University of Florida Research

In the fight to end cholera deaths by 2030 – a goal set by the World Health Organization – University of Florida researcher and Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment professor Antar Jutla, Ph.D., has deployed his Cholera Risk Dashboard in about 20 countries, most recently in Kenya. Cholera is a bacterial disease spread through contaminated food and water; it causes severe intestinal issues and can be fatal if untreated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports between 21,000 and 143,000 cholera deaths each year globally. Using NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration and NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration satellite images and artificial intelligence algorithms, the dashboard is an interactive web interface that pinpoints areas ripe for thriving cholera bacteria. It can predict cholera risk four weeks out, allowing early and proactive humanitarian efforts, medical preparation and health warnings. Read more about this stellar research at https://lnkd.in/eBMj-9zi!

Professor & Chair of Neurosurgery at UF, Brian Hoh, is a world leader in how to prevent and treat aneurysms and strokes. He currently leads a large national study with support from The National Institutes of Health of a narrowing of an artery in the brain that causes strokes in about 80,000 people in the U.S. annually.

With support from key funding sources, UF is home to a cutting-edge wind tunnel designed to study how wind affects buildings and other structures. This wind tunnel is large enough to test various models and can simulate different wind conditions, helping researchers including Kurtis Gurley, UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering professor and associate director of UF's Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment understand how strong winds, like those from hurricanes and tornadoes, impact structures. The researchers also use storm-monitoring equipment known as Sentinels to collect real-time data on wind, storm surge, waves, and water quality before, during, and after hurricanes make landfall.

We crunched the numbers! NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration funding for Florida Sea Grant programs makes a difference for coastal creatures and businesses.

With support from The National Institutes of Health (NIH), UF Chemist Matthew Disney and The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology is using RNA molecules to build a search-and-destroy system for multiple incurable diseases, including ALS, dementia, muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s, advanced cancers, COVID-19 and several rare diseases.

University of Florida researchers led by Serena Jingchuan Guo in the UF College of Pharmacy have found that a popular class of glucose-lowering medication may reduce depression risk in older adults with Type 2 diabetes. The research was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gePinADt

With federal and state funding, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences experts are helping farms incorporate soil testing, cross fencing and rotational grazing to provide habitat for wildlife and quality pasture-raised beef for customers.

UF is a national leader in cybersecurity research, focusing on mobile systems and telecommunications infrastructure. With support from key funding sources, UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering professor Patrick Traynor and his team have identified critical vulnerabilities in cellular networks and characterized mobile malware within provider networks. The research also includes developing methods to detect and combat Caller-ID scams and deepfake audio.

Shannon Boye's research is transformative for childhood blindness. In addition to XLRS, another gene therapy she developed to treat Leber congenital amaurosis type 1 restored useful vision to patients in a recent, small trial. By using viral vectors to deliver healthy genes to the retina, Boye's research aims to restore vision in affected children. The promising outcomes from preclinical work and early clinical trials suggest significant improvement in vision and quality of life, underscoring their potential for combating childhood blindness. The two gene therapies are being developed in conjunction with Atsena Therapeutics, a company Boye co-founded as a University of Florida spinoff.

Four UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering faculty members describe the impact of their research and the importance of federal funding to continuing that research.