The University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions Office of Research would like to congratulate college faculty members who have received 2025 seed funding from the university to support their work. Recipients include:
Principal investigator: Andrew Judge, Ph.D., professor,Department of Physical Therapy
Funding mechanism: Research Opportunity Seed Fund
Project title: “Impact of circadian disruption on cancer-induced cachexia”
Co-PIs/Co-Investigators: Karyn Esser, Ph.D.,
Other contributing PHHP faculty: Sarah Judge, Ph.D.
Summary: The involuntary loss of muscle and body weight that occurs in most cancer patients is called cachexia. Cachexia is caused by the presence of a tumor which drives systemic and local inflammation and dysmetabolism. Unfortunately, there are currently no FDA-approved therapies for cancer-induced cachexia. In partnership with Karyn Esser and her lab, we are learning that the clock, or the body’s circadian rhythm, that is a primary regulator of metabolism, is disrupted in the muscle of hosts with cancer. This could be an important link given that disruption to the clock in muscle has been shown to cause dysmetabolism and tissue wasting. This work will determine the extent to which circadian clock function is disrupted in muscle and the hypothalamus, which houses the central clock. We will further test the extent to which sleep disruption, which affects many cancer patients, disrupts the clock and worsens cachexia outcomes, and whether time of chemotherapy treatment impacts circadian clock function in muscle and hypothalamus, as well as cachexia outcomes.
Principal investigator: Chien-Te (Vince) Wu, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Occupational Therapy
Funding mechanism: Research Equipment Seed Fund
Project title: “Wireless Mobile Electroencephalography (WM-EEG) – A methodological upgrade to record brain activities in dynamic and diverse environments”
Other contributing PHHP faculty: Stefanie Bodison, Ph.D., O.T.D., Sherrilene Classen, Ph.D., Chiung-Ju Liu, Ph.D., Eric Porges, Ph.D., Aprinda Indahlastari Queen, Ph.D., and Hongwu Wang, Ph.D.
Other UF contributors: Jessica Allen, Ph.D., Suman Kanti Chowdhury, Ph.D., David Clark, Sc.D., Mingzhou Ding, Ph.D., Natalie C. Ebner, Ph.D., and Wayne C.W. Giang, Ph.D.
Summary: We requested funds to purchase a Wireless Mobile Encephalography (WM-EEG) system, which will expand our research capacity to study health-related behaviors or outcomes in dynamic and diverse environments. Thirteen PIs from three UF colleges participated in this proposal. The equipment will enable collaborative research in developmental and aging science. Fundamentally, our research efforts are designed to understand and enhance human health and well-being across the lifespan. The ability to wirelessly record human brain activity will be transformative to our collective research efforts. Compared to a conventional stationary EEG system, WM-EEG provides a powerful solution to study brain activity in real-world contexts. Key features of WM-EEG include: 1. High mobility with lightweight and compact design, 2. Wider coverage for field research through long-range wireless solutions, 3. High system expandability, 4. High system flexibility, and 5. Secure data storage scheme. The acquisition of WM-EEG will lead to large scale future funding. It will bring together multiple UF PIs with common research interests and complementary expertise to conduct team science that integrates multiple research units at UF. The joint force of such internal collaboration will increase each investigator’s capacity to successfully secure external funding.