Grants Bolster Campus COVID-19 Research Efforts

by Lisa E Howard
April 09, 2020

The UC Davis Office of Research has awarded ten COVID-19 Research Accelerator Funding Track (CRAFT) grants to campus researchers who are developing projects in response to the pandemic. Funding is provided by the Office of Research and the Provost's office with matching support from schools and colleges.

The program is looking to fund proposals with a strong scientific rationale and a clear path to have impact on the fight against COVID-19. The funds are intended to be spent within nine month of the award, reflecting the urgency of the proposed research work.

A total of 51 high-quality proposals were submitted for the first round of submissions on April 1. The proposals were peer-reviewed by a panel of UC Davis faculty within the relevant areas of expertise.

Round #1 Awards

Support Grants (up to $5,000)

Impact of milk oligosaccharides on SARS-COV-2 infection
Ishita Shah, associate director, Microbial Programs, Foods for Health Institute
COVID-19 Acquired Olfactory Impairment and Outcomes
Toby Steele, assistant professor, Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery
Development of Daylight-Induced Antivirus Cotton Fabrics for Reusable Face Masks
Gang Sun, professor, Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Project Grants (up to $25,000)

Hand-held exhaled breath sampling to non-invasively monitor inflammatory biomarkers at home for suspect or asymptomatic infections of COVID-19
Cristina Davis, professor and chair, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Buffers to the mental and physical health impacts of the COVID-19 crisis
Leah Hibel, associate professor, Human Ecology
Rapid development of passive immunotherapeutic agents against COVID-19
Ruiwu Liu, researcher, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine
An ex vivo rhesus macaque respiratory explant model to study cellular targeting and the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2
Patricia Pesavento, professor, Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology
Virtual screening and experimental validation of human ACE2 and SARS-CoV-2 S-protein inhibitors
Tsung Shih, assistant project scientist, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine
New therapeutic approach for severe inflammatory response in SARS-COV-2 infection
Michiko Shimoda, assistant professor and co-director, Immune Monitoring Shared Resource
Generation of therapeutic recombinant monoclonal antibodies from COVID-19 specific B cells
Weici Zhang, assistant adjunct professor, Rheumatology, Allergy, And Clinical Immunology

CRAFT awards are open to principal investigators in all disciplines. Researchers can apply for support awards up to $5,000 and project awards up to $25,000. The proposal deadline is 5:00 p.m. every Wednesday. The next deadline is April 10. The grants will be awarded weekly until all the funds are exhausted.

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