Institute of Medicine announces Internal Seed Grant awardees

In March, the Institute of Medicine (IoM) at the University of Maine requested proposals in the areas of health and life sciences for a seed grant program, which is meant to support the goals and objectives of the institute. 

This grant program required two or more full-time UMaine or University of Maine at Machias faculty to work together on a pilot project aimed at collecting preliminary data as proof of concept, leading to the submission of a related significant proposal by July 2022. Preference was given to projects that required collaboration across departments and/or colleges. 

Five recipients have been awarded funding in this second round of seed grant funding, each one with a maximum budget of $25,000. Two projects, led by Elizabeth DePoy and Jeffrey Hecker, are co-funded through the Injury Prevention Seed Grant Program, which is part of the University of Maine System Grand Challenge Pilot Initiative: Rural Health and Wellbeing. 

The awarded projects include: 

  • “Injury Prevention in a vulnerable cognitively Impaired Population,” led by DePoy, a social work professor.
  • “Pathways to Care for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness in Washington County,” led by Hecker, a psychology professor.
  • “Advanced imaging of muscle fiber development” led by Jared Talbot, an assistant professor of developmental biology. 
  • “Three-Dimensional (3D) Human Biomimetics for X-ray Radiation Dosimetry and Biomedical Image Analysis,” led by Terry Yoo, an associate professor of computer science. 
  • “Towards Developing a Multisensory Dining Ecosystem (EatCoSystem) to Stimulate Appetite and Motivate Older Adults to Eat Better,” led by Nimesha Ranasinghe, a professor of spatial informatics. 

Read the entire announcement here for more details, or contact research@maine.edu

The Institute of Medicine coordinates and supports the research and public outreach efforts of some of the state’s leading experts whose research and scholarly work at UMaine advances rural health care, diagnostic medicine, immune system diseases and disorders and medical humanities