The pandemic could not divert USF’s top faculty researchers from making big discoveries that shape our understanding of the past, present and future.

One USF researcher brings dinosaurs to life through augmented reality while a colleague explores the origins of life through planetary chemistry. Another faculty member’s research sounded early alarms about people turning to alcohol amid the stress and fear of the COVID-19 pandemic, while her colleague is the co-founder of the new Center for Justice Research & Policy at USF. And in USF’s Department of Physics, a professor’s discovery holds the potential to revolutionize the Internet of Things.

These are just a few of the faculty research achievements newly recognized with USF’s Outstanding Research Achievement Awards. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic’s interruptions to campus life in 2020, this year’s awards recognize 22 faculty members—the largest group to date—for their achievements that defied the disruption caused by the last year’s shutdown.

“The University of South Florida’s reputation as a top urban-based research university is fueled by our innovative faculty and researchers,” said USF President Rhea Law. “I congratulate each of the outstanding awardees for such a productive year in their work to change lives and shape the future.”

The largest internal recognition of its kind at USF, the annual nominations are submitted by deans, department chairs, center and institute directors, and associate deans of research. The nominations are reviewed by members of the USF Research Council. Each faculty member receives $2,000 with the award and recognition at an event later in the fall.

Awardees include USF College of Public Health’s Dr. John Adams and Dr. Lynn Martin.

John H. Adams, PhD, FAAAS, FASTMH

Distinguished USF Health Professor and Distinguished University Professor, Center for Global Health Infectious Disease Research and USF Genomics Program

Dr. Adams is an international expert in malaria research. His research focuses on host‐parasite interactions and improving the understanding of infection and pathogenesis in malaria. His group is actively engaged in vaccine and drug discovery projects. In 2020, he received a National Institutes of Health grant to accelerate vaccine development for vivax malaria, the most prevalent type of malaria outside of the African continent. The project builds upon his group’s successful development of a greatly improved liver culture system for the early infective stages of human malaria parasites. As the lead investigator on the grant, Dr. Adams brought together an international consortium from six institutions to prepare a vaccine for clinical trial. He also the lead investigator for an NIH 2020 exploratory grant to collaborate with researchers in Thailand to evaluate the pharmacogenomics of an antimalarial drug.

“The rapid development of safe, effective mRNA vaccines was an amazing accomplishment and highlights the importance of ongoing investment in biomedical research. Although perceived as a new technology, the mRNA vaccine approach has been in development for some time and many research groups were able to quickly pivot to apply the technology for SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development. Indeed, our NIH U01 project will be able to leverage some of the successful mechanics of vaccines for our vivax malaria vaccine in development,” Dr. Adams said. “This award mainly reflects the achievement of my research team. My team members are a great group of dedicated scientists and it is too bad these are given only as awards to individuals.”

Lynn B. Martin, PhD

Professor, Global Health and Infectious Disease Research

Dr. Martin is an internationally-renowned expert in disease ecology and invasive species. In 2020, he was awarded a $1.5 million, four-year National Science Foundation grant to fund an international project on the molecular genetics of one of the world’s most invasive species, the house sparrow. The research will take him, postdocs and students to Senegal, Vietnam, Norway, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand to study how the sparrows became one of the most broadly distributed animals in the world. He also submitted several other large grant proposals in 2020 which are still pending decisions. In 2020, he and his trainees and collaborators published 10 papers in high-profile journals including American Naturalist, eLife, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, and Bioscience. Two of those publications were invited (eLife and Bioscience), and all but two papers included a student or postdoc from his lab. Dr. Martin is also the co-creator and co-host of the popular podcast, Big Biology.

“COVID has helped me appreciate how privileged I am to work in a place where my job is to provide solutions for important problems. As my own research involves diseases that spillover from wildlife, like SARS-COV2, this pandemic has motivated me to work harder to find ways to predict and prevent the next one,” Dr. Martin said. “I’m really excited to receive this award, but science like the kind done in my lab is a group effort.  This award wouldn’t have been possible without the excellent work of so many colleagues and especially students.”

Story reposted from USF Research and Innovation Newsroom.