Faculty research spotlight | | |
Jocelyn McDonald, associate professor, biology
College of Arts and Sciences
Research overview:
We often think of cells as being stationary, but it turns out many types of cells can move around, or migrate, inside the body. Some cells even move together in so-called “collectives” to help form organs, heal wounds, and contribute to other physiological processes. Collective cell migration contributes to cancer, where tumor cells can move as collectives to invade tissues and metastasize to distant sites. I am interested in understanding how groups of cells migrate inside tissues, especially when encountering stressful cellular and tissue environments.
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What motivated you to pursue research in this specific field, and how has your focus evolved over time?
I studied molecular biology as an undergraduate student. After pursuing a Ph.D. in nervous system development, I became interested in diving deeper into cell behaviors. Over the years, my research has revealed different ways that cells stick together, navigate tissues and keep migrating in groups.
What is your approach to this research?
We use the fruit fly Drosophila because of powerful genetic tools and ease of imaging and manipulating cells inside tissues. Flies are short-lived and easy to maintain in the lab. More than 80% of human disease genes have direct counterparts in flies, making flies a relevant model of cell migration.
Have there been any significant challenges or breakthroughs in your recent research, and how have you addressed or leveraged them?
My lab unexpectedly discovered that collectively migrating cells exhibit cell stress, likely because migration is energy intensive. We identified dedicated signals that help cell collectives overcome these stresses to keep moving. Our next step is to identify how these signals trigger cell responses to sustain collective cell migration.
What is the potential impact of your research on your field and on broader societal issues?
Basic research on collective cell migration in fruit flies can reveal how to diagnose and treat human diseases such as cancer and how to improve wound healing. It will be interesting to see if these same cell stress pathways are active in cancer and other human pathologies.
Each week The Office of the Vice President for Research will feature one faculty member and their scholarly work in Research Weekly. If you would like to nominate yourself or a colleague, please fill out the online form.
*Please note that not all nominations will be accepted as there are limited publications each semester.
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Seek magazine out now
The spring 2025 issue of Seek magazine, K-State's flagship research magazine is out now!
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This issue features:
Plus, additional stories about undergraduate and graduate student researchers, and faculty:
| | | K-State events and announcements | | Plant Synthetic Biology Faculty Candidate Seminars and Chalk Talks | | |
From April 21, 2025, until May 1, 2025, Kansas State University will host four candidates for the Plant Synthetic Biology faculty position. Each candidate will participate in an on-campus interview along with a seminar and research proposal chalk talk.
Members of the community are encouraged to attend the seminars and talks.
A list of the candidates and schedule for each event can be found on the Biomanufacturing Training and Education Initiative website.
| | Nominations now open for Presidential Engagement Fellows program | | |
Nominations are now open for the prestigious Presidential Engagement Fellows program. Fellows are dynamic faculty members who are passionate about sharing K-State's extraordinary story across the state.
The Presidential Engagement Fellows program is designed to amplify K-State's impact throughout Kansas. Fellows will be ambassadors of learning and inspiration, showcasing the university's exceptional academic environment while engaging with civic organizations, schools and community colleges across the state.
Selected fellows will be crucial to inspiring the next generation of K-State students and championing the university's vision as a next-generation land-grant university. Fellows selected for this prestigious program will receive:
- Annual training to enhance presentation and engagement skills
- Comprehensive support from K-State Research and Extension
- Travel opportunities throughout Kansas
- Resources to effectively communicate K-State's commitment to advancing Kansas
The program seeks faculty members who are engaging and dynamic presenters, passionate about K-State's mission, eager to connect with communities and committed to inspiring future students.
Submit a nomination for yourself or someone else. Please note: If nominating someone other than yourself, please submit the nomination by 5 p.m. on May 9 to allow the nominee plenty of time to complete the nomination form.
Nominations close at 5 p.m. on May 23. Faculty are encouraged to nominate themselves or colleagues who embody K-State's spirit of engagement and excellence. A committee of peers and administrators will make the selection.
Please visit the Presidential Engagement Fellows webpage for the most current information and FAQs regarding this new program.
