PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Brown University scientists and engineers have earned five new research grants totaling $125,000 from the Rhode Island Foundation to study topics ranging from autism to stem cells to stroke.

On Jun 21, the Foundation announced more than $480,000 in seed funding for 20 medical research projects statewide. A large portion of the grants that didn't go directly to Brown went to the University's affiliated hospitals. The grants are meant to help emerging researchers advance studies to the  point where they can earn national funding.

The grants awarded to Brown are as follows:

• “Multiple functions of the cell adhesion molecule TAG-1 in motor circuit development” led by Alexander Jaworski, assistant professor of neuroscience.
• “Examining How Autism Spectrum Disorders Affect Social Causal Learning,” led by Joseph Austerweil, assistant professor of cognitive, linguistic, and psychological sciences.
• “Temporal Geometric Control of Stem Cell Chondrogenesis for Osteoarthritis Therapy," led by Anita Shukla, assistant professor of engineering.
• “Regulation of human neural stem cell function by the pro-longevity FOXO transcription factors,” led by Ashley Webb, assistant professor of molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry.
• “Microscopic in vivo imaging of cerebral dynamics in ischemic stroke” led by Jonghwan Lee, assistant professor of engineering.