{"id":157406,"date":"2014-05-28T13:12:27","date_gmt":"2014-05-28T17:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"\/gazette\/?p=157406"},"modified":"2019-04-16T17:33:09","modified_gmt":"2019-04-16T21:33:09","slug":"support-on-the-cutting-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/05\/support-on-the-cutting-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"Support on the cutting edge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
\"\"

Bernardo Lemos (photo 1), assistant professor of environmental epigenetics, was one of four winners of the inaugural Star Family Challenge for Promising Scientific Research. \u201cWe want to fund research which would not otherwise be funded, research that would be new, and that would have large potential impact,\u201d said Professor Douglas Melton (photo 2) during his opening remarks at the awards presentation (photo 3).<\/p>

Photos by Juliette Lynch<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tCampus & Community\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tSupport on the cutting edge\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\tChuck Leddy\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Correspondent\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tStar Family Challenge awards back big ideas in science\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\t\t

\u201cJamie Star challenges and enables us to do something important, without being prescriptive about how it\u2019s done,\u201d Douglas Melton,<\/a> the Xander University Professor and Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor in the Natural Sciences, said Tuesday about the Star Family Challenge for Promising Scientific Research.<\/p>\n

At the inaugural awards ceremony for the challenge, Melton, who chairs the committee behind it, related an important dinner conversation with its founder, James A. Star \u201983. Melton said the two discussed the need to fund interdisciplinary research, and the result was a clear target.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to fund research which would not otherwise be funded, research that would be new, and that would have large potential impact,\u201d Melton said. \u201cThis kind of research often happens when you look between fields.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenge was established by Star and funded at his direction with a $10 million grant. Given biannually to Harvard faculty members, the awards range from $20,000 to $200,000 and are determined by a committee of senior FAS members.<\/p>\n

At the ceremony in a packed University Hall, this year\u2019s four winners presented research with jaw-dropping potential. Charles Lieber, the Mark Hyman Jr. Professor of Chemistry at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), is researching ways to use nanoscale technology to create electronics that could be injected into the brain and become fully integrated with neural networks. The results could someday be used to treat diseases and traumatic injuries, Lieber said, citing epilepsy and Parkinson\u2019s disease. Such \u201cinjectable electronics\u201d would be much less invasive than surgery.<\/p>\n

Lieber also described his \u201cultimate dream\u201d: \u201cinjectable closed-loop systems for the detection, monitoring, and treatment of diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Lee, a professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard University and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said a simple question lay at the heart of his research: \u201cCan DNA tell time?\u201d He followed with another: \u201cWhy is it that a dog keeps track of time seven times longer than we humans do?\u201d The mechanism by which DNA tracks time is \u201cone of the great unsolved mysteries of science,\u201d said Lee, and the answers could help fight disease.<\/p>\n

Lee noted that people with muscular dystrophy die at about age 20, and those with cystic fibrosis die at about 30. \u201cWe\u2019d like to extend this time,\u201d he said. \u201cCould we slow down time within the muscles of MD patients or within the lungs of CF patients?\u201d He added in a later interview, \u201cI am a physician, so thinking about patients with diseases is all that I do. I dream about being able to slow down diseases, or delay their onset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conor Walsh, an assistant professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering at SEAS, is developing wearable technology \u2014 \u201csoft wearable robots\u201d that could someday help people with limited mobility walk with their normal gait. His interdisciplinary research combines robotics, engineering, and biomechanics.<\/p>\n

Bernardo Lemos<\/a>, assistant professor of environmental epigenetics at Harvard School of Public Health, studies the extraordinary resilience of microanimals called tardigrades. \u201cThese organisms can be boiled, frozen, desiccated, sent into space, subjected to radiation, and yet still remain alive,\u201d Lemos said. His research has potential in biotechnology, materials science, and public health. \u201cThose of us in public health worry about pollution, lead paint, heavy metals, and how all the toxicity they spread impacts us. Well, tardigrades are barely impacted at all by these things,\u201d and knowing why could advance research, he said.<\/p>\n

