The Katz College of Science and Health has awarded seven research grants for 2026-27 through its Faculty Research Initiative, supporting faculty projects in artificial intelligence, the health sciences and the life sciences. The projects range from an AI tool that could catch a serious heart and lung condition earlier and a wearable device that reads American Sign Language fingerspelling to glowing biosensors and new strategies to fight against colorectal cancer.
The grants bring together faculty from across 911爆料网. Faculty from Katz College鈥檚 Physician Assistant Studies and Graduate Computer Science and Engineering programs are collaborating on an AI tool for early disease detection, four faculty from the Katz College's Speech-Language Pathology program are building a new seminar together, and faculty from 911爆料网鈥檚 Stern College for Women and Yeshiva College are leading laboratory projects in chemistry and biology. One project builds on an ongoing collaboration with researchers at Purdue University in wearable sensing and human-centered computing. All of the projects involve full-time Katz College graduate students, who will gain hands-on experience processing data, running experiments, building models and sharing results through presentations and publications.
鈥淭his initiative is designed to stimulate new research and expand existing studies that increase the Katz College's visibility while also creating research opportunities for full-time graduate students,鈥 said Dr. Paul Russo, dean of Katz College and vice provost of 911爆料网. 鈥淭he diverse research initiatives reflect the school's commitment to advancing science, technology and healthcare to solve pressing real-world problems.鈥
Precision AI Platform for Early Detection and Risk Stratification of Pulmonary Hypertension Using Multi-Modal Clinical Data 鈥 Dr. Khaled Qanud, Physician Assistant Studies, and Dr. Ming Ma, Graduate Computer Science and Engineering
Pulmonary hypertension, high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs, is hard to diagnose early because its symptoms are often vague. Many patients are identified only after the blood vessels in their lungs have been permanently damaged. This project combines cardiovascular medicine and AI to build a tool that flags patients at higher risk using information doctors already collect, including heart tests, lab results, lung function tests and medical history. The model is designed to be interpretable, so clinicians can see why a patient was flagged. Catching the disease earlier could improve treatment and lower healthcare costs.
Bridging Foundational Knowledge and Clinical Application: Development of an Adult Neurorehabilitation Readiness Seminar for Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Education 鈥 Kristina A. Kelley, Dr. Marissa A. Barrera, Dr. Barbara O'Connor Wells and Andrew Christler, M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology
Students in the medically focused Speech-Language Pathology program begin their first clinical placements before they take the coursework on adults whose communication has been affected by injury or disease of the brain and nervous system. This project adds a three-week seminar to that first placement to close the gap. Through case studies, simulations, guided reasoning and structured reflection, students will practice applying neuroscience to real adult cases. The team will measure whether students' clinical reasoning and diagnostic accuracy improve, using before-and-after assessments and standardized rubrics.
Robust Wearable AI for Privacy-Preserving ASL Communication in Public and Health Settings 鈥 Dr. Yucheng Xie, Graduate Computer Science and Engineering
American Sign Language users often fingerspell, spelling out words letter by letter, for names, addresses and medication names, where a single misread letter can change the meaning. Camera-based recognition raises privacy concerns in shared spaces like pharmacies and clinics, so Dr. Xie is developing wearable sensors that move with the user and turn fingerspelling into text or speech without special setup. As part of the project, a Katz College graduate student will gain hands-on training in AI, wearable sensing and accessibility technology. Dr. Xie's previous Katz grant, for smartwatch-based dietary monitoring, produced a conference paper, a journal article and a National Science Foundation-supported travel grant for his graduate student.
Chemistry-Aware Validation of AI-Predicted hDAO Structures and Protein鈥揕igand Complexes 鈥 Dr. Olga Lavinda, Stern College for Women
AI can predict the shape of a protein, and how drug-like molecules might attach to it, far faster than lab experiments can test those predictions. In her first Katz College grant, Dr. Lavinda will build a rigorous, reusable way to check them, using human diamine oxidase, an enzyme that breaks down histamine and similar compounds in the body, as a model. The research team will pair AlphaFold 3, an AI system that predicts protein structures, with carefully controlled lab tests to find compounds that reliably change how the enzyme works. Three Katz College graduate students will lead compound selection, data analysis and visualization, building on Dr. Lavinda's accepted presentation on the enzyme at the American Chemical Society's fall 2026 meeting.
Bioluminescent Calcium Biosensors: Discovery and Engineering of Photoproteins for Health and Biotechnology 鈥 Dr. Anderson G. Oliveira, Stern College for Women
Some proteins flash blue or green light the instant they bind calcium. Because they need no outside light to glow and produce almost no background, they make powerful sensors for tracking calcium signals in neuroscience, cardiology, immunology and plant biotechnology. Dr. Oliveira's lab previously isolated one such protein, alpha-velamin, and with collaborators solved its structure and used it to image calcium in living plant cells. Now the lab will build a toolkit of improved sensors. Katz College M.S. students will search genetic data from light-emitting animals for new photoprotein genes, produce the candidates in bacteria, measure their light and calcium sensitivity, and engineer them to be brighter and better tuned. Goals include a peer-reviewed paper with student co-authors and preliminary data for a National Institutes of Health proposal.
Blocking MYC Translation to Restore Daraxonrasib Sensitivity in Colorectal Cancer 鈥 Dr. Radhashree Maitra, Yeshiva College
In many cancers, mutations leave a protein called RAS permanently switched on, telling cells to keep growing. The drug daraxonrasib shuts RAS down and has shown strong results against pancreatic cancer but works less well in colorectal cancer. Dr. Maitra suspects a protein called MYC, a master switch that can keep growth genes running on its own. Her team will test whether a second drug, zotatifin, which stops cells from making MYC, makes daraxonrasib more effective, and whether it can offset a third drug, HC-5404, that may unintentionally raise MYC levels. The proejct will also give Katz College students hands-on training in cancer biology. Dr. Maitra's earlier Katz grants supported two students, one of whom presented the work at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in 2025.
Biochemical and Bioinformatic Approaches to Understanding Transcriptional Regulation of Spermatogenesis by a Posttranslational Modification 鈥 Dr. Margarita Vigodner, Stern College for Women
Understanding how sperm are produced could reveal causes of male infertility. Dr. Vigodner's lab studies a group of small proteins called SUMO and has shown that when they are switched off during sperm production, mice have small testes and are completely infertile. With earlier Katz College grant support, the team compared gene activity cell by cell in infertile and healthy mice. The new research will pinpoint the transcription factors, proteins that turn genes on and off, that SUMO controls and that sit upstream of the misregulated genes. As in past years, Katz College students will be trained in the lab and included in presentations and peer-reviewed articles.
