretical chemical and mathematical models for the urine concentrating mechanism, simulation of the stable conformation of nanometer sized DNA, and models of genetic networks including error correction. These investigators will be supported by an administrative structure and technical personnel funded by this program.