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The HIBAR Research Alliance

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

Health Care & Medicine

Understanding chemical exposure to improve community health

Understanding chemical exposure to improve community health

Detecting environmental contaminants within the Yurok Tribal Community

June 2024

Recent increases in adverse health conditions among Yurok Tribal members living on the Yurok reservation in northwestern California have intensified concern among tribal members that contaminants from nearby forestry and agriculture activities may be a causative factor.

Research collaborators from the Yurok Tribe Environmental Department and the University of California Davis launched a co-led project to better understand this exposure risk. In this study, the team uses silicone wristbands to collect data on personal chemical exposures of tribal members, in order to identify potential differences in the level and type of contaminant exposures by gender, location of residence, season, and life activities. It is anticipated that data on contaminant exposure from the wristbands may correlate with contaminant detections in soil and water, thus creating a more complete dataset on environmental contaminants and pathways of exposure.

In this webinar, project co-leaders Joe Hostler and Beth Rose Middleton described how this project was initiated, the steps that were taken to develop shared leadership, and how the new understanding generated by the work will inform policies and thereby reduce detrimental health impacts, for the benefit of current and future generations of tribal members.

Key Takeaway Messages

When long-term, trusted relationships are established, they often lead to new HIBAR projects.

It is important for academics to recognize that non-profit and community partners may need additional resources.

Universities can support HIBAR projects by recognizing that they require more time and flexibility.

By emphasizing aligned values, organizations can create a supportive environment for HIBAR projects.

Respectful approaches to data sovereignty are really important in HIBAR projects.

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

Watch the full webinar recording

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Webinar Speakers

Beth Rose Middleton

UC Davis

Beth Rose Middleton is a Professor of Native American Studies at UC Davis. Her research centers on Native environmental policy and Native activism for site protection using conservation tools. Her broader research interests include environmental and climate justice, fire policy, intergenerational trauma and healing, Native land stewardship, rural environmental justice, Indigenous analysis of climate change, Afro-indigeneity, and qualitative GIS.

Joe Hostler

Yurok Tribe Environmental Department

Joe Hostler is an Environmental Scientist with the Yurok Tribe Environmental Department, located along the lower Klamath River in northwest California. He is a Traditional Cultural Practitioner and an Indigenous Scientist who utilizes Western Science with Traditional Ecological Knowledge to help protect the health of the people, plants, animals, and environment for the benefit of current and future generations. 

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Upcoming Webinar: In Pursuit of Water-Health Equity For Indigenous and Rural Communities

In Pursuit of Water-Health Equity For Indigenous and Rural Communities

Delivering Sustainable Solutions With Next Generation Partnerships and Ecosystems

May 2024

Rural communities face challenges of growing complexity which require increasing breadth and depth of skills, all in support of expanding community solutions. This requires innovators to adopt new strategies and internal capabilities.

Community Circle (formerly the Reseau Centre for Mobilizing Innovation) is a nonprofit center of excellence dedicated to the design and implementation of innovative solutions for drinking water quality and community health in Indigenous and rural communities. Community Circle’s problem-solving approach empowers communities to define success on their unique terms, while building grassroots trust and confidence in proposed solutions to drive projects from concept to execution and beyond.

In this webinar, Community Circle leaders Madjid Mohseni and Irving Leblanc described the practices required to upgrade partnering arrangements from basic research to full solution-oriented and end-to-end ecosystems.  They shared insights about how a deep partnership between researchers and community members developed through an initial collaborative project to improve water quality, building a solid foundation from which a wide range of projects have been launched. Together, the Community Circle team has solved several long-standing boil water advisories in rural settings, redefining sustainability, the economics of drinking water, and community health along the way.

Key Takeaway Messages

Communities co-leading HIBAR projects need to share equally in the benefits of the project outcomes.

A culture change is needed for academic researchers to shift their focus to what society truly needs.

Communities participating in co-production through HIBAR projects take pride in the positive outcomes.

The time required to build trusted relationships is often not compatible with typical grant funding cycles.

Long-term funding commitments are often required to sustain the positive outcomes of community-based HIBAR projects.

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

Watch the full webinar recording

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Webinar Speakers

Madjid Mohseni

University of British Columbia

Madjid Mohseni is a professor of chemical, biological and environmental engineering at the University of British Columbia. An internationally renowned expert in drinking water quality and advanced water treatment processes, he is the the Scientific Director and co-founder of Community Circle.

Irving Leblanc

Community Circle

Irving Leblanc, P. Eng., is Former Director, Infrastructure at the Assembly of First Nations (AFN). He is the Chair of the Board and the Co-director of Community Circle and has been involved in its governance and evolution since 2008.

