UC Davis, in partnership with the University of Sydney, awards seed funding to eight collaborative research programs

April 27, 2017

The UC Davis Office of Research is pleased to announce the recipients of eight seed funding awards that will be jointly supported with the University of Sydney through the Priority Partnership Collaboration Awards (PPCA) Program.

UC Davis and the University of Sydney entered into a partnership agreement earlier this year. Under the terms of the agreement, both institutions will contribute up to $100,000 AUD (approximately $75,000 USD) annually for two years to support cooperative research projects and activities. Funding from UC Davis is provided by the Office of Research, the School of Veterinary Medicine Dean’s Innovation Fund and Office of Global Affairs.

The awards are designed to catalyze scientific discoveries through collaborative engagement between UC Davis researchers and colleagues at the University of Sydney by providing funding to support initiatives that foster international partnerships in research, teaching and learning, capacity building and other areas.

“This exciting new partnership with the University of Sydney combines the strengths of two world class public research universities and promises to generate multiple new lines of interdisciplinary research that will have a major global impact,” said Cameron Carter, interim vice chancellor for research at UC Davis.

Professor Kathy Belov, pro-vice-chancellor at the University of Sydney added, “What really stands out is the breadth and quality of the research that will receive funding. There’s a fascinating spread of projects that address global challenges in human, animal and planetary health, and in food security and energy. This is a great start for our partnership with UC Davis.”

Each principal investigator (PI) at UC Davis will receive up to $20,000 AUD (approximately $15,000 USD) per year for two years, with equivalent matching funds for the Australian PI coming from University of Sydney.

Award recipients

Eight research projects were selected from a total of 22 applications covering a wide variety of disciplines. The recipients are:

  • Louise Berben (Department of Chemistry, UC Davis) and Cameron Kepert (Faculty of Chemistry, University of Sydney), “CO2capture and electrolytic conversion with covalently immobilized porous materials”
  • Simon R. Cherry (Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology, UC Davis) and Steven Meikle (Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney); “Total-Body PET technology and methods for biological systems research in metabolic disorders and mental illness”
  • Carrie J. Finno (School of Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis) and Natasha Hamilton (School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney); “Secrets in the bones: How functional genomics will broaden our understanding of catastrophic breakdown in racehorses”
  • Thomas Gradziel (Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis) and Alex McBratney (Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, University of Sydney); “Digitally decommoditized agriculture: An almond example”
  • Russ Hovey (Department of Animal Science, UC Davis) and Sergio Garcia (School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney); “More MILC, less milking: Multidisciplinary Investigations into Lactose (secretion) in Cows”
  • Amir Kol (School of Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis) and Paul Sheehy (School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sydney); “Convergence of canine cellular reprogramming and 3D bioprinting technologies for the development of pancreatic β cell replacement therapies and disease modeling platforms”
  • Frank Osterloh (Department of Chemistry, UC Davis) and Thomas Maschmeyer (School of Chemistry and Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, University of Sydney); “Advanced semiconductor materials system for solar hydrogen generation”
  • Huaijun Zhou (Department of Animal Science, UC Davis) and Robyn Alders (Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney); “Tackling food insecurity in Tanzania: Harnessing genomics and vaccinology to control Newcastle Disease in African chickens”

Leadership from both universities are working together with the intent to announce a second call for proposals later in 2017 to further enable faculty to work together on grand challenge-type projects of mutual interest.

For questions about the partnership or awards, please contact your campus liaison:

At UC Davis:
Ana Lucia Cordova-Kreylos, Ph.D.
Strategic Initiatives Manager
[email protected]

At University of Sydney:
Matthew Louie
Partnerships Officer
[email protected]