NSU Research – SharkBytes

NSU Research – SharkBytes
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NSU Students Present Research at Florida’s Capitol
February 10, 2026
jprofett
Undergraduate students from across Florida gathered in the state’s capitol on Jan. 26-27, 2026, for the Florida Undergraduate Research Posters at the Capitol.
This is a biennial event that celebrates student innovation and highlights the impact of undergraduate research on
Florida’s future
. Hosted by the Florida Undergraduate Research Association (FURA), in partnership with Florida State University and Tallahassee State College, the event provided students with a unique opportunity to present their original research to state legislators, public officials, and university leaders inside the Florida State Capitol rotunda.
Nova Southeastern University was represented by three undergraduate researchers: Khushi Faldu, Aashvi Gowrisankar, and Anushka Malay. They were accompanied by NSU’s institutional representative, Julie Torruellas Garcia, PhD, who is the Director of Undergraduate Research for the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences.
Anushka Malay, mentored by Dr. Julie Torruellas Garcia from the Department of Biological Sciences, presented research on the discovery and isolation of a novel bacteriophage from soil collected near NSU’s campus, contributing to efforts to develop phage-based alternatives to antibiotics.
Khushi Faldu presenting her research at the Florida Capitol
Anushka Malay presenting her research at the Florida Capitol
Aashvi Gowrisankar presenting her research at the Florida Capitol
Khushi Faldu, mentored by Dr. Zorica Scuric from the Department of Biological Sciences, presented a comparative analysis of transcatheter versus surgical aortic valve replacement, highlighting faster endothelial recovery associated with minimally invasive procedures in aging populations.
Aashvi Gowrisankar, mentored by Dr. J. Matt Hoch from the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, presented research examining how invasive waterhyacinth alters aquatic community structure compared to native pennywort in Lake Okeechobee, providing insight into invasive species management in Florida ecosystems.
A highlight of the event for the NSU group was the opportunity for them to meet with Florida House Representative Hillary Cassel and her staff. During their meeting, students shared their research findings and discussed how undergraduate-led projects can address real-world challenges related to public health, environmental sustainability, and scientific innovation.
NSU undergraduate researchers met with Florida House Representative Hillary Cassel (left to right: Aashvi Gowrisankar, Rep. Hillary Cassel, Anushka Malay, Khushi Faldu and Dr. Julie Torruellas Garcia)
For information on how to participate in this event in the future, please contact Dr. Julie Torruellas Garcia, HCAS Director of Undergraduate Research:
jg1511@nova.edu
Picture 1 Caption: Anushka Malay presenting her research at the Florida Capitol. Picture 2 Caption: Khushi Faldu presenting her research at the Florida Capitol. Picture 3 Caption: Aashvi Gowrisankar presenting her research at the Florida Capitol. Picture 4 Caption: NSU undergraduate researchers met with Florida House Representative Hillary Cassel (left to right: Aashvi Gowrisankar, Rep. Hillary Cassel, Anushka Malay, Khushi Faldu and Dr. Julie Torruellas Garcia)
SharkBytes
NSU, Reef Discovery Center Collaborate on Plastic Biodegradation Research
June 5, 2025
jprofett
Plastic pollution represents a huge environmental problem, and drinking straws are a major component of such pollution. It is estimated that 8.3 billion plastic straws contaminate the world’s beaches. Fortunately, there is a burgeoning market for biodegradable polymers that may ultimately reduce marine plastic pollution. Relatedly, light blue Phade drinking straws made of biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) are now commonly found in restaurants and bars. PHA is one of only two biopolymers that degrade well in the marine environment.
Researchers at NSU and the Reef Discovery Center (RDC) have completed a groundbreaking assessment of PHA drinking straws submerged offshore at the Navy station, near the Oceanographic Center. This project has now been published in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering as the paper “Degradation of Polyhydroxyalkanoate Drinking Straws at an Ocean Shoreline.” This is the first biophysical characterization of degradation of any 3D object made of PHA.
The fifteen-week experiment had two intertwined components: microbial analyses and mass loss assessments. PHA degrades because some types of bacteria eat away at the plastic’s exposed surfaces. These favorable bacterial strains do not exist in all marine environments, so identifying them is key to establishing the efficacy of PHA degradation at any given physical location.