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Please join us at the Food as Medicine Research Summit taking place on Friday, May 30th at the K-State Olathe Campus from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
This summit is designed for all K-State faculty who are currently participating in or focusing their research within areas connected to the burgeoning field of food as medicine. This will be a dynamic opportunity to come together with colleagues from across disciplines to identify existing research strengths within K-State and foster new interdisciplinary collaborations in this exciting area.
| | Compliance Guidance: FAR 52.240-1 and University Drone Use | | |
FAR 52.240-1, effective November 12, 2024, prohibits federal agencies and federal contractors (including universities performing federal contracts) from: 1. 2. Procuring unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) from 'covered foreign entities'; and Operating such UAS in the performance of a federal contract after December 22, 2025.
Read the full guidance here.
| | Halo Can Help Faculty Find Industry Partners | | |
Halo is an artificial intelligence-powered technology platform that helps corporate research and development (R&D) teams more efficiently connect with scientific partners and bring innovations to market faster. On the first of each month Halo announces on its marketplace new research that is sought by its industry partners. These announcements are included in the Funding Connection each month. Typical awards are $50k to $175k with potential for follow on funding. Each funding opportunity (i.e. partnering request) on Halo accepts a single, standardized proposal that requires the minimum amount of information for an industry partner to determine the next steps. This is intended to save innovators/faculty time. The entire proposal is the equivalent of a page and takes most faculty less than an hour to complete. There is no contractual obligation, and a more detailed proposal may be requested should a researcher be selected as a finalist.
Halo is not involved in the review process and every proposal is sent directly to the industry partner. Once a faculty member submits a proposal, they will receive an email from Halo's system letting them know what the estimated response timeline is from the industry partner. Typical response time is 2 months or less. The industry partner will either advance or decline the proposal as an initial response. The innovator will learn if their proposal is relevant to the request and the industry partner’s current business needs. The innovator can then expect a detailed response within 3 months from receiving their initial response. In the detailed response, the industry partner will either select the proposal for the finalist evaluation or decline it with feedback. If the innovator is selected as a finalist, they have reached the end of the review process on Halo. This means that the industry partner is interested in taking the conversation off of Halo’s platform and further evaluating the proposal alongside other finalists.
Since launching in 2020, nearly 8,000 academic scientists, 2,000 startups and 1,500 university administrators across 100 countries have created profiles on Halo describing their research interests. Of the more than 2,300 universities represented on the platform, more than 450 universities are U.S. based. Industry Partners include such companies as Cargill, Mars, Corteva, General Mills, Bayer, Under Armor, Eli Lily, UPL, PepsiCo, Unilever, Tata Steel, Proctor & Gamble and many more. The National Science Foundation is currently partnering with HALO in a $1.2 million effort designed to create new, diverse partnerships among emerging research institutions in U.S. higher education and industry innovators.
Some Halo opportunities announced in April include:
| | Internal Notification and Preproposal Due Dates for NSF’s MRI and ESPCoR Collaborations (RII-FEC) Opportunities | | |
The National Science Foundation’s Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) and the EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement-Focused EPSCoR Collaborations (RII-FEC, formerly EPSCoR Track 2) funding opportunities are both limited submission programs, restricting the number of proposals that K-State can submit to each program. So that the Office of Research Development (ORD) can make sure that our institution does not go over the number of allowed submissions, ORD requires that you notify (a working title, team list, short synopsis) us via ordlimitedsubs@ksu.edu before a certain date if you are interested in either of these programs. If there are more interested groups than there are submission slots, our office holds an internal competition, requiring the submission of preproposals, to determine which groups can go forward.
Because there is typically a large amount of interest in these programs, ORD has set the notification and potential preproposal due dates for them as shown in the table below.
| | | Program | Notification Due Date (5 pm) | Preproposal Due Date (5 pm) | | MRI | 6/24/2025 | 7/24/2025 | | RII-FEC | 9/3/2025 | 9/30/2025 | | | External events and announcements | | National Science Foundation office hours and webinars | | |
The National Science Foundation is hosting a variety of office hours and webinars throughout 2025 covering a wide range of programs and topics. Links to register and more information for each series can be found below:
| | DOE Grant Applications Update: Research Security Training Required for Covered Individuals | | |
Beginning May 1, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will require all “covered individuals” listed in grant applications to complete annual research security training. We expect all other federal funding agencies to follow suit in mandating this training including the National Science Foundation later this year when the agency issues its 2025 Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide.
Kansas State University is offering research security training to help researchers fulfill these requirements. The Research security training can be accessed through CITI. More information can be found on the CITI training page.