After hearing from the four winners \u2014 selected from more than 60 submissions \u2014 Star said, \u201cThese were phenomenal presentations. I\u2019m so glad to be supporting such cutting-edge research.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenge will continue to encourage submissions from both the natural and social sciences at Harvard, and work to help close the funding gap faced by researchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Supporter James A. 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assistant professor of environmental epigenetics, was one of four winners of the inaugural Star Family Challenge for Promising Scientific Research. \u201cWe want to fund research which would not otherwise be funded, research that would be new, and that would have large potential impact,\u201d said Professor Douglas Melton (photo 2) during his opening remarks at the awards presentation (photo 3).<\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Photos by Juliette Lynch<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\" height=\"403\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/star_family__01_605.jpg\" width=\"605\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Bernardo Lemos (photo 1), assistant professor of environmental epigenetics, was one of four winners of the inaugural Star Family Challenge for Promising Scientific Research. \u201cWe want to fund research which would not otherwise be funded, research that would be new, and that would have large potential impact,\u201d said Professor Douglas Melton (photo 2) during his opening remarks at the awards presentation (photo 3).<\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Photos by Juliette Lynch<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"<header\n\tclass=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-article-header alignfull article-header is-style-full-width-text-below centered-image\"\n\tstyle=\" \"\n>\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\" height=\"403\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/star_family__01_605.jpg\" width=\"605\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Bernardo Lemos (photo 1), assistant professor of environmental epigenetics, was one of four winners of the inaugural Star Family Challenge for Promising Scientific Research. \u201cWe want to fund research which would not otherwise be funded, research that would be new, and that would have large potential impact,\u201d said Professor Douglas Melton (photo 2) during his opening remarks at the awards presentation (photo 3).<\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Photos by Juliette Lynch<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t<div class=\"article-header__content\">\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\tclass=\"article-header__category\"\n\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\tCampus & Community\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<h1 class=\"article-header__title wp-block-heading \">\n\t\tSupport on the cutting edge\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__meta\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<address class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"author wp-block-post-author__name\">\n\t\tChuck Leddy\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-post-author__byline\">\n\t\t\tHarvard Correspondent\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<time class=\"article-header__date\" datetime=\"2014-05-28\">\n\t\t\tMay 28, 2014\t\t<\/time>\n\n\t\t<span class=\"article-header__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t4 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-header__subheading wp-block-heading\">\n\t\t\tStar Family Challenge awards back big ideas in science\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n"},"2":{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"templateLock":false,"metadata":{"name":"Article content"},"align":"wide","layout":{"type":"constrained","justifyContent":"center"},"tagName":"div","lock":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\t\t<p>\u201cJamie Star challenges and enables us to do something important, without being prescriptive about how it\u2019s done,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/hsci.harvard.edu\/people\/douglas-melton-phd\">Douglas Melton,<\/a> the Xander University Professor and Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor in the Natural Sciences, said Tuesday about the Star Family Challenge for Promising Scientific Research.<\/p>\n<p>At the inaugural awards ceremony for the challenge, Melton, who chairs the committee behind it, related an important dinner conversation with its founder, James A. Star \u201983. Melton said the two discussed the need to fund interdisciplinary research, and the result was a clear target.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to fund research which would not otherwise be funded, research that would be new, and that would have large potential impact,\u201d Melton said. \u201cThis kind of research often happens when you look between fields.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The challenge was established by Star and funded at his direction with a $10 million grant. Given biannually to Harvard faculty members, the awards range from $20,000 to $200,000 and are determined by a committee of senior FAS members.<\/p>\n<p>At the ceremony in a packed University Hall, this year\u2019s four winners presented research with jaw-dropping potential. Charles Lieber, the Mark Hyman Jr. Professor of Chemistry at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), is researching ways to use nanoscale technology to create electronics that could be injected into the brain and become fully integrated with neural networks. The results could someday be used to treat diseases and traumatic injuries, Lieber said, citing epilepsy and Parkinson\u2019s disease. Such \u201cinjectable electronics\u201d would be much less invasive than surgery.