Showalter Trust selects new scholar, funds 11 early career faculty

President Mitch Daniels; Peristera Paschou, 2019 Showalter University Faculty Scholar; and Robert W. Holden, Showalter Trust Selection Committee president. (Photo by Vincent Walter) Download image

The Ralph W. & Grace M. Showalter Research Trust Fund annually provides funding to Purdue in support of scientific and medical research. The Showalter programs at Purdue support selected University Faculty Scholars, research projects directed by assistant professors, and two Showalter Distinguished Professors, Charles Bouman and Kinam Park.

Peristera Paschou was appointed as a new Showalter University Faculty Scholar in July. She joins 11 additional Showalter Scholars appointed in prior years.

Paschou is associate professor of biological sciences and associate dean for online and graduate education in the College of Science. She is an internationally recognized geneticist who studies human genetic variation around the world aiming to understand the cause of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders as well as the factors that have shaped human population structure.

"Purdue’s Showalter Scholars are outstanding mid-career faculty members on an accelerated path to academic distinction whose research interests embrace areas supported by the Showalter Trust," says Jeff Bolin, associate vice president for research.

Paschou was nominated in partnership with the provost’s University Faculty Scholars program and approved by an external selection committee of distinguished scientists representing the Showalter Research Trust. Funding from the trust, $5,000 annually, complements equivalent funding from the Office of the Provost.

Although the faculty scholar program is relatively new, the Ralph W. and Grace M. Showalter Research Trust has benefited Purdue researchers for more than 40 years. The centerpiece of the Showalter programs is support for one-year grants to faculty for research in the areas of environmental science; biochemistry and molecular biology; disease prevention, diagnosis, progression, treatment and control; new technologies for food production, preservation, distribution and safety; and medical and biophysical instrumentation. This year, 11 early career faculty members received up to $75,000 each in Showalter Trust funding.

The recipients and their projects are:

* Chad Carroll, Health and Kinesiology: “Mechanisms Underlying Tendon Dysfunction Associated with Diabetes.”

* Leifu Chang, Biological Sciences: “Molecular Mechanism of the Augmin Complex in Mitotic Spindle Assembly.”

* Shelley Claridge, Chemistry: “Transforming the Cell Membrane to Guide Cell Growth.”

* Majid Kazemian, Biochemistry and Computer Science: “Immune Checkpoint Therapy for Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) Associated Tumors.”

* Nadia Lanman, Comparative Pathobiology: “Developing a Novel Method for Predicting Drug Response in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma Using a Naturally-Occurring Canine Model System.”

* Seung-Oe Lim, Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology: “A New Immuno-oncology Drug Development to Combat Acquired Resistance to Cancer Immunotherapy.”

* Stephen Lindemann, Food Science and Nutrition Science: “In Vitro and In Silico Models to Identify the Role of Oligosaccharide Metabolism in Enteropathogenesis.”

* Elizabeth Parkinson, Chemistry: “Discovery of Bioactive Natural Products by Inducing Biosynthetic Gene Clusters.”

* Joseph Rispoli, Biomedical Engineering: “High B-value Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy to Probe Tumor Morphometry in Different Breast Cancer Subtypes.”

* Kevin Solomon, Agricultural and Biological Engineering: “Sequence Specific Contributions to NgAgo Stability and Function for Gene-Editing Applications.”

* Darcy Trader, Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology: “Targeting Cancer Cells with an Immunoproteasome-Selective Prodrug Strategy.”

More information about the current competition for the Showalter Trust early career grants program is available online.