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The USF Pandemic Response Research Network

The USF Pandemic Response Research Network

Lessons Learned through a Highly Integrative Basic and Responsive Research (HIBAR) Approach to COVID-19

December 2022

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the significant threats that pandemics pose to all aspects of our lives, including physical and mental health, economics, education, environment, public policy, and communication. Given the complexity, diversity, and speed of these global impacts, governments, institutions, and individuals must collectively develop and implement multidisciplinary and timely approaches to mitigate them. Universities provide a critical asset for addressing pandemic mitigation, as these institutions possess broad intellectual capital that can be leveraged to guide national and global responses.

Universities across the world responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in different ways, implementing a variety of strategies that link disciplinary expertise with specific societal needs. The University of South Florida took a unique and effective approach, by adapting a rapid response research network concept that essentially integrates HIBAR principles to address the wide-ranging aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The webinar speakers discussed the USF Pandemic Response Research Network (USF-PRRN), highlighting the HIBAR features of the network and how the USF-PRRN concept can be applied to other global challenges. They described:

  • USF’s initial leadership response to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Pandemic;
  • how USF leveraged its intellectual capital;
  • the formation of a HIBAR Pandemic Response Network;
  • how USF provided institutional incentives;
  • the long-term sustainability of the network;
  • the institutional return on investment; and
  • models for HIBAR research networks that can meet current emergent global challenges.

You can read more here about the USF Pandemic Research Response Network and how the concept can be applied to address other global challenges.

Key Takeaway Messages

When presented with a HIBAR research opportunity, faculty members will readily engage.

HIBAR research networks are powerful tools for enabling culture change.

HIBAR research networks enable long-term partnerships because they dynamically respond as the research evolves.

Through HIBAR research networks, faculty members discover colleagues who deeply share their interests.

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

Watch the full webinar recording

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Webinar Speakers

Randy W. Larsen

Associate Dean for Research
College of Arts & Sciences

Sylvia Wilson Thomas

Interim Vice President
for Research & Innovation

Howard Goldstein

Associate Dean for Research
College of Behavioral & Community Sciences

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The Future of Genomic Medicine

The Future of Genomic Medicine

Developing lipid nanoparticle delivery systems laid the groundwork for COVID-19 vaccines and the future of medicine

April 2022

Jointly presented by the HIBAR Research Alliance and the National Academy of Inventors.

During the record-breaking sprint to develop mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, developers faced a key challenge: they needed a drug delivery system that would enable the messenger RNA, or mRNA, to get into cells in the body. Fortunately, this was not the first time this challenge had been encountered, because the delivery of RNA or DNA to cells to prevent or treat disease at its genetic root cause has been under development for decades, and the success of the COVID-19 vaccine is the tip of the iceberg for genetic medicine.

This delivery solution uses lipid nanoparticles – microscopic bubbles of fat – to encase and protect the mRNA and enable it to be taken up by a cell and released inside to produce the desired immune response. Decades of research in lipid systems enabled the dramatic speed of the COVID-19 vaccine development, from concept to clinical trials within 3 months of sequencing the viral genome. The groundwork for lipid nanoparticle delivery systems was laid more than 40 years ago in the lab of Dr. Pieter Cullis at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Since then, he has played a founding role in a number of companies developing pharmaceutical solutions based on drug delivery research, including Inex Pharmaceuticals, Acuitas Therapeutics, and Precision Nanosystems.

Prior to a year or so ago, lipid nanoparticles were relatively unknown, despite the decades of effort by many researchers to demonstrate their value as drug delivery systems. As a result of the demonstrated success of the COVID-19 vaccine, lipid nanoparticle–RNA drugs are now poised to cause a revolution in medicine, because of their ability to deliver precision gene therapy drugs to treat a wide range of diseases, and to enable vaccines for many other infectious diseases.

Key Takeaway Messages

HIBAR research projects are often challenging in many ways, but they are immensely enjoyable and rewarding.

New approaches to graduate student training are needed to better address the challenges facing society.

There is growing support for public-private research partnerships tackling big challenges.

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

Watch the full webinar recording

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Webinar Speakers

Peter Cullis

Professor,  University of British Columbia

James Taylor

CEO, Precision Nanosystem

Collaborators Dr. Pieter Cullis (Professor, University of British Columbia) and Dr. James Taylor (Co-founder and CEO, Precision Nanosystems) described the HIBAR research journey that led to the global vaccine success, the prospects for a revolution in genomic medicines, and some of the HIBAR research challenges they faced along the way.

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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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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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