The Health Sciences Center (HSC) released a special call for research focusing on COVID-related priorities such as disease etiology and epidemiology; health, social and economic impacts that populations experience; and innovative diagnostic and treatment interventions. The HSC awarded a total of $201,398 in funding to researchers of HSC’s partners Clemson University, Furman University, Prisma Health and University of South Carolina.
The call for proposals is in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that has impacted the nation, and Clemson researchers have risen to the challenge of finding ways to fight this disease, said Clemson University Associate Vice President for Research Windsor Westbrook Sherrill.
“These faculty research projects will be very impactful to the local community and the nation in the fight against COVID-19,” said Sherrill, who is also Chief Science Officer at Prisma Health. “I am proud of the Clemson faculty members who applied for this competitive funding, and I look forward to seeing the impact on health care from the research that was funded.”
The following funded projects include Clemson researchers:
Project: Completion and Validation of the Prisma Health Rapid Innovation Task Force Comprehensive COVID-19 Data Registry to Inform and Improve Patient Care
- Lead Investigators: Lior Rennert, Ph.D., Clemson College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences; Arwen Declan, MD, Ph.D., Prisma Health; and Smith Heavner-Sullivan, MS, RN, Prisma Health
- Co-Investigators: Jennica Siddle, MD, MPH, Prisma Health; Prerana Roth, MD, Prisma Health; Lu Zhang, Ph.D., Clemson College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences; Corey Kalbaugh, Ph.D., Clemson College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences; Deborah Kunkel, Ph.D., Clemson College of Science; Sarah Griffin, Ph.D., MPH, Clemson College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences
Project: Use of CCP Fiber Films for Rapid COVID-19 Diagnostics
- Lead Investigator: Terri Bruce, Ph.D., Clemson University Light Imaging Facility
- Co-Investigators: Ken Marcus, Ph.D., Clemson College of Science; Delphine Dean, Ph.D., Clemson College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences; David Bruce, Ph.D., Clemson College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences; Richard Hodinka, Ph.D., University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville (UofSCSOMG)
Project: Massively Paralleled COVID-19 Antibody Testing from Citizen Collected Saliva
- Lead Investigator: Mark Blenner, Ph.D., Clemson College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences
- Co-Investigators: Delphine Dean, Ph.D, Clemson College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences; Jesse Stafford, MD, Pathology Associates
Project: Rapid Fabrication and Detection of COVID-19 via Electrochemical Impedance-based Biosensors
- Lead Investigator: Jordan Gilmore, D., Clemson College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences
- Co-Investigator: Joel Kidd, MD, Prisma Health
Project: Testing, Evaluation and Final Development of the “COVER” Device (Covering for Operations during Viral Emergency Response)
- Lead Investigator: Phillip Moschella, MD, Ph.D., Prisma Health
- Co-Investigators: Chris Gaafary, MD, Prisma Health; John Cull, MD, Prisma Health; Ben Roth, MD, Prisma Health; Azim Surka, MD, Prisma Health; John DesJardins, D., Clemson College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences; Delphine Dean, Ph.D., Clemson College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences; Ethan Kung, Ph.D., Clemson College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences; Hai Xiao, Ph.D., Clemson College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences; Sarah Griffin, Ph.D., MPH, Clemson College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences; Joel Williams, Ph.D., Clemson College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences
Project: A Pilot Study to Determine the Prevalence of SARS CoV-2 in the Health Care Workforce at Prisma Health
- Lead Investigators: Richard L. Hodinka, PhD, UofSCSOMG; Mark Call, MD- Prisma Health
- Co-Investigators: Lior Rennert, Ph.D., Clemson College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences; William Kelly, MD, Prisma Health; Jesse Stafford, MD, Pathology Associates; Jenny Meredith, Ph.D., Prisma Health; Kevin Kopera, MD, Prisma Health; Helmut Albrecht, MD, Prisma Health; Sharon Weissman, MD, Prisma Health
Project: Addressing Healthcare Provider Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Lead Investigator: Emily Hirsh, MD, Prisma Health
- Co-Investigators: Marissa Shuffler, Ph.D., Clemson College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences; Thomas Britt, Ph.D., Clemson College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences; William Jackson, MD, Prisma Health; Ronald Pirrallo, MD, Prisma Health
Project: Prisma Health Masks Development and Analysis
- Lead Investigator: Wesley Lio, MD, Prisma Health
- Co-Investigators: John Foulk, Ph.D., Clemson College of Agricultural, Forestry and Life Sciences; Christine Cole, Ph.D., Upstate Resources Inc.
Project: A rapid, inexpensive and easily deployed sensing platform for COVID-19
- Lead Investigator: Timothy Hanks, Ph.D., Furman University
- Co-Investigators: Paul Dawson, Ph.D., Clemson College of Agricultural, Forestry and Life Sciences; Julie Northcutt, Ph.D., Clemson College of Agricultural, Forestry and Life Sciences; William Pennington, Ph.D., Clemson College of Science; William Kelly, MD, Prisma Health; Richard Hodinka, Ph.D., UofSCSOMG
The funding period of support is June 1 – November 30, 2020.
View all the HSC awardees here.