CVM Faculty Members Earn Texas A&M T3 Grants

Twenty faculty members from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) have been selected to receive funding through the T3: Texas A&M Triads for Transformation grant program.

The Triads for Transformation program is the first of the Texas A&M President’s Excellence Fund Initiatives, which will commitment of $100 million over 10 years to faculty research, including approximately $3 million per year to fund T3 Grants.

The 20 CVM faculty awarded a T3 Grant are involved in 17 projects, with eight of those proposed by CVM faculty. They include:

  • Dr. Angela Arenas (VTPB): “New Trends bring new challenges: Consumption of raw milk and the reemergence of brucellosis in the U.S.” (CVM-proposed project)
  • Dr. Bonnie Beaver (VSCS): “The Hearing Capabilities of the Fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox)”
  • Dr. James Cai (VIBS): “Quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping for human gene expression noise” (CVM-proposed project)
  • Dr. Michelle Coleman and Dr. Susan Eades (VLCS): “A novel, non-invasive method of evaluating the health of the equine gastrointestinal tract” (CVM-proposed project)
  • Dr. Michael Criscitiello (VTPB): “Genomics tools for conservation of endangered species: the manatee immunome”
  • Dr. Michael Golding (VTPP): “The impact of preconception male alcohol exposure on postnatal growth and metabolic programming” (CVM-proposed project)
  • Dr. Jill Heatley (VSCS): “Avian Consortium for Ecohealth: Assessment of Avian and Ecological Health in Texas”
  • Dr. Gladys Ko (VIBS): “The mechanistic characterization of peptide Lv on angiogenesis and vascular physiology” (CVM-proposed project)
  • Dr. Qinglei Li (VIBS) and Dr. Yanan Tian (VTPP): “EZH2 and Endometrial Cancer” (CVM-proposed project)
  • Dr. Jonathan Lidbury and Dr. Joerg Steiner (VSCS): “Evaluation of MicroRNAs in dogs with idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease” (CVM-proposed project)
  • Dr. Mary Nabity (VTPB): “Renal Nanoparticle Enhances Lymphatic Expansion and Reduces Hypertension”
  • Dr. Weston Porter (VIBS): “Impact of obesity on mammary development and breast cancer”
  • Dr. Gonzalo Rivera (VTPB): “Podosome Biogenesis” (CVM-proposed project)
  • Dr. Kenita Rogers (VSCS): “Catalyzing Change that Inspires Transformational Learning”
  • Dr. Bradley Simon (VSCS): “Novel dental self-restorative material”
  • Dr. Kevin Washburn (VLSC): “Developmental Programming on Health and Disease”
  • Dr. Bradley Weeks (VTPB): “Development of Novel Practical Framework for Producing 3-D Printed Tissue Engineering Scaffolds”

“We are excited to see the large footprint our college has in the T3 program,” said Robert Burghardt, CVM associate dean for research and graduate studies. “This strong level of engagement highlights our faculty’s commitment to leveraging the strengths of multidisciplinary collaboration.

“We look forward to the exciting outcomes of these cross-cutting interdisciplinary research endeavors,” he said.

T3 Grants are seed grants intended to help move the very best ideas from vision to proof of concept. Of the 293 projects submitted for consideration, 100 projects from across Texas A&M University were awarded $30,000 each.

Through the Triads for Transformation program, “triads” of faculty collaborators were formed from three tenured or tenure-track faculty members from two or more colleges or schools. Funded triads included all sixteen colleges/schools, the branch campuses in Galveston and Qatar, and the University Libraries.

“With T3 projects ranging from developing new genome engineering tools to exploring transformational learning to the influence of early life stress on the memory, Texas A&M researchers working together have the imagination, vision, and creativity to contribute significantly to solving many of the world’s most pressing challenges,” said Dr. Carol Fierke, Texas A&M provost and executive vice president, in a university-wide email announcing the selections. “We believe that this unique seed-grant program will prove to be a valuable resource by transcending academic boundaries and propelling our research initiatives in powerful new directions.”

For more information or to learn more about selected projects by reading their abstracts, visit the T3 website.


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