Additional information about the update and a link to the National Science Foundation's research security training can be found on the DOE's website.
| | CISE CAREER Proposal Writing Webinar | | |
May 2, 2025
The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. Activities pursued by early-career faculty should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research.
The NSF CISE CAREER Proposal Writing Webinar is specifically designed to offer guidance and support to early-career faculty members preparing to submit proposals for the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program award.
Register to attend the webinar. Presentation slides are available to view.
| | NIH Notice of Civil Rights Term and Condition of Award | | |
This Notice alerts the extramural research community of a new Civil Rights term and condition that modifies the current terms and conditions for all NIH grants, cooperative agreements, and other transaction (OT) awards. This term applies prospectively to new, renewal, supplement, or continuation awards issued on or after the date of this Notice. This new requirement supersedes Section 4.1.2 “Civil Rights Protections” of the NIH Grants Policy Statement (GPS) as well as the negotiated terms of OT awards.
This Notice is applicable to domestic recipients of new, renewal, supplement, or continuation awards that are issued on or after the date of this Notice.
Effective with the issuance of this Notice, the following term and condition applies:
Recipients must comply with all applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws material to the government’s payment decisions for purposes of 31 U.S.C. § 372(b)(4).
(1) Definitions. As used in this clause –
(a) DEI means “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
(b) DEIA means “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.”
(c) Discriminatory equity ideology has the meaning set forth in Section 2(b) of Executive Order 14190 of January 29, 2025.
(d) Discriminatory prohibited boycott means refusing to deal, cutting commercial relations, or otherwise limiting commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies or with companies doing business in or with Israel or authorized by, licensed by, or organized under the laws of Israel to do business.
(e) Federal anti-discrimination laws means Federal civil rights law that protect individual Americans from discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, and national origin.
(2) Grant award certification.
(a) By accepting the grant award, recipients are certifying that:
(i) They do not, and will not during the term of this financial assistance award, operate any programs that advance or promote DEI, DEIA, or discriminatory equity ideology in violation of Federal anti-discrimination laws; and
(ii) They do not engage in and will not during the term of this award engage in, a discriminatory prohibited boycott.
(3) NIH reserves the right to terminate financial assistance awards and recover all funds if recipients, during the term of this award, operate any program in violation of Federal anti-discriminatory laws or engage in a prohibited boycott.
The NIH GPS Section 4.1.2 “Civil Rights Protections” will be updated to incorporate this standard term and condition of award. As a reminder, civil rights requirements do not apply to foreign and international organizations (see Section 4.1 of the GPS).
Inquiries
Questions about specific awards may be directed to the Grants Management Specialist identified on the Notice of Award. Questions related to the “Civil Rights Protections” term may be directed to the Division of Grants Policy at: grantspolicy@nih.gov.
| | Message from the NSF Assistant Director for Engineering | | |
With the start of 2025, the U.S. National Science Foundation continues to support exciting engineering research and education projects that will power our economy and strengthen our nation's health and security.
In the past month, the NSF Directorate for Engineering has invested in new projects to advance semiconductors, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, manufacturing and more. This fiscal year we have already invested in groundbreaking ideas in 38 states and the District of Columbia.
Most of our awards are supported through engineering core programs — the discovery mainstay of NSF ENG. Core programs supports engineering creativity and discovery across disciplines and topics, and they accept proposals at any time. They fund multiyear research projects, conferences, short-term exploratory research (EAGER), and industry collaboration (GOALI). See more proposal mechanisms available for consideration.
When you have a great research idea, I encourage you to look into ENG core programs for support. Our program directors welcome you to reach out to them to discuss your brief project concept.
Keep up to date:
Learn about NSF's implementation of recent executive orders. Questions and answers are updated regularly on our website.
| | The 2025 PI Launchpad: From Science Idea to NASA Mission In Person Workshop | | |
Are you thinking about developing your first flight mission proposal in the next few years but have no idea where to start? Are you working or studying in any NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) discipline? If you are a scientist who would like to submit a NASA space mission proposal in the next few years but don’t know where to start, this August workshop is for you! We are interested in expanding the pool of potential NASA space mission Principal Investigators.
Workshop Description:
Ames Research Center, in collaboration with the University of Arizona, the University of Michigan, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC and the Heising-Simons Foundation, will host the PI Launchpad to guide participants through ways to turn their science and technology questions into a mission concept. Participants will go step-by-step through the process of developing a science case, defining requirements, building a team, securing partnerships, and obtaining support from the home institution. Participants also will have time for networking and personal reflection as they mature their mission concepts.
