Six projects have been selected to receive seed funding through the Critical Research Initiatives program, an annual competition sponsored by the Vice Chancellor for Research. The CRI program, now in its 11th year, was established to stimulate continued innovation and outstanding scholarship on campus. The competition provides full or partial funding of up to $50,000 for one year for planning proposals and funding of up to $100,000 for three years for full proposals. New to this year’s competition, the UI joined with Carle Foundation Hospital to provide matching funds of up to $75,000 per year for two years for major translational research initiatives in biomedical research that foster collaboration between the UI and the hospital. An interdisciplinary review committee appointed by Charles Zukoski, vice chancellor for research, and consisting of faculty members chosen for their vision, scholarly excellence and knowledge of the breadth and depth of scholarship on campus recommends which proposals submitted in the competition are most deserving of CRI support.
Of those six, co-principal investigators Wilfred van der Donk, professor of chemistry and affiliate of the Department of Biochemistry and William Metcalf, professor of microbiology, have been selected to receive seed funding for a project entitled "Discovery, Design and Development of Phosphonic Acid Antibiotics." Investigation aimed at the discovery of bioactive natural products containing carbon-phosphorus bonds (phosphonates), studies to find new genes for their biosynthesis, obtaining the corresponding enzymes, determining the structure of newly discovered phosphonates and providing analogs of natural phosphonates.