Connecting BRITE People

The Biomedical Research, Innovation, Training, and Employment (BRITE) Consortium trains students for biomedical research careers, facilitates research collaborations between researchers (on campus and stimulate interactions with off-campus partners), trains research mentors in how to prepare students for biomedical research careers, and serves as a hub to spin out many training and research grants, especially from the National Institutes of Health.

Biomedical research encompasses diverse fields across multiple colleges. BRITE has a goal of connecting members within the university and with outside community collaborators. Current SHSU college partners include the College of Sciences and Engineering Technology, College of Osteopathic Medicine, College of Health Sciences, and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

News

• Congratulations to BRITE Executive Committee Member Meagan Hinze for receiving an American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Undergraduate Research Grant! The grant will provide over $50K to support her research with undergraduate students developing novel oxidative biocatalysts for the production of useful chemical scaffolds.
• Congratulations to BRITE Executive Committee Member Meagan Hinze for receiving a National Science Foundation CAREER Award entitled "CAREER: Development and Application of Oxidative Biocatalysts for Chiral Resolutions and Increasing Student Success in Organic Chemistry." The grant will bring over $550K to support her research, teaching, and outstanding mentorship of students.
• Thank you to the large team of BRITE founding members that worked hard last year to write our National Institutes of Health URISE grant to train undergraduate students to reach biomedical research careers. The grant, under the direction of MultiPIs Mardelle Atkins, Khalid Khan, and Donovan Haines, will provide $1.4M over the next five years to remove barriers and improve support of the students, with a majority of the funds going directly to student financial support. 
• Congratulations to BRITE Executive Committee Member Megan Hinze, who received a 3-year grant from The Robert A. Welch Foundation entitled "Biocatalysis Methodologies for Oxidative Chiral Resolutions"
• Congratulations to BRITE Executive Committee Member Jailenne Quiñones-Rodriguez for receiving the Sam Houston State University College of Medicine Excellence in Research Award!
• Congratulations to BRITE Executive Committee Member and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences Aaron Lynne on his new paper in Nature Microbiology! Burcham, Z.M., Belk, A.D., McGivern, B.B. et al. A conserved interdomain microbial network underpins cadaver decomposition despite environmental variables. Nat Microbiol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01580-y 
• Executive Committee Member Khalid Khan has a new paper in Neurotoxicology: Khan, K.M., Gaine, M.E., Daniel, A.R., Chilamkuri P., Rohlman, D.S. Organophosphorus pesticide exposure from house dust and parent-reported child behavior in Latino children from an orchard community. Neurotoxicology (2024) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuro.2024.03.001

BRITE Consortium Events and Programs

Welcome back, Bearkats! We are proud to present the following upcoming events and programs:

• Please join us on Thursday, March 20th, at 4pm in LDB 214 as a fellow Bearkat, Dr. Katelyn Bruno, returns to tell us about how her degree from SHSU led her to Johns Hopkins, the Mayo Clinic, and now the University of Florida College of Medicine studying heart inflammation and heart failure (esp. myocarditis). Dr. Bruno won many awards along the way, it will be a great seminar.
• Check out the BRITE URISE page for a fantastic opportunity for freshman students to join our program to train for biomedical research careers. The program provides strong mentorship and extensive scholarship and financial support. To learn more or to apply, go to the URISE BRITE STARS page. Applications are due April 15th!
• We also have a call out for applications for our BRITE Scholars program for Fall 2025. You can earn a scholarship of $2500 and $500 in research costs or travel costs to present research. Check out the details at the BRITE Scholars page. Applications are due April 15th.

Select SHSU Events

Are you a current SHSU Faculty, Staff, or Student? You may be interested in our intranet BRITE Consortium News site.

Want more information about the BRITE Consortium or have a question? Email us at brite@shsu.edu.

Want to join BRITE, associate as an external partner or collaborator, or talk about sponsoring student or mentor training opportunities? Please use this form to let us know.

For additional help or questions, please contact us at: brite@shsu.edu.