Synthetic protein mimetics as potential therapies for dementia with Lewy bodies

• Sunil Kumar and Daniel Paredes, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
• Grant from the National Institutes of Health
• Summary: Currently, more than 55 million people suffer from dementia worldwide, and Lewy body dementia (LBD) accounts for up to 30% of all dementia cases. There is no treatment to cure or slow/stop the progression of LBD, making the development of treatments for LBD an urgent need. This study will identify key potent therapies for LBD.

Colorado Elder Financial Abuse Training and Coalition Building

• Eric Chess, College of Engineering and Computer Science
• Colorado Department of Human Services Grant
• Summary: The Paul Freeman Colorado Older Adults Financial Justice Coalition was established with federal funding to support focused collaboration among dispersed stakeholders addressing elder financial abuse in Colorado. There is currently no training that addresses both the full scope of the multidisciplinary response and the details of Colorado’s state and local regulatory structures and service systems. The composition of the coalition of subject matter experts ensures a unique collaborative development process. This training will fill a sorely needed gap that exists in our efforts to support Colorado’s seniors.

Quantitative modeling study of Futures Russia 2035

• Jonathan Moyer, Josef Korbel School of International Studies
• Stimson Center Scholarship
• Summary: This project will produce a report on alternative scenarios for Russia’s long-term future and relevant geopolitical trends. He will support Stimson’s efforts to help policymakers in the next U.S. administration as well as U.S. allies and partners develop strategies for dealing with Russia.

Renewable energies and development: Pardee Institute and UNDP

• Jonathan Moyer, Josef Korbel School of International Studies
• Summary: This project will model renewable energy and development in collaboration with UNDP. It will expand the FI’s modeling capabilities to forecast more types of renewable energy production to explore the implications of a global and just energy transition scenario.

Collaborative Research: IGE: Track 2: SciComm LIFT: Leveraging Institutional Capacity for Effective Graduate Student Training

• Robin Tinghitella, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
• National Science Foundation Fellowship
• Summary: Science plays a central role in society’s ability to cope with environmental change, technological innovation and inequality. However, most scientists feel ill-equipped to effectively share their scientific knowledge, and this problem is acute for graduate students. This study will achieve the following objectives: Objective 1‒ document the extent of graduate-level science communication (scicomm) training in the United States; Objective 2 ‒ document evaluation/effectiveness assessment practices; and Objective 3: address the systemic barriers and incentives faced by graduate students and associated faculty in scicomm training.

A high-throughput cellular approach to identify potent antagonists of HTT pathology mediated by HTT aggregation

• Emily Oldani, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
• Grant from the Movement Disorder Foundation
• Summary: More than 10 million and 30,000 people People around the world suffer from Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Huntington’s disease (HD), respectively, with no treatment to slow or stop the progression of these neurodegenerative diseases. This proposed work will identify potential therapies for PD and HD. This therapeutic product consists of a unique molecule that has the potential to help HD patients using the same platform we used to identify a potent lead therapeutic product for PD, which has more promising pharmaceutical properties than those currently being tested.

Office of the lawyer for the respondent parents: constitution of the evidence

• Colorado Assessment Action Lab
• Grant from the Office of Defendant Parents’ Lawyers
• Summary: The Colorado Lab will support ORPC in its interdisciplinary program, present at the ORPC SFY25 fall conference, collaborate with ORPC to operationalize its impact, and develop an analysis plan for further evaluation work.

Needs Assessment for the Rural Syringe Access Program (SAP)

• Butler Institute for Families, Graduate School of Social Work
• Grant from the Mile High Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse
• Summary: The Butler Institute for Families at the University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work, will provide an evaluation in support of Mile High Behavioral Healthcare’s (MHBHC) Rural Syringe Access Program (SAP) by conducting an evaluation community needs regarding access to syringes and harm. discount resources in Summit County, Colorado. The MHBHC SAP aims to improve health outcomes for people who inject drugs as well as the community at large by promoting harm reduction practices and increasing access to harm reduction resources.

Collaborative research: Variations in intertropical convergence zones based on stable oxygen isotope ring records in the tropical Americas

• Diego Pons Ganddini, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
• National Science Foundation Fellowship
• Summary: This project will use stable oxygen isotopes in annual tree rings from Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia to reconstruct wet season precipitation variability in the neotropics and provide new insights into large-scale tropical climate dynamics that are otherwise unavailable from current observations and existing paleoclimatic records. We will use these new data to study the extent of variability and recent trends in tropical convection and precipitation.

Preparation of a research paper on land restoration and food resilience in Yemen

• Jonathan Moyer, Josef Korbel School of International Studies
• Grant from the United Nations Development Program
• Summary: This project will improve the understanding of land degradation in Yemen. Pardee will collaborate with several other researchers to explore land degradation and restoration scenarios to help define policy-based solutions anchored in the five pillars of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

University of Denver Museum of Anthropology and Acoma Pueblo NAGPRA Consultation Project

• Anne Amati, Department of Anthropology
• National Park Service grant
• Summary: The objectives of the project are (1) to welcome representatives of the Pueblo of Acoma to DUMA for a two-day review of the collection; (2) establish due diligence plans for Acoma Pueblo cultural property in DUMA’s possession or control prior to repatriation; and (3) engage students in the NAGPRA process. In support of the goals of the NAGPRA grant program, this project will engage the Pueblo of Acoma in meaningful consultation with the museum, foster ongoing relationships, and eventually result in the repatriation of NAGPRA cultural objects.

Repatriation of cultural items to the Gila River Indian Community and the Salt River-Pima Maricopa Indian Community

• Anne Amati, Department of Anthropology
• National Park Service grant
• Summary: This project supports the repatriation of 62 cultural assets. This project was a partnership between the University of Denver Museum of Anthropology, the Gila River Indian Community, and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. The objective of the project was to physically transfer 62 cultural assets to the two tribes after legal transfer. This repatriation benefited the Gila River Indian Community and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community because they were able to bring cultural items back to their communities.

WestAF TourWest 2024

• Aisha Ahmad-Post, Newman Center for the Performing Arts
• Western States Arts Federation Grant (National Endowment for the Arts subgrant)
• Summary: The WESTAF TourWest Grant provides flexible funding to presenters/presenting organizations in the WESTAF region to support their regional touring program. WESTAF also encourages the inclusion of community/educational outreach as part of an organization’s presentation of touring artists.

Preclinical Study of Cdc42 Modulator Compounds in the G93A Mutant hSOD1 Mouse Model of ALS

• Daniel Linseman, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
• University of South Carolina Scholarship