Additionally, precise mathematical modeling of the geometry changes during mass loss is critical for defining the lifetime of PHA straws in the marine environment. Factors like the amount of degradation inside vs outside of the straws can play a major role in the predicted degradation rate. The paper addresses all of these critical issues.
NSU professor Jose Lopez and Master of Science student Emma Gellman conducted the novel microbial analyses to define the key bacterial strains and their abundance as a function of time. NSU Masters student Kyle Pisano and Kirk Dotson, founder of the RDC, addressed mass loss as a function of time and developed a unique model of degradation for hollow cylinders, such as drinking straws. Patrick Roman, a professor at Florida International University, conducted scanning electron microscopy, to create images of the microbes on the degrading straws and associated pitting of the plastic surface. This pivotal study of temporal and spatial variability of microbes and geometry is the first of its kind in the literature.
Ironically, the ability of PHA to degrade quickly in the marine environment also benefits coral reef restoration. A patent-pending biodegradable structure, called the Coral Fort, has been devised that prevents parrotfish, and other predators, from biting and often killing juvenile corals and coral fragments that have been transplanted from laboratories to the ocean floor in reef restoration efforts. Unlike steel cages that have been deployed to combat this problem, the Coral Fort disintegrates prior to the accumulation of algae, which would otherwise necessitate recurrent cleaning by SCUBA divers. This coral predation problem for coral outplants is acute in Broward and Miami/Dade counties, and represents a major bottleneck for restoration in the Florida Coral Reef Tract.
Coral Forts are composed of a cement disc, on which the coral is mounted. PHA straws surround the coral to keep out predators. This pioneering technology has the potential to revolutionize coral reef restoration in Florida and around the world. Proof of concept for “Coral Forts” was provided by Kyle Pisano in his MS thesis.
SharkBytes
NSU Professor’s Work Receives International Recognition
April 9, 2025
jprofett
Adithya Chandregowda, Ph.D., associate professor from the Department of Speech-Language Pathology at NSU’s Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences presented a research poster titled “Exploring the link between neurodevelopmental vulnerabilities and neurodegenerative manifestations” at the 19th World Congress on Controversies in Neurology in Prague, Czech Republic.
Of the 170 research abstracts accepted for poster presentations at the congress, 9 were awarded the best ePoster award under 9 topic areas. Under the category of “Neurodegenerative Diseases” Prof. Chandregowda received the best ePoster award. About 1000 delegates from across 56 countries attended this congress.
Prof. Chandregowda presenting his ePoster at the 19th World Congress on Controversies in Neurology, Prague, Czech Republic
Prof. Chandregowda also presented a 2-hour lecture on primary progressive aphasia (also referred to as “language-led dementia”) to the faculty and students of speech-language pathology at Semmelweis University, Budapest. In Hungary, Semmelweis University is the oldest medical university and the first to offer a Bachelor of Science program in voice, speech and swallowing therapy for health science students. Prof. Chandregowda’s lecture covered primary progressive aphasia definition, classification, differential diagnosis, risk factors, counseling and management. His lecture was very well received, and he appreciated the kind gestures from the event organizer and the attendees.
Prof. Chandregowda presents at Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
SharkBytes
NSU Division of Research Hosting Research Connect
October 26, 2023
iharrell
All faculty and staff researchers are invited to join the NSU Division of Research and Economic Development for a dialogue related to research at NSU via Zoom. Our next
Research Connect
quarterly town hall meeting will be on
Monday, Nov. 6, from noon to 1 p.m.
Each of the
Research Connect
events will highlight a different research-related topic, resource, and/or process with the next topic of discussion being:
NSU Procurement
. Experts from the Office of Procurement Services will talk about the procurement process and supporting researchers, followed by a Q&A session with the experts.
To attend through Zoom, please RSVP using the following link, https://bit.ly/Nov6ResearchConnect, and don’t forget to add the event to your calendar. Lastly, to help answer as many questions as possible during the event, we encourage you to submit questions prior to the event to
dor@nova.edu
Posted 10/26/23
Communities
Professor Presents End-of-Life Interaction Research in U.K.
September 24, 2023
iharrell
Professor Chandregowda at his presentation
Chandregowda at the conference venue, the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, U.K.
Adithya Chandregowda, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, from the Department of Speech-Language Pathology at NSU, presented his research on facilitating end-of-life interaction between patients with severe communication impairment in the acute hospital and their families at the British Aphasiology Society (BAS) International Conference, 2023, hosted by the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK. His presentation was very well received, getting an honorary mention in the rising research star award category on the third day of the conference.