<\/p>\n<p>Lieber also described his \u201cultimate dream\u201d: \u201cinjectable closed-loop systems for the detection, monitoring, and treatment of diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Richard Lee, a professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard University and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said a simple question lay at the heart of his research: \u201cCan DNA tell time?\u201d He followed with another: \u201cWhy is it that a dog keeps track of time seven times longer than we humans do?\u201d The mechanism by which DNA tracks time is \u201cone of the great unsolved mysteries of science,\u201d said Lee, and the answers could help fight disease.<\/p>\n<p>Lee noted that people with muscular dystrophy die at about age 20, and those with cystic fibrosis die at about 30. \u201cWe\u2019d like to extend this time,\u201d he said. \u201cCould we slow down time within the muscles of MD patients or within the lungs of CF patients?\u201d He added in a later interview, \u201cI am a physician, so thinking about patients with diseases is all that I do. I dream about being able to slow down diseases, or delay their onset.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conor Walsh, an assistant professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering at SEAS, is developing wearable technology \u2014 \u201csoft wearable robots\u201d that could someday help people with limited mobility walk with their normal gait. His interdisciplinary research combines robotics, engineering, and biomechanics.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hsph.harvard.edu\/bernardo-lemos\/\">Bernardo Lemos<\/a>, assistant professor of environmental epigenetics at Harvard School of Public Health, studies the extraordinary resilience of microanimals called tardigrades. \u201cThese organisms can be boiled, frozen, desiccated, sent into space, subjected to radiation, and yet still remain alive,\u201d Lemos said. His research has potential in biotechnology, materials science, and public health. \u201cThose of us in public health worry about pollution, lead paint, heavy metals, and how all the toxicity they spread impacts us. Well, tardigrades are barely impacted at all by these things,\u201d and knowing why could advance research, he said.<\/p>\n<p>After hearing from the four winners \u2014 selected from more than 60 submissions \u2014 Star said, \u201cThese were phenomenal presentations. I\u2019m so glad to be supporting such cutting-edge research.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The challenge will continue to encourage submissions from both the natural and social sciences at Harvard, and work to help close the funding gap faced by researchers.<\/p>\n\n","innerContent":["\n\t\t<p>\u201cJamie Star challenges and enables us to do something important, without being prescriptive about how it\u2019s done,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/hsci.harvard.edu\/people\/douglas-melton-phd\">Douglas Melton,<\/a> the Xander University Professor and Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor in the Natural Sciences, said Tuesday about the Star Family Challenge for Promising Scientific Research.<\/p>\n<p>At the inaugural awards ceremony for the challenge, Melton, who chairs the committee behind it, related an important dinner conversation with its founder, James A. Star \u201983. Melton said the two discussed the need to fund interdisciplinary research, and the result was a clear target.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to fund research which would not otherwise be funded, research that would be new, and that would have large potential impact,\u201d Melton said. \u201cThis kind of research often happens when you look between fields.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The challenge was established by Star and funded at his direction with a $10 million grant. Given biannually to Harvard faculty members, the awards range from $20,000 to $200,000 and are determined by a committee of senior FAS members.<\/p>\n<p>At the ceremony in a packed University Hall, this year\u2019s four winners presented research with jaw-dropping potential. Charles Lieber, the Mark Hyman Jr. Professor of Chemistry at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), is researching ways to use nanoscale technology to create electronics that could be injected into the brain and become fully integrated with neural networks. The results could someday be used to treat diseases and traumatic injuries, Lieber said, citing epilepsy and Parkinson\u2019s disease. Such \u201cinjectable electronics\u201d would be much less invasive than surgery.<\/p>\n<p>Lieber also described his \u201cultimate dream\u201d: \u201cinjectable closed-loop systems for the detection, monitoring, and treatment of diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Richard Lee, a professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard University and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said a simple question lay at the heart of his research: \u201cCan DNA tell time?\u201d He followed with another: \u201cWhy is it that a dog keeps track of time seven times longer than we humans do?\u201d The mechanism by which DNA tracks time is \u201cone of the great unsolved mysteries of science,\u201d said Lee, and the answers could help fight disease.