Currently Awarded Seed Grants to UCLA Faculty:

2021 (Impact of Discrimination on the Human Immune System)

Karen D. Lincoln, PhD, MSW, MA, FGSA is Associate Professor in the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at the University of Southern California.

Judith E. Carroll, PhD is Associate Professor in Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science at UCLA, and also a faculty in the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology where she serves as Director of the Aging Biology and Behavior Laboratory. 

"The Influence of Racial Discrimination on Gene Expression of Inflammatory and Cellular Aging Pathways." This study examines racial disparities in disease risk by identifying specific types of genes that are activated in association with racial discrimination, and tests the potential of psychological and social factors in reducing the effects of racial discrimination on cellular aging.

Yvonne Yang, MD, PhD is Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA and Acting Psychosis Section Chief and Director of the Psychosis Clinic at the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.

Derek Novacek, PhD is  Assistant Project Scientist in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA.

"An examination of the psychological and immunological correlates of discrimination in a community-based sample of Black Americans."  This study examines correlations between brain inflammation and discrimination in a community sample of Black Americans to better understand the effects of discrimination on mental health.

Michael Li, PhD, MPH, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles

Pamina Gorbach, DrPH, MHS, is Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, at University of California, Los Angeles

Laura Bogart, PhD, MS, is Senior Behavioral Scientist at the RAND Corporation

Sarah MacCarthy, ScD, MSc, is Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation

Steven Shoptaw, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, at the University of California, Los Angeles

"A conserved transcriptional response to intersectional discrimination." This study examines a diverse sample of sexual minority men from the mSTUDY cohort in order to assess the impact of intersectional—or combined forms of—discrimination on the conserved transcriptional response to adversity, an immune gene expression pattern that may be a useful biomarker outcome for psychosocial interventions addressing adverse social experiences.

2020

Naser Ahmadi, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Cardiology, UCLA

“Clinical and Biomolecular Characteristics of Reminder-Focused Positive-Psychiatry in Adolescent with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder”

Lara A. Ray, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychology & Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences Brain Research Institute, UCLA

“Endotoxin challenge to probe inflammatory mechanisms in alcohol use disorder.”