Project I:

An Exploratory Controlled Study to Assess Effects of Group Drumming on College Students with Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other Cognitive Presentations.

The prevalence of traumatic events in college students is estimated at approximately 67% -84% along with an accompanying rate of PTSD at 9%.  While therapy and psychotherapy in general have many benefits, the concept of group drumming has proven to be successful with PTSD in various ways that differ from traditional therapy practice.  With more public attention and increased awareness of the potential benefits of music therapy across various healthcare and educational settings, further evaluation and research is required in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of this intervention.

Project II:

An Examination of Microbial Flora to Establish Therapeutic Benefits.

The rise and spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria has resulted in increased number of untreatable infections – a major public threat.  History has shown that empirical screening approaches have yielded all the major discoveries.  The approach involves screening for novel organisms from natural sources (soil, roots, leaves, etc.) not screened before.  It is our belief that while many sources have been screened in the past, numerous areas remained underexplored.  In addition, microbial flora in a source screened decades back, needs to be rescreened as the flora changes as a function of time.  This understanding is further supported by a National Microbiome Initiative to foster the integrated study of microbiomes across different ecosystems.

Project III:

Detection of Borreliae in Archived Sera from Patients with Clinically Suspect Lyme Disease

Detection of Borreliae in Archived Sera from Patients with Clinically Suspect Lyme Disease

DNA Sequencing-based Test for Lyme Disease and Related Borreliosis