<\/p>\n<p>Lee noted that people with muscular dystrophy die at about age 20, and those with cystic fibrosis die at about 30. \u201cWe\u2019d like to extend this time,\u201d he said. \u201cCould we slow down time within the muscles of MD patients or within the lungs of CF patients?\u201d He added in a later interview, \u201cI am a physician, so thinking about patients with diseases is all that I do. I dream about being able to slow down diseases, or delay their onset.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conor Walsh, an assistant professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering at SEAS, is developing wearable technology \u2014 \u201csoft wearable robots\u201d that could someday help people with limited mobility walk with their normal gait. His interdisciplinary research combines robotics, engineering, and biomechanics.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hsph.harvard.edu\/bernardo-lemos\/\">Bernardo Lemos<\/a>, assistant professor of environmental epigenetics at Harvard School of Public Health, studies the extraordinary resilience of microanimals called tardigrades. \u201cThese organisms can be boiled, frozen, desiccated, sent into space, subjected to radiation, and yet still remain alive,\u201d Lemos said. His research has potential in biotechnology, materials science, and public health. \u201cThose of us in public health worry about pollution, lead paint, heavy metals, and how all the toxicity they spread impacts us. Well, tardigrades are barely impacted at all by these things,\u201d and knowing why could advance research, he said.<\/p>\n<p>After hearing from the four winners \u2014 selected from more than 60 submissions \u2014 Star said, \u201cThese were phenomenal presentations. I\u2019m so glad to be supporting such cutting-edge research.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The challenge will continue to encourage submissions from both the natural and social sciences at Harvard, and work to help close the funding gap faced by researchers.<\/p>\n\n"],"rendered":"\n\t\t<p>\u201cJamie Star challenges and enables us to do something important, without being prescriptive about how it\u2019s done,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/hsci.harvard.edu\/people\/douglas-melton-phd\">Douglas Melton,<\/a> the Xander University Professor and Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor in the Natural Sciences, said Tuesday about the Star Family Challenge for Promising Scientific Research.<\/p>\n<p>At the inaugural awards ceremony for the challenge, Melton, who chairs the committee behind it, related an important dinner conversation with its founder, James A. Star \u201983. Melton said the two discussed the need to fund interdisciplinary research, and the result was a clear target.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to fund research which would not otherwise be funded, research that would be new, and that would have large potential impact,\u201d Melton said. \u201cThis kind of research often happens when you look between fields.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The challenge was established by Star and funded at his direction with a $10 million grant. Given biannually to Harvard faculty members, the awards range from $20,000 to $200,000 and are determined by a committee of senior FAS members.<\/p>\n<p>At the ceremony in a packed University Hall, this year\u2019s four winners presented research with jaw-dropping potential. Charles Lieber, the Mark Hyman Jr. Professor of Chemistry at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), is researching ways to use nanoscale technology to create electronics that could be injected into the brain and become fully integrated with neural networks. The results could someday be used to treat diseases and traumatic injuries, Lieber said, citing epilepsy and Parkinson\u2019s disease. Such \u201cinjectable electronics\u201d would be much less invasive than surgery.<\/p>\n<p>Lieber also described his \u201cultimate dream\u201d: \u201cinjectable closed-loop systems for the detection, monitoring, and treatment of diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Richard Lee, a professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard University and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said a simple question lay at the heart of his research: \u201cCan DNA tell time?\u201d He followed with another: \u201cWhy is it that a dog keeps track of time seven times longer than we humans do?\u201d The mechanism by which DNA tracks time is \u201cone of the great unsolved mysteries of science,\u201d said Lee, and the answers could help fight disease.<\/p>\n<p>Lee noted that people with muscular dystrophy die at about age 20, and those with cystic fibrosis die at about 30. \u201cWe\u2019d like to extend this time,\u201d he said. \u201cCould we slow down time within the muscles of MD patients or within the lungs of CF patients?\u201d He added in a later interview, \u201cI am a physician, so thinking about patients with diseases is all that I do. I dream about being able to slow down diseases, or delay their onset.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conor Walsh, an assistant professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering at SEAS, is developing wearable technology \u2014 \u201csoft wearable robots\u201d that could someday help people with limited mobility walk with their normal gait. His interdisciplinary research combines robotics, engineering, and biomechanics.