We are interested in expanding the pool of potential NASA space mission PIs. We will select between 35-40 participants from eligible applicants depending on funding availability and on the merit of the applications. Please visit the NASA NSPIRES website for the Pre-application Virtual Session Connection Information, application details, etc.
Please email questions to the 2025 NASA PI Launch Pad Organizers at this shared address hq-smd-piworkshop@mail.nasa.gov.
| | HPAI Poultry Innovation Grand Challenge | | |
APHIS is making up to $100,000,000 available in FY 2025 to support high-value and high-impact projects that explore vaccines, therapeutics, research, and other strategies to combat avian influenza, lower egg prices, and protect the U.S. poultry industry. Eligible applicants are invited to submit proposals that align with and support the priority topics listed below by the deadline on May 19, 2025. Priority topics include:
1. Develop novel vaccines to protect poultry from highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) that are safe, potent, and efficacious across multiple avian species and against current circulating clades.
2. Develop novel therapeutics to address HPAI in poultry, including preventing, controlling, or eliminating HPAI virus, characterizing genomic targets for disease resistance, and supporting poultry health.
3. Conduct research to further understand avian influenza in poultry and to improve response strategies.
For questions about the HPAI Poultry Innovation Grand Challenge program and about this funding opportunity, required documents, or the ezFedGrants application process, please refer to the detailed information provided on the HPAI Poultry Innovation Grand Challenge website or contact SM.AP.HPAI.Challenge@usda.gov.
| | Office of Science Now Accepting Applications for Fall 2025 Undergraduate Internships | | |
Applications are currently being accepted for the Fall 2025 term of two undergraduate internship programs offered by the Department of Energy Office of Science: The Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program and the Community College Internships (CCI) program. The application deadline is May 21, 2025.
Through SULI and CCI, undergraduate students and recent graduates discover science and technology careers at the DOE national laboratories and gain new knowledge, skills, and experience to further their educational and career goals. Interns work directly with national laboratory scientists, engineers, and technical professionals, assisting them on research or technical projects that support the DOE mission. SULI is open to full-time students attending either 2-or 4-year colleges and universities or recent graduates within two years of receiving their bachelor’s degree or associate degree, while CCI is exclusively for community college students. Both programs are stipend-based and offered three times annually in fall, spring, and summer terms.
The program office invites applicants and letter of recommendation writers to attend SULI and CCI Office Hours to answer administrative questions such as those pertaining to uploading transcripts, submitting letters of recommendation, and general inquiries. Office hours are scheduled on April 30, May 7, and May 14. Registration (register here) is required for attendance.
| | Submit LOI for Frontiers Renewal Application Element E: Clinical and Translational Science Research Program | | |
Letter of Intent Deadline: May 28, 2025
Frontiers is seeking Letters of Intent (LOIs) for clinical science projects that will be able to utilize a newly formed Practice Based Research Network (PBRN). LOIs should describe innovative research projects to include in Element E: CTS Research Program of our UM1 renewal application. Information about the proposed PBRN goals and the LOI requirements are described below.
Consistent with the NCATS mission to catalyze translation of discoveries, the projects must focus on CTS rather than on basic discovery research. Project(s) should not only address a translational research question in a particular disease or intervention development / dissemination context but also provide generalizable CTS innovations or insights that can be applied to other translational research projects and thereby increase the overall efficiency or effectiveness of translation.
Additional information and applications are available here.
| | 2025 BioNexus KC Science2Art | | |
You bring the research; we’ll bring the spotlight! Science isn't just about discovery—it's about wonder.
We invite you to submit your scientific images to be showcased in a professional exhibit and auctioned online, with all proceeds supporting STEAM education in the Kansas City region. The BioNexus KC Science2Art program provides regional scientists the opportunity to transform complex scientific concepts into visually compelling artwork, fostering a deeper connection with the community.
Why should you submit your research or data as art?
- Selected images will be professionally curated and featured in our prestigious exhibition
- Connect with both scientific and artistic communities
- Support the next generation of STEAM talent
Submit your art today!
Submission deadline: June 7, 2025
| | Agency news and trending topics | | |
k-state.edu/research
researchweekly@k-state.edu
785.532.5110
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