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Wilson College of Textiles Researchers Earn Funding to Advance Medicine
Honors and Awards

Wilson College of Textiles Researchers Earn Funding to Advance Medicine

November 17, 2022 2-min. read
aerial photo showing the Wilson College of Textiles in the foreground and Lake Raleigh behind.
Centennial Campus buildings including the Monteith Research Center (right) and the Wilson College of Textiles (center) look out onto Lake Raleigh. Photo by Becky Kirkland.

By Sarah Stone 

Faculty and students from the Wilson College of Textiles have substantial additional resources to perform groundbreaking medical research thanks to a new round of funding awarded by the Comparative Medicine Institute (CMI). 

Four research projects with principal investigators (PIs) from the Wilson College of Textiles were named winners at the CMI Think, Collaborate and DO Ideation Awards. CMI, a research institute housed at NC State, brings together faculty members and students from across five universities to conduct interdisciplinary research that aims to improve human and animal health. 

Each year, a panel of experts reviews project proposals from teams composed of researchers from multiple colleges and departments to choose the winners of the Think, Collaborate and DO Ideation Awards. These judges prioritize high-risk, high-reward projects that couldn’t be accomplished within a single college or department. This year’s winning teams with PIs from the Wilson College received upwards of $15,000 in funding for each of their projects for one fiscal year. 

“It’s a chance to do research you could never do on your own, and to make advances in the realm of human and/or animal health research that push the boundaries of what’s currently being done,” CMI Executive Assistant Sarah O’Connor says. “A lot of times it’s hard to get funded for new ideas or interdisciplinary projects because of the inherent risks.” 

See which projects tied to the Wilson College will be funded by the CMI as part of this program: 

Faculty awards 

  • Textile-Based Robotic Tongue for Tissue Engineering and Teaching Applications: Awarded $30,000
  • Revolutionizing Sustainable Dye Production Using Synthetic Biology: Awarded $25,000
  • Uncovering circadian rhythm regulation in a stem cell-based cardiac tissue engineering application: Awarded $20,000

Student award 

  • Fabricating an Assistive Knee Orthosis Using Miniature Pneumatic Artificial Muscles: Awarded $15,000

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