His research synopsis: Severe communication impairment during the end-of-life phase can hamper one’s ability to express feelings related to physical and emotional well-being and bid farewell to family members and friends. It could also prevent family members from seeking closure related to their loved one’s impending death.
Chandregowda’s research has generated interaction strategies that speech language pathologists and related health care professionals could provide family members of patients who have acutely encountered the end-of-life phase and have severe communication impairment.
Posted 09/24/23
Academics
NSU Research Continues to Break New, Expanding Ground
July 2, 2023
iharrell
Ken Dawson-Scully, Ph.D., associate provost and senior vice president for the Division of Research and Economic Development
$145 million in active grants. 170 grants. 100 different funding agencies.
“All of those numbers are record highs for the university,” said Ken Dawson-Scully, Ph.D., associate provost and senior vice president for the Division of Research and Economic Development (DoR). “We expose our students to genuine research, where they’re developing knowledge rather than just learning knowledge.”
NSU is recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as an R2 Doctoral University with high research activity. In 2022, the National Science Foundation ranked the university 70th out of all private universities in the United States for its research efforts. And, for the first time in the school’s history, NSU received a U-Rise grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a division of the National Institutes of Health. This $1.5-million grant funds opportunities for undergraduates to work in research labs and get paid for doing so.
In addition, research from NSU faculty and staff members and students was published 750 times during the last year—a 35 percent increase in publications from the previous year.
“The colleges, the faculty and their students, and the staff are the engines of research for the university,” said Dawson-Scully. “I’m just the person who gets to brag about all these wonderful things and gets to serve these individuals through research administration while bringing researchers together, internally or with other companies and institutions looking for collaborators.”
Dawson-Scully joined NSU in 2021. Prior to his current role, he was a professor and administrator at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). In his FAU lab, he conducted research on fruit flies to explore how to protect the brain from different types of neurodegenerations and stress. He also served as the head of institutional partnerships at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, where he developed programs partnering the world-class researchers at the institute with student trainees from FAU.
“I got to the point where, instead of developing those programs, I was managing them,” he said. “An opportunity came along at NSU to be in a leadership position and start building again. When I moved to Florida in 2008 from Canada, I didn’t know about the research profile of NSU. But, when I applied for the position in 2020, NSU had grown so rapidly, and put such an enormous investment into research, that my mind was blown, and I was excited to be a part of its exponential growth.”
The DoR administers research for the university. This includes—but is not limited to—handling patents and copyrights, assisting faculty members in finding and applying for grants, ensuring that projects are compliant, conducting clinical research, and bolstering the university’s research infrastructure at the Center for Collaborative Research.
“Our core facilities are available to every faculty and staff member within the university, and we even offer our services to the community,” Dawson-Scully said. “When research comes into the university, it helps build a better environment for teaching for our faculty and a better environment for learning for students.”
In the Campaign for Preeminence, NSU has a goal of raising $500 million in cumulative research funds by 2025. As of early March, more than $418 million—84 percent of the university’s goal—has been raised. The university continues to be on an upward trajectory for growth in research, and Dawson-Scully and his team are looking for ways to continue accelerating that growth.
NSU Health is one of the university’s research accelerators. The initiative brings the university’s clinical practices under one umbrella to enable NSU to better serve the community, give students better experiences, and increase the university’s research infrastructure.
One example of how NSU Health is accelerating research in in the work of Eduardo Locatelli, M.D., M.P.H. He sees patients who suffer from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He also runs clinical trials on new drugs that have the potential to stave off this horrible disease, and one of the drugs he was working with recently received FDA approval. The medication has the potential to double the life span of patients diagnosed with ALS.
“Locatelli’s research not only increases our clinical research profile, but also brings students at the undergraduate and graduate levels who are working with this cutting edge, clinical research,” Dawson-Scully said.
The Alan B. Levan | NSU Broward Center of Innovation is another entity that increases the university’s research capabilities. Faculty and staff members and students interact and innovate with everything from phone apps to interacting with NASA and the space foundation. The Levan Center is attracting large grants from federal agencies, as well as local, state, and county sources.
Dawson-Scully established a Changing Lives scholarship for undergraduate students who want to pursue research. Donors can also create a scholarship fund or programming endowment.