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hsph.harvard.edu\/bernardo-lemos\/\">Bernardo Lemos<\/a>, assistant professor of environmental epigenetics at Harvard School of Public Health, studies the extraordinary resilience of microanimals called tardigrades. \u201cThese organisms can be boiled, frozen, desiccated, sent into space, subjected to radiation, and yet still remain alive,\u201d Lemos said. His research has potential in biotechnology, materials science, and public health. \u201cThose of us in public health worry about pollution, lead paint, heavy metals, and how all the toxicity they spread impacts us. Well, tardigrades are barely impacted at all by these things,\u201d and knowing why could advance research, he said.<\/p>\n<p>After hearing from the four winners \u2014 selected from more than 60 submissions \u2014 Star said, \u201cThese were phenomenal presentations. I\u2019m so glad to be supporting such cutting-edge research.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The challenge will continue to encourage submissions from both the natural and social sciences at Harvard, and work to help close the funding gap faced by researchers.<\/p>\n\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n","\n\n<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-center is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n\t\t<p>\u201cJamie Star challenges and enables us to do something important, without being prescriptive about how it\u2019s done,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/hsci.harvard.edu\/people\/douglas-melton-phd\">Douglas Melton,<\/a> the Xander University Professor and Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor in the Natural Sciences, said Tuesday about the Star Family Challenge for Promising Scientific Research.<\/p>\n<p>At the inaugural awards ceremony for the challenge, Melton, who chairs the committee behind it, related an important dinner conversation with its founder, James A. Star \u201983. Melton said the two discussed the need to fund interdisciplinary research, and the result was a clear target.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to fund research which would not otherwise be funded, research that would be new, and that would have large potential impact,\u201d Melton said. \u201cThis kind of research often happens when you look between fields.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The challenge was established by Star and funded at his direction with a $10 million grant. Given biannually to Harvard faculty members, the awards range from $20,000 to $200,000 and are determined by a committee of senior FAS members.<\/p>\n<p>At the ceremony in a packed University Hall, this year\u2019s four winners presented research with jaw-dropping potential. Charles Lieber, the Mark Hyman Jr. Professor of Chemistry at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), is researching ways to use nanoscale technology to create electronics that could be injected into the brain and become fully integrated with neural networks. The results could someday be used to treat diseases and traumatic injuries, Lieber said, citing epilepsy and Parkinson\u2019s disease. Such \u201cinjectable electronics\u201d would be much less invasive than surgery.<\/p>\n<p>Lieber also described his \u201cultimate dream\u201d: \u201cinjectable closed-loop systems for the detection, monitoring, and treatment of diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Richard Lee, a professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard University and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said a simple question lay at the heart of his research: \u201cCan DNA tell time?\u201d He followed with another: \u201cWhy is it that a dog keeps track of time seven times longer than we humans do?\u201d The mechanism by which DNA tracks time is \u201cone of the great unsolved mysteries of science,\u201d said Lee, and the answers could help fight disease.<\/p>\n<p>Lee noted that people with muscular dystrophy die at about age 20, and those with cystic fibrosis die at about 30. \u201cWe\u2019d like to extend this time,\u201d he said. \u201cCould we slow down time within the muscles of MD patients or within the lungs of CF patients?\u201d He added in a later interview, \u201cI am a physician, so thinking about patients with diseases is all that I do. I dream about being able to slow down diseases, or delay their onset.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conor Walsh, an assistant professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering at SEAS, is developing wearable technology \u2014 \u201csoft wearable robots\u201d that could someday help people with limited mobility walk with their normal gait. His interdisciplinary research combines robotics, engineering, and biomechanics.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hsph.harvard.edu\/bernardo-lemos\/\">Bernardo Lemos<\/a>, assistant professor of environmental epigenetics at Harvard School of Public Health, studies the extraordinary resilience of microanimals called tardigrades. \u201cThese organisms can be boiled, frozen, desiccated, sent into space, subjected to radiation, and yet still remain alive,\u201d Lemos said. His research has potential in biotechnology, materials science, and public health. \u201cThose of us in public health worry about pollution, lead paint, heavy metals, and how all the toxicity they spread impacts us. Well, tardigrades are barely impacted at all by these things,\u201d and knowing why could advance research, he said.