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The HIBAR Research Alliance

Expanding Highly Integrative Basic And Responsive Research To Accelerate Service To Society

Building Cross-Sectoral Partnerships

Breakthrough Strategies to Accelerate Team Research

Breakthrough Strategies to Accelerate Team Research

Research leaders share key insights from HIBAR projects that are translatable to other research opportunities

April 2021

In this webinar, we heard from research leaders about complex and impactful projects, and initiated a dialogue to investigate if their key insights are translatable to other research opportunities. This joint webinar was hosted by the University of California Davis Office of Research.

Key Takeaway Messages

Be prepared to work outside your comfort zone.

Committed support by the university administration is key.

Universities are capable of responding very quickly to urgent societal needs.

Societal stakeholders must be involved in the research from the beginning.

It is essential for the research team to have a shared vision of the project goals.

We can apply these lessons to tackle other global challenges.

Read the key takeaway messages from all of our webinars here.

Watch the full webinar recording

Watch key excerpts from the webinar

Webinar Speakers

Dr. Richard Michelmore

University of California Davis

Dr. Ana Lucia Cardova-Kreylos

University of California Davis

Dr. Randy W. Larsen

University of South Florida

Dr. Sylvia Wilson Thomas

University of South Florida

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Exploring Associations between Microbiome and Autism

Exploring Associations between Microbiome and Autism​

Understanding possible connections between the microbiome and the central nervous system

March 2021

Dr. Maude David from Oregon State University shared her recent experience in collaboratively leading a Highly Integrative Basic and Responsive (HIBAR) research project intended to understand the possible connection between the microbiome – the community of organisms that live in a person’s gut – and the central nervous system.

One of her current projects is a HIBAR collaboration with researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Second Genome, a company based in South San Francisco, California. The goal of the project, funded by a federal Small Business Innovation Research grant, is to study associations between the human microbiome and several neurological disorders, including autism spectrum disorder. The research team is using a crowdsource approach to collect diet habits and microbiome data to better understand the mechanisms and identify therapeutic targets for autism spectrum disorder, a developmental disorder that affects communication and behavior.

Dr. David described her research as well some challenges she has faced while working on this and other HIBAR projects, including those associated with crowdsource study and communicating with others about topics that are of significant public interest and may inadvertently lead to the spread of misinformation. She also discussed accessing sensitive data from societal partners and the need to provide adequate infrastructure for both the researcher and the study participant.

Key Takeaway Messages

It is vital for researchers to communicate effectively with societal stakeholders.

Getting to know a broad range of local stakeholders can, over time, lead to fruitful research collaborations.

Universities often offer communication training for faculty members.

Read the key takeaway messages from all of our webinars here.

Watch the full webinar recording

Watch key excerpts from the webinar

Webinar Speaker

Dr. Maude David

Oregon State University

Oregon State University
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Building a Durable HIBAR Infrastructure

Building a Durable HIBAR Infrastructure

Enabling a platform for HIBAR research projects designed for collaborative research, teaching and advocacy

October 2020

Dr. Fonna Forman, Director of the Center on Global Justice at the University of California San Diego, shared her experience in building a durable infrastructure for HIBAR projects, specifically focusing on developing the long-term partnerships that are essential for success.

Dr. Forman’s experience stems from work during the past decade to create the UCSD Community Stations, a network of field hubs located in disadvantaged neighborhoods on both sides of the San Diego-Tijuana border, designed for collaborative research, teaching and advocacy among university researchers, school districts, and community-based non-profit partners. She described how the community members and researchers have developed long-term relationships through which trust has built as a result of being a constant positive presence in each other’s lives. This established trust network has enabled a platform for HIBAR research projects focusing on key issues such as climate vulnerability, educational disparities, and health disparities. In addition to direct, tangible solutions to specific challenges, these projects have the potential to lead to policy changes that enact lasting positive change in the communities by building capacity for political and social advocacy.

The Center on Global Justice (CGJ) at UC San Diego was launched in 2012 to advance interdisciplinary research on poverty and global development, with an emphasis on collective action at community scale.  The CGJ is home to initiatives focused on global ethics and cooperation (the conventional terrain of global justice), but the majority of the center’s initiatives localize the global, focusing on real-word intervention at local scale, in partnership with non-profits, government agencies, and civic stakeholders—top-down and bottom-up.

Key Takeaway Messages

Long-term partnerships are developed from relationship networks based on trust and mutual respect.

The conventional academic research model is ineffective for addressing many societal problems.

Research teams need a support infrastructure to manage the complexity associated with addressing societal problems.

Read the key takeaway messages from all of our webinars here.

Watch the full webinar recording

Watch key excerpts from the webinar

Webinar Speaker

Dr. Fonna Forman

UC San Deigo

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Restoring Historical Audio Recordings

Restoring Historical Audio Recordings

Developing an imaging technology to preserve fragile and deteriorating recordings with historical significance

February 2020

Dr. Carl Haber of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory described an exciting HIBAR project for restoring and preserving historical audio recordings. The process has been credited with restoring many historically-valuable recordings, including the earliest known recording of a human voice and early recordings of the voice of Alexander Graham Bell.

Dr. Haber and his research team developed a new digital imaging technology, adapted from their earlier work in creating detectors for particle physics experiments. The imaging system, known as IRENE, uses a high-powered microscope that follows the groove path on an audio recording disc or cylinder and prepares a detailed spatial mapping of the groove. This spatial data is then processed with software that converts it into a digital audio file. The non-contact approach is particularly well suited to safely “play” archived sound recordings, which were often made on now fragile, deteriorating or delicate phonograph cylinders or discs. The process can also be used to recover sound recordings that were designed to be played on devices that are now obsolete.