“It’s always a positive thing to be able to donate, because it’s used toward creating knowledge and giving our students that edge,” Dawson-Scully said.
For more information on research at NSU, please contact Alissa Hechter, Assistant Vice President of Development & Alumni Engagement, at (855) 792-2230 or ah833@nova.edu
Posted 07/02/23
Academics
Lab Finds Differences between Port and Reef Sediments
April 23, 2023
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Port Everglades
Marine ports can be very busy places. From the vantage point of NSU’s Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (GHOC), one can easily observe and be part of the boat traffic going in and out of Port Everglades Inlet (PEI). This includes small and large recreational vehicles, Coast Guard patrols, sleek and modern looking yachts, huge tankers, and cargo vessels, loaded with oil or other commodities, and of course cruise ships ferrying passengers to good times in the Caribbean.
All this activity contributes to PEI being one of the busiest ports in the SE United States, which started almost a century ago in 1928.  The human activities also set the port physically apart from nearby natural habitats, which our laboratory has corroborated by profiling the marine sediments from both port and nearby coral reef sites. Molecular microbiology analyses provide some stark contrasts.   “Although most of the sites are within a few kilometers from each other, and are connected by daily tidal flows, the port and reef microbial communities showed distinct characteristics which were statistically significant.”, says Jose (Joe) Lopez, Ph.D., a professor with a laboratory at the GHOC and the Department of Biological Sciences in Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS).
The study was analyzed and co-written by Lopez and affiliate NSU faculty, Lauren Krausfeldt, Ph.D., and published in the open access online journal PeerJ.  With the help of dedicated NSU students, like Catherine Bilodeau and Hyo Lee, and project initiation by former FL Dept of Environmental Protection manager, Shelby Casali, molecular microbiological methods, now routine in the field, were applied to uncover the details of which microbes live in nearshore or port sediments.  The universal gene used to identify bacteria, is called 16S rRNA, which has been previously used to characterize other samples ranging widely from shark and human teeth, octopus skin, sponge and anglerfish tissue in the GHOC molecular microbiology laboratory run by Lopez.
In the Port Everglades study, NSU researchers found that some photosynthetic cyanobacterial group abundances decreased in the reef sediments in 2021, which could indicate changing irradiance reaching sensitive corals and other symbiotic hosts that depend on sunlight.
The new PeerJ study on marine sediments has potential ramifications on local coral reef health, because routine dredging and other human activities can stir up port sediments that ultimately disperse and settle on nearby coral reef habitats.  This data, along with previous microbial research in the Lopez laboratory describing water quality provides useful baselines that can be used by local environmental managers.
Posted 04/23/23
Academics
Congresswoman Tours NSU Center for Collaborative Research
April 23, 2023
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From left, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz; Jean Latimer, Ph.D., director of the AutoNation Institute for Breast Cancer Research and Care; Ken Dawson, NSU’s senior vice president for Research and Economic Development; and NSU Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Dr. Harry K. Moon.
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz recently toured NSU’s Center for Collaborative Research. While on campus, she visited the AutoNation Institute for Breast Cancer Research and Care as well as the Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine.
Posted 04/23/23
Academics
InterLACE Research Showcase Event Will Be on Zoom April 14
March 27, 2023
iharrell
On Friday, April 14, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., the InterLACE research showcase event will occur live via Zoom. This university-wide event features the “interdisciplinary” and “interprofessional” collaborative research efforts of NSU faculty, clinicians, students, and research staff.
Come learn from slide and poster presentations, participate in an interactive brainstorming and networking session, and hear the keynote address delivered by Dr. Timothy Tracy, CEO of Koru Biopharma, Inc. on the topic “Collaboration across Disciplines: A ‘Contact Sport’ for Improving Health.”
Posted 03/27/23
Communities
Contribute to “A Vision for Autism” at NSU, February 6
December 15, 2022
iharrell
On Monday, February 6, 2023, from noon to 1 p.m., the “A Vision for Autism at NSU” forum will be hosted by the central research department at NSU (Division of Research and Economic Development.
The event will feature an interdisciplinary expert panel involved in autism-related work, collaborative brainstorm session to characterize NSU’s expertise and potential to impact autism research and practice across the lifespan, and engagement by attendees spanning disciplines and colleges at NSU. Faculty and professional staff are invited to contribute to the conversation and meet colleagues doing related work.
Posted 12/15/22
Research
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