Detecting cancer earlier, finding new materials for repairing bones and teeth, and controlling cortical epilepsy are just a few of the objectives receiving funding this year from Cornell's intercampus collaboration seed grant program.

Eight research teams from Cornell's Ithaca and New York City campuses each received $50,000 toward their projects, which draw on the strengths of faculty and students across the disciplines -- and which could lead to medical advances in areas from genetics to organ transplants.

The seed grants, awarded annually since 2005, are administered by Steve Kresovich, vice provost for the life sciences; Harry Lander, associate dean for research administration at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC); and by Cornell's Office of Corporate Relations. This year, half of the available $400,000 (to be divided into eight $50,000 grants) is provided by Johnson & Johnson. The eight winning collaborations were chosen from more than 30 applicants.

"We are very pleased to establish this collaboration with Cornell, given its outstanding reputation. We are committed to supporting innovative academic research groups worldwide to promote breakthroughs in medicine that contribute to significant improvements in human health," said Robert Zivin, corporate director of Johnson & Johnson's Corporate Office of Science and Technology.

This year's recipients are:

• Lara Estroff, assistant professor of materials science in the College of Engineering, and Adele Boskey, professor of biochemistry at WCMC, for research to develop new materials for bone and tooth repair;
• Emmanuel P. Giannelis, the Walter R. Read Professor of Engineering, and Yi Wang, professor of biomedical engineering in Ithaca and professor of physics in radiology at WCMC, to develop nanoparticle-based tools for diagnostic and therapeutic applications for cancer;
• Colin Parrish, the J.M. Olin Professor of Virology, and Moonsoo Jin, assistant professor of biomedical engineering in Ithaca; and at WCMC, Anne Moscona, professor of pediatrics and of microbiology and immunology, and Matteo Porotto, assistant professor of microbiology in pediatrics, to study the roles of virus-receptor interactions in cell infection and disease;
• Cynthia A. Reinhart-King, adjunct assistant professor of biomedical engineering (Ithaca), and Thomas Sato, the Joseph C. Hinsey Professor in Cell and Developmental Biology (WCMC), to study the use of stem cells for engineering organs in vitro;
• Chris Schaffer, assistant professor of biomedical engineering (Ithaca), and Theodore H. Schwartz, associate professor of neurological surgery (WCMC), for the use of femtosecond laser ablation to understand and control cortical epilepsy;
• C.C. Chu, professor of fiber science and apparel design (Ithaca), and Bo Liu, assistant professor of cell biology in surgery (WCMC), to develop a new generation of synthetic biodegradable polymers as non-viral carriers for gene therapy;
• Lawrence Bonassar, associate professor of biomedical engineering (Ithaca), and Roger Hartl, assistant professor of neurological surgery (WCMC), for work toward engineering human intervertebral discs to relieve back pain;
• Harold Craighead, the C.W. Lake Jr. Professor of Engineering (Ithaca), and Douglas Scherr, assistant professor of Urology (WCMC), to develop a microfluidic system for early detection of bladder cancer.