The Biodesign Institute has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to pursue promising research into an oral vaccine that stimulates the production of antibodies known to block HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Researchers at the institute already have found a way to stimulate an immune reaction to HIV in the mucosal membranes of mice, blocking the ability of the virus to enter the body. Led by Tsafrir Mor of the institute’s Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, this research milestone was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

The $446,000 grant, spread over two years, will allow Mor and his colleagues to enhance the effectiveness of the vaccine, test oral delivery using plant-derived production, and generate additional data needed to move the vaccine toward human trials.

This funding is in addition to a recent five-year, $7.4 million NIH grant the center received to pursue development of topical treatments called microbicides to block HIV/AIDS.

$5.4 million gift provided to fund student ventures

Orin Edson, who built a luxury boat company on his desire, talent and keen entrepreneurial sense, is making a gift to the ASU Foundation to help future generations of students do the same thing. Edson is giving ASU $5.4 million to set up the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, which was expected to be completely operational by January.

The gift will form an endowment that will give ASU students the opportunity to pursue their creative and business goals by providing seed money to help them along in their entrepreneurial quests.

The endowment will provide $200,000 annually to fund student-inspired projects with annual awards ranging between $5,000 and $20,000 each to 10 to 15 new venture teams.

Competition for the funds is open to any ASU student, graduate or undergraduate, full time or part time, on any of the four ASU campuses. A portion of the Edson gift will be directed toward refurbishing space in the Brickyard. The space will include offices, workstations, a conference/work room and administrative support space, and is designed to house eight student venture teams.

ASU gets $33 million to support K-12 efforts

ASU has been awarded six federal grants totaling more than $33 million, all of which will have a direct impact on K-12 education in Arizona.

These research investments by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Education will flow directly into the community to enrich area schools with teacher training and other support activities while ASU faculty conduct research that will lead to permanently improving education nation-wide.

New grants include $12.5 million from the National Science Foundation for a pilot education research program that is aimed at deepening math and science teaching skills by delivering tuition-free advanced teacher training in math and science directly to high schools, as well as a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to create a Professional Development School that will recruit, prepare, place, and retain high quality new teachers in high-poverty urban and remote rural school districts.

Through the new grants, the researchers have attracted a significant package of federal money to the state that will have direct impact on local schools in areas that have been identified as critical — science and math education, teacher preparation, teacher shortages in low income and rural schools, and early reading and school preparation.

New center to tackle water usage, urban growth

A new $6.9-million ASU center will study the decision processes used to plan and manage water resources and desert city growth. The center, called the Decision Center for a Desert City, could have a profound effect on the future directions of urban growth in arid regions by providing a sound scientific basis to the decisions that balance growth with finite water resources.

The center is one of three new National Science Foundation-funded programs that will investigate human decision-making under climatic uncertainty. The program is part of President Bush’s Climate Change Research Initiative.

The center will enhance water management decision-making by developing Geographic Information System-based decision support tools that foster better long-term understanding; using intermediate-scale climate models to produce regional forecasts of temperatures and precipitation; creating interactive models, visualizations and scenarios to understand complex relationships; investigating the cognitive processes by which water managers and other people make decisions; and engaging the community in discussions about priorities related to water use.