<\/p>\n<p>After hearing from the four winners \u2014 selected from more than 60 submissions \u2014 Star said, \u201cThese were phenomenal presentations. I\u2019m so glad to be supporting such cutting-edge research.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The challenge will continue to encourage submissions from both the natural and social sciences at Harvard, and work to help close the funding gap faced by researchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n"}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":169011,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2015\/04\/innovative-faculty-research-receives-support\/","url_meta":{"origin":157406,"position":0},"title":"Innovative faculty research receives support","author":"harvardgazette","date":"April 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Five winners have been named as recipients of this year\u2019s Star Family Challenge for Promising Scientific Research awards. Now in its second year, the challenge is designed to acknowledge and support some of the most innovative research being done by Harvard faculty in the natural and social sciences.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/041415_award_072_605_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/041415_award_072_605_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/041415_award_072_605_1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":308730,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/07\/star-friedman-challenge-awards-7-cutting-edge-science-projects\/","url_meta":{"origin":157406,"position":1},"title":"Recognition for some risky research","author":"gazettebeckycoleman","date":"July 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Star-Friedman Challenge is helping Harvard scientists during a time of great global uncertainty by boosting high-risk, high-impact research.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lab.","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/012012_MedStock_189_H_2500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/012012_MedStock_189_H_2500.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/012012_MedStock_189_H_2500.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/012012_MedStock_189_H_2500.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":321087,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/02\/star-friedman-challenge-offers-support-for-high-impact-research\/","url_meta":{"origin":157406,"position":2},"title":"Wanted: Bold ideas","author":"harvardgazette","date":"February 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Star-Friedman Challenge for Scientific Research is ready to provide seed funding for high-risk, high-impact work in the life, physical, and social sciences. Harvard researchers have until March 1 to apply for the funding.","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Tech","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/science-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Creative rendition of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/COVID_NAID.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/COVID_NAID.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/COVID_NAID.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/COVID_NAID.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":342137,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2022\/04\/six-risky-projects-will-share-nearly-1m-from-star-friedman-foundation\/","url_meta":{"origin":157406,"position":3},"title":"Risk rewarded","author":"harvardgazette","date":"April 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Harvard researchers will share nearly $1 million in funding to pursue high-risk, high-reward projects from using zircons to explore the earliest life on Earth to creating next-generation painkillers.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Harvard University","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/060821_Features_SM_033.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/060821_Features_SM_033.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/060821_Features_SM_033.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/060821_Features_SM_033.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":244240,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2018\/05\/star-friedman-challenge-for-promising-scientific-research-will-double-to-include-hms-hsph-faculty\/","url_meta":{"origin":157406,"position":4},"title":"Expanding support for leading research","author":"gazettejohnbaglione","date":"May 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A gift from Josh Friedman \u201976, M.B.A. \u201980, J.D. \u201982, and Beth Friedman, longstanding benefactors of the University, will double the resources available for high-risk, high-reward science, allowing more of the most ambitious research projects at Harvard to move forward.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & 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investigating interethnic cooperation in war-torn areas, the 2023 winners of the Star-Friedman Challenge for Promising Scientific Research explore uncharted territory.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Science illustration.","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iStock-Tony-Studio.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iStock-Tony-Studio.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iStock-Tony-Studio.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/iStock-Tony-Studio.jpg?resize=700%2C400 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