In 2013, Dr. Haber was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship to continue development of the process. It is currently in use by several archives and institutions in the United States, including the Library of Congress, seeking to preserve and digitize historical audio. In the webinar presentation, he described some of the challenges that the research team faced, and ultimately successfully navigated, throughout this ongoing HIBAR project.

Key Takeaway Messages

Developing a deep partnership with experts in at least one external organization is critical to the success of a HIBAR project.

It is essential to nurture relationships with individual people who share enthusiasm for the project.

It is easier to maintain the enthusiasm of the research team for the duration of a long-term project if it can be structured as a series of smaller projects with specific achievable goals.

Read the key takeaway messages from all of our webinars here.

Watch the full webinar recording

Watch key excerpts from the webinar

Webinar Speaker

Dr. Carl Haber

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

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Using Genomics for Sustainable Aquaculture

Using Genomics for Sustainable Aquaculture

Understanding genetics and metabolism to adapt fish and fish feed to sustainably meet global food demands

November 2019

Presenter Dr. Ronald Hardy from the University of Idaho described a highly diverse and interdisciplinary HIBAR project to develop the basic genetic understanding that is needed to carry out widespread aquaculture of fish in a sustainable manner, as one approach for addressing societal issues related to food security.

This project was underway for some time within the Aquaculture Research Institute (ARI) at the University of Idaho, and the research team successfully navigated many of the challenges faced in HIBAR projects. In the webinar presentation, Dr. Hardy described these challenges and the approaches the research team took to overcome them.

Key Takeaway Messages

It is important to involve people at different stages of their research careers in HIBAR projects.

Substantial and ongoing communication is needed to ensure that partners are truly engaged in the basic research aspects of the project.

Building a strong HIBAR research foundation can enable new HIBAR projects to flourish.

Read the key takeaway messages from all of our webinars here.

Watch the full webinar recording

Watch key excerpts from the webinar

Webinar Speaker

Dr. Ronald Hardy

University of Idaho

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Forensic Detection of Illegally Logged Timber

Forensic Detection of Illegally Logged Timber

Developing and deploying new knowledge and tools to slow the trade in illegal logging

September 2019

Dr. Philip Evans from the University of British Columbia described an innovative and timely HIBAR project for the forensic detection of illegally logged timber. The project seeks to develop and deploy the new knowledge and tools from a variety of disciplines to slow the trade in illegal logging and help conserve the world’s rapidly diminishing forest ecosystems.

Illegal logging – the harvesting, processing and trade of timber in violation of national laws – destroys forest ecosystems, deprives poor nations of income and funds other unlawful activities. Dr. Evans shared his experiences related to this HIBAR project, particularly: (1) the origins of the project and why it is a good example of a HIBAR project; (2) challenges associated with a project involving partners with expertise in many diverse fields, including forestry, material and data sciences, analytical chemistry, forensic science, and law enforcement; and (3) changes within the academic system that would help the project.

Key Takeaway Messages

Communication between experts in different disciplines is critical.

Sufficient time is needed to establish solid relationships.

It is easier for later-career faculty to emphasize impact over publications.

Securing funding for HIBAR projects is challenging.

HIBAR projects often lead to new projects that are unexpected.

Read the key takeaway messages from all of our webinars here.

Watch the full webinar recording

Watch key excerpts from the webinar

Webinar Speaker

Dr. Philip Evans

University of British Columbia

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Predicting Readmission for Heart Failure

Predicting Readmission for Heart Failure

Using AI to develop a tool that enables clinicians and patients to identify early warning signs related to heart failure

June 2019

Dr. Katherine Kim from the University of California Davis Health shared her experience in designing and initiating an inspiring HIBAR research project to develop a much better tool for both clinicians and patients to identify early warning signs related to heart failure. The project received a 2019 CITRIS Seed Funding Award.

This research required the integration of new techniques in artificial intelligence using large and complex data sets with the practical needs of a particular segment of the health care system, with a goal of achieving considerably better health outcomes. Dr. Kim described the approach that she used to design and initiate this HIBAR research project, with particular emphasis on some of the challenges that she had to navigate during the process.

Her research addresses a key challenge related to hospital re-admittance of patients requiring treatment for heart failure. A significant number of heart failure patients develop serious symptoms that require further hospitalization, and there is currently no straightforward way for patients and their care providers to accurately identify early warning signs, so that patients can receive appropriate treatment before symptoms progress. One reason for this diagnostic challenge is the enormous amount of disparate data that is generated during each patient’s previous hospitalization and treatment periods. The project aims to develop a mobile application tool through which the early warning sign predictions generated by the data analysis approach can be readily visualized and interpreted by both patients and clinicians, so that appropriate treatment decisions can be made long before hospitalization is required.

Dr. Kim’s initial research results demonstrated that predictive learning algorithms developed in artificial intelligence research can be used to analyze this data and uncover early warning signs for individual patients that would otherwise be very difficult to discern. In addition to demonstrating a helpful tool for heart failure patients and their care providers, the preliminary research indicated that some measures that are considered subjective (such as the patient’s sense of wellness) can be surprisingly accurate indicators of the need for further treatment.  The new knowledge generated by this insight may prove valuable in a wide range of health care situations.

Key Takeaway Messages

A HIBAR project requires building bridges, not just grant proposals: bridges between academic disciplines, academia and industry, and professionals and citizens.

Even small funding amounts are valuable for building capacity for HIBAR research.

Leadership vision and programmatic contributions from funding programs are essential to enable HIBAR projects.

Read the key takeaway messages from all of our webinars here.

Watch the full webinar recording

Watch key excerpts from the webinar

Webinar Speaker

Dr. Katherine Kim

University of California

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