Two UNMC researchers received funding from the National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) at the University of Nebraska for their innovative work related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elizabeth Beam, PhD, assistant professor in the UNMC College of Nursing and director of the HEROES program, received $25,000 for her educational strategy assessment on improving respiratory protection equipment use.
Dr. Beam said the project lays the groundwork to improve education and training of health care workers related to personal protective equipment.
"The early COVID experience in spring 2020 demonstrated that there is significant misunderstanding about how to utilize respiratory protective equipment effectively," she said. "This study will pilot video trainings and interactive video scoring for training respiratory protective equipment use during a Center for Sustainment of Trauma & Readiness Skills (CSTARS) course on biocontainment care."
Siddappa Byrareddy, PhD, professor and vice chair of research in the department of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience at UNMC, also received $25,000 for his research on phenotypic and functional characterization of newly evolved SARS-CoV-2 mutant viruses.
The study aims to delineate the structural differences and phenotypic mutational profile of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants including Delta and Delta Plus.
"To date, a total of 11 known SARS-CoV-2 variants have been reported. By studying structural and mutational differences, we will delineate how newly acquired mutations of SARS-CoV-2 will be helping to adapt the virus to the host system and spread disease faster," Dr. Byrareddy said.
The researcher’s projects are among seven selected by the NSRI to receive its first-ever independent research and development (IRAD) funding, totaling $165,000.
"Each of these projects will allow NSRI to move toward its mission in a new way," said Maj. Gen., USAF (Ret.) Rick Evans, NSRI executive director. "It is our aim as a University Affiliated Research Center to not only maintain essential scientific and engineering capabilities for use by the Department of Defense, but to be constantly seeking the next solution to the next potential threat. Our NU colleagues are on the leading-edge in their fields, and we are proud to spur their creativity through this program."
Each project aligns directly with a NSRI research focus area, ensuring movement toward key NSRI objectives across nuclear weapons enterprise support, chemical and biological threat detection and countermeasure development, medical countermeasures and response and threat-based training and exercise support.
"Our university research partners have risen to the challenge once again with these selected projects as well as the others that were submitted — it was a competitive field, which was exciting to see," said Joshua Santarpia, NSRI research director for chemical and biological programs, who leads NSRI IRAD. "Securing start-up funding for these types of projects at the university is exactly how we innovate toward NSRI's mission for the future."
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