Feature Story
Health Center Today, July 15, 2011
Genetics and Developmental Biology Researchers Awarded Nearly $10 Million in NIH Funding Over the Past Few Months
By Carolyn Pennington
It’s been a rewarding past few months for several Health Center researchers with the Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology. Five scientists have garnered nearly $10 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Over the last several years, the department has steadily increased the amount of federal funding it has received. This is the highest amount awarded over a four month period.
“Our faculty has been awarded these grants at a time when competition for NIH grants is fierce. Our close research and academic interactions with the Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling have been critical to this success given the NIH’s present focus on interdisciplinary research,” says Marc Lalande, professor and chair of the department. “Not only does this new grant funding raise the national and international reputation of our faculty, it helps retain current personnel and potentially hire additional staff.”
NIH Grant Awards:
Michael Blinov, Bringing BioNetGen Rule Based Modeling to Virtual Cell Users, 3 years, $877,484
Stormy Chamberlain, Regulation of UBE3A Genomic Imprinting by Tissue-Specific Alternative Splicing, 5 years, $1,296,183
Brenton Graveley, Trans-Splicing in Drosophila, 4 years, $1,666,594 and Alternative Splicing of the Drosophila Dscam Pre-mRNA, 4 years, $1,324,041
Arthur Gunzl, RNA Polymerase II Transcription in Trypanosomes, 5 years, $1,912,366
Bruce Mayer, Dynamics and Topology of Phosphotyrosine-SH2 Interaction Networks, 5 years, $2,582,232