Two early-stage scientists in the lab have been awarded grants for translational science research projects through the Scripps Research Translational Institute’s Pilot Study Award Program. The program supports scientists who strive to conduct transformative research with the potential to accelerate medical breakthroughs.
Translational science is the process of turning observations in the laboratory into interventions, including new medicines, diagnostics or even behavioral changes, that directly improve the health of individuals and communities.
The following four awardees all received $50,000 to complete their one-year research projects.
- Karthik Gangavarapu, PhD, is an institute investigator in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology, where he develops computational tools for the analysis of genomic sequencing data related to viral outbreaks. His project will employ advanced statistical methods and artificial intelligence to track and predict new SARS-CoV-2 variants from wastewater data, enhancing early detection and public health responses.
- Jyothi Purushotham, PhD, a postdoctoral associate and clinical scholar, PhD, focuses on understanding the human immune response to viral infections. Her project will develop methods to concentrate and profile antibodies in wastewater, enabling real-time monitoring of population immunity to infectious threats such as common respiratory viruses and enteric viruses.
The awards are funded through the Clinical Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program at the National Institutes of Health, a nationwide consortium of biomedical research institutes and universities working together to advance translational science. The Scripps Research Translational Institute has been a member of the CTSA Program since 2008.
