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 serve under-represented 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:

• Our BRITE Scholars training program for undergraduate students to reach biomedical research careers is currently open for applications for Spring 2025. Selected students receive a $2500 scholarship and $500 for research or travel expenses. There will be Zoom information sessions. where you can ask questions on Friday, 10-19, from 1-2 pm and Wednesday, 10-23, from 2-3 pm. For more information, see the program's page.
• Join us on Tuesday, Oct 22nd at 3:00 pm as Kory Kilgore from Baylor College of Medicine presents Graduate Education Programs and Paid Undergraduate Research Opportunities at Baylor College of Medicine. The presentation is 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm in LSB 130B. Refreshments will be served. (View the entire BRITE Seminar schedule here.)
• Join us on Tuesday, Oct 29th at 3:00 pm as Dr. Ashish Arya from UT MD Anderson visits to talk to students about undergraduate and postgraduate research opportunities there. Refreshments will be served. (View the entire BRITE Seminar schedule here.)

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.