The San Antonio Life Sciences Institute (SALSI) has awarded $200,000 through its innovation grants to lead scientists at the Health Science Center and UTSA conducting research on technology solutions in health care.
SALSI, a collaborative partnership established between the Health Science Center and UTSA by the Texas Legislature in 2003, has strengthened research in the life sciences, one of the fastest growing industries in our state and a $30.6 billion industry in San Antonio. The grants awarded through the Innovation Challenge are high-risk, high-reward studies that have the potential to create groundbreaking research directions in health informatics and bioinformatics.
Recipients of this year’s grants are Yidong Chen, Ph.D., at the Health Science Center and Yufei Huang, Ph.D., at UTSA, who are conducting research in cloud computing to offer greater precision in medicine, and David Akopian, Ph.D., at UTSA and Amelie Ramirez, Dr. P.H., at the Health Science Center, who are researching mobile messaging solutions for health promotion interventions. Dr. Ramirez is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Medicine.
“Biomedical breakthroughs and new cutting-edge research paths often depend on the development and integration of innovative technologies in research,” said Andrea Giuffrida, Ph.D., vice president for research at the Health Science Center. “This year’s Innovation Challenge grant recipients proposed to take research in a new direction within the field of data analytics with potential high-impact results.”
In addition to the Innovation Challenge grants, SALSI provides collaborative research opportunities for scientific, educational and industry partners throughout South Texas.