In This Issue

Meet CSU's Faculty

Chelsea Monty-Bromer, Chemical and Biomedical Engineering

Dr. Chelsea Monty-Bromer is an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering (CBE). She is also the CEO and founder of RooSense, LLC, a wearable health tech startup. Prior to joining CSU, she was an associate professor of Chemical, Biomolecular, and Corrosion Engineering at the University of Akron for 11 years. Her research focus is primarily at the intersection of reactions engineering, electrochemical engineering, and device development and testing.

Her research group studies bio-electrochemical interfaces to develop novel biomaterials and biosensors. One project focuses on studying how nano-scale fillers impact the mechanical, electrical, and sensing properties of electrospun biomaterials with a specific focus on wearable health sensing. Another project uses novel, nondestructive electrochemical techniques to study the impact of microbial growth on metal corrosion. More recently, this work has moved towards using the same electrochemical techniques to interrogate how microbial growth impacts nutrient cycling in benthic sediments at spatial scales ranging from the micro- to macro-scale. She is currently funded by the Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Ohio Water Resources Committee (OWRC), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Department of Energy (DOE).

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Featured Research Publication

Drs. Mazumder and Komar Published in Journal of Virology

A research team from CSU’s Department of Biological Geological and Environmental Sciences (BGES) and Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD) has published an article this week in the American Society of Microbiology’s Journal of Virology.

The research team was led by Dr. Barsanjit Mazumder, a BGES professor and member of GRHD, and included GRHD postdoctoral research associate Dr. Abhijit Basu and Dr. Anton A. Komar, a BGES professor and Director of GRHD. The study is significant as it provides novel insights into the host-virus relationship for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), allowing for better understanding of SARS-CoV-2 replication and propagation mechanisms. This may have significant impact on the development of novel antiviral drugs and improved design of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.

Research Compliance

NIH Updates its Anti-Sexual Harassment Website

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has updated its anti-sexual harassment website to encompass the range of threats to safe and respectful workplaces at institutions receiving NIH funding. The updated site outlines actions NIH can take to address different forms of harassment, how to notify NIH (which can be anonymous), resources to evaluate workplace climate, and frequently asked questions. It also has a new section to easily find information on the numbers and types of harassment cases NIH handles involving projects at NIH-supported institutions, and the resulting actions.

Cleveland State University is committed to addressing allegations and suspected instances of discrimination and/or harassment in accordance with applicable law and policies. The Office for Institutional Equity (OIE) is ultimately responsible for appropriately investigating all complaints of discrimination and/or harassment.

To read and review the CSU Discrimination/Harassment Policy, click here.

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Inspired Creativity

CSU Jazz Musicians to Play Live at Bop Stop

An evening of jazz featuring small combos and large ensembles from Cleveland State University will take place at BOP STOP at the Music Settlement on Tuesday November 30 at 7:00 pm. The bands are led by Joe Miller, a Cleveland State University alum, applied faculty member in the School of Music, and the lead trumpet chair at Playhouse Square; bassist Alfredo Guerrieri, a CSU alum and applied faculty member in the School of Music; and saxophonist Dr. John Perrine, an associate professor in the School of Music and Coordinator of Jazz Studies.

Click here to purchase tickets or tune in to BOP STOP's Facebook page (@bopstop) at 7:00 pm. All guests, staff, and performers must show proof of vaccination or produce a negative test result within 72 hours of entering to be admitted to a show.

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News from the Technology Transfer Office

UPDATE: U.S. Patent Allowance

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has allowed a patent for U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 16/157,727, titled Multiplexed Immune Cell Assays on a Micropillar/Microwell Chip Platform. The invention names Dr. Xue-Long Sun, a professor in the Department of Chemistry, and Dr. Moo-Yeal Lee, now a member of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at North Texas University. The invention pertains to a method of performing multiplexed immune cell assays on a micropillar/microwell chip platform. These methods allow high throughput testing for analyzing in situ immune cell responses to biologically active ligands, including, but not limited to, detection of secreted molecules, cell-surface marker expression, and intracellular marker expression. The invention will provide a novel and improved technique for analyzing the drug potential of chemical compounds.

Contact Jack Kraszewski for assistance with a disclosure to begin the process of protecting your invention or intellectual property.

Registration for I-Corps@Ohio 2022 Cohort Now Open

Deadline to Register: January 16, 2022

Applications being accepted beginning November 9, 2021

The I-Corps@Ohio program incorporates lean launch, customer discovery and business model innovation methodologies to assess technologies, enhance the business acumen of research faculty and students and expand their entrepreneurial network relationships.

You have until January 16, 2022 at 11:59 PM to submit your application for funding provided by the Ohio Department of Higher Education to be selected to participate in the 2022 I-Corps@Ohio cohort. A $12,000 grant is provided to selected teams. Form your team now and submit your university technology using the online questionnaire to begin the process of taking your technology from lab to market.

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Research Events

Center for Refugee & Immigrant Success Brown Bag Lunch

The Center for Refugee & Immigrant Success (CRIS) will host its fifth Brown Bag Lunch on November 18 at 11:30 am.

Cigdem Slankard, Interim Director and an assistant professor of the School of Film and Media Arts at Cleveland State will present “Migration, Home and Identity: Micro-narratives of Refugee Communities Revealed through Documentary Storytelling.”

For more information and to register for the Brown Bag Lunch, click here.

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Research Funding

Graduate Tuition Program Now Available

The Office of Research is pleased to offer the Grant Tuition Program (GTP) to further the CSU 2.0 priorities of distinguishing CSU as a leading public urban research university and of increasing CSU’s research activity. The purpose of the program is to encourage faculty to hire CSU graduate students as research assistants to enhance indirect-generating, externally funded research programs.

GTP will pay for up to 9 credit hours per semester of tuition support (in-state or out-of-state depending on the student’s residential status) for a student if that student's stipend is paid for by the same grant. All of the following conditions must be met to be eligible for GTP:

• The award amount must include at least $50,000 or more of direct costs per student for each year that GTP support is provided.
• The award must charge CSU's full federal indirect rate (currently 48.5%).
• The award must pay for a full graduate student stipend (20 hours per week). The stipend amount must adhere to College of Graduate Studies guidelines.
• GTP will provide support for new and existing/active grants, but will not reimburse tuition retroactively.

For more information, please visit the GTP information page or contact Roman Kondratov, 687-5171.

The Office of Research is pleased to announce the call for proposals for these 2021-2022 internal funding programs:

Undergraduate Summer Research Award (USRA)
Graduate Student Research Award (GSRA)
Faculty Research and Development (FRD)
Faculty Scholarship Initiative (FSI)

The deadline for applications is Monday, February 1. To assist in the preparation of successful applications, the forms that will be used to evaluate the proposals are included at the above web sites.

For more information, please contact Joy Yard, 687-9364, or Roman Kondratov, 687-5171.

The deadline to apply for Spring 2022 funding through the Undergraduate Research Award (URA) program is November 29. The purpose of the URA program is to allow undergraduate students to obtain funding to offset the costs associated with doing research undertaken in a CSU credit-bearing course.

Additional information on the URA program and the Office of Research’s other internal funding programs can be found here.

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