Cores
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tn-cfar@vumc.org
About the Tennessee CFAR DC
This CFAR envisions the DC as both a magnet and an engine: a magnet that attracts early-stage and established investigators into HIV research, and an engine that provides structure, networking, and mentoring to enable successful extramural NIH grant applications. As will be discussed throughout this proposal, the DC has had considerable impact to date, and has implemented new initiatives to have even greater effects during the next grant cycle.
Since the inception of the Tennessee CFAR in 2015, the DC has pursued 3 complementary aims to support early-stage investigators (ESI) and to fuel new collaborations, focused on: 1) a robust pilot awards program, 2) consistent and effective mentoring, and 3) academic team building. Over the first 4 years of the current grant cycle, 4 of 8 (50%) of the ESI DC awardees without career development grants subsequently received K series awards in HIV research. In addition, several past DC awardees have advanced to CFAR leadership roles, most notably incoming CFAR director John Koethe, who was mentored on his 2015 DC Award by outgoing CFAR director Simon Mallal. DC awardees since 2015 account for ~$9.3M (about one-third) of this CFAR’s 2023 allowable NIH AIDS Funded Research Base (FRB), demonstrating considerable local impact. In the next grant cycle, new initiatives and leadership will invigorate the successful tripartite approach.
The DC is directed by Chandravanu (CV) Dash, PhD, with Co-Directors Timothy Sterling, MD and Jessica Castilho, MD, MPH. Dr. Dash will primarily oversee the DC Awards component. He is Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Meharry Medical College and Executive Director of Meharry’s HIV Research Center. He is PI of three HIV-focused R01s and an R25. He has an extensive track record of mentoring students, fellows and early career faculty, including several now in academic faculty positions. Dr. Sterling will primarily oversee the ESI mentoring component. He is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Vanderbilt
Tuberculosis Center, and has mentored 77 investigators, including 14 who have obtained K23 or K08 awards and 13 who received NIH R funding. Dr. Castilho will primarily oversee the academic skills development and scientific team building component. She is Associate Professor of Medicine and PI of R01 and U01 grants, including the CCASAnet collaborative HIV research network in Latin America. Since 2019, she has mentored 12 Vanderbilt and international trainees, and has been honored at Vanderbilt for excellence in mentorship.
Specific Aims of the DC
to administer a robust DC Awards program that supports pilot interdisciplinary HIV research projects, with a focus on early-stage investigators and established investigators who are new to HIV research.
Our overarching goal is to increase the number of CFAR investigators with NIH-funded HIV research projects. The DC Awards will support meritorious proposals from promising investigators and facilitate the development of these pilot projects into subsequent successful NIH grant applications
To ensure consistent and effective mentoring of investigators new to HIV research, with a focus on early-stage investigators, to enhance competitiveness for extramural funding.
We will provide consistent, proactive, strategic mentoring to ESI both before and after they apply for DC Awards, as well as one-on-one outreach to unfunded applicants to assess adequacy of mentorship and offer advice and advocacy. We will facilitate linkage to the many phenomenal local career development resources and non CFAR funding mechanisms open to Vanderbilt and Meharry faculty, and we will connect mid-career investigators with ESIs to provide guidance on navigating career pathways and build mid-career mentorship skills. Finally, we will expand our administrative support for grant preparation to allow ESI to fully focus on the
science.
To grow the pool of investigators engaged in HIV research and facilitate new strategic collaborations among faculty internal and external to the CFAR and partner institutions, to expand innovative HIV research.
We will continue to emphasize programs that encourage investigators to engage in
HIV research, and we will provide focused participatory research training for all CFAR investigators. We will maintain and strengthen our (a) programs to increase manuscript and grant submission productivity of DC awardees, (b) the annual DC Retreats focused on expert input to increase the success of DC awardees, (c) engagement of ESI who have not yet applied or were not previously successful, and (d) our didactic sessions on practical aspects of managing a successful research portfolio. Lastly, we will grow our emphasis on linking CFAR members with non-CFAR investigators from a broad range of disciplines to develop effective collaborations for the growing number of team science-focused funding opportunities.
Services Offered
- Funding opportunities for early-stage investigators, and for established investigators new to HIV, through pilot awards and supplements
- Mentoring & Career Development – Fostering scientific tam building and skills development through sprint teams
- Training & Education
- Grant Writing & Review
- Consultations
For service request or inquiries, please contact tn-cfar@vumc.org
DC Leadership
Chandravanu Dash, PHD
Core Director | View Profile Here
Jessica Castilho, MD, MPH
Co-Director | View Profile Here
Timothy Sterling, MD
Co-Director | View Profile Here
Developmental COre awardees 2025
Ying Dang, PhD
Staff Scientist
Center for AIDS Health Disparities Research (CAHDR)
Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Physiology
Meharry Medical College
The Project
Development of a Novel CRISPR/Cas9 Nickase-based Gene Editing Strategy for Precisely Duplicating Naturally Occurring Human CCR5 Delta 32 Mutants Without Double-Strand Breaks (DSBs).
Dr. Ying Dang is a staff scientist in the RCMI program at Meharry Medical College. He received his molecular virology training at Michigan State University and Texas Tech University. His research centers on developing universally optimized strategies for CRISPR/spCas9 gene editing systems and their in vivo/ ex vivo delivery mechanisms. The gene editing core has helped numbers of investigators on designing and implementing projects based on state-of-the-art gene editing technology. He has also contributed to the identification of key host factors involved in intercellular innate immunity against retroviruses.
One of his notable achievements includes enhancing the structural design of spCas9 sgRNA, which has led to a significant improvement in on-target editing efficiency. Leveraging his expertise, Dr. Dang successfully led a start-up R&D team in conducting an IND-enabling Phase 0 clinical study in China, targeting β-Thalassemia through a lentiviral vector and human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-based ex vivo gene therapy approach.
His long-term goal is to harness cutting-edge gene editing technologies to develop innovative anti-HIV gene therapies capable of preventing or halting disease progression, including the onset of AIDS.
Amanda Lea, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Vanderbilt University
The Project
Development of a Novel CRISPR/Cas9 Nickase-based Gene Editing Strategy for Precisely Duplicating Naturally Occurring Human CCR5 Delta 32 Mutants Without Double-Strand Breaks (DSBs).
Dr. Ying Dang is a staff scientist in the RCMI program at Meharry Medical College. He received his molecular virology training at Michigan State University and Texas Tech University. His research centers on developing universally optimized strategies for CRISPR/spCas9 gene editing systems and their in vivo/ ex vivo delivery mechanisms. The gene editing core has helped numbers of investigators on designing and implementing projects based on state-of-the-art gene editing technology. He has also contributed to the identification of key host factors involved in intercellular innate immunity against retroviruses.
One of his notable achievements includes enhancing the structural design of spCas9 sgRNA, which has led to a significant improvement in on-target editing efficiency. Leveraging his expertise, Dr. Dang successfully led a start-up R&D team in conducting an IND-enabling Phase 0 clinical study in China, targeting β-Thalassemia through a lentiviral vector and human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-based ex vivo gene therapy approach.
His long-term goal is to harness cutting-edge gene editing technologies to develop innovative anti-HIV gene therapies capable of preventing or halting disease progression, including the onset of AIDS.