Grant Highlights

Bo Liang, PhD, Associate Professor, Biochemistry, recently received three grants:

1. American Lung Association grant titled, "Structures and Shared Mechanisms of the RSV and SARS-CoV-2 Viral Polymerases." 
2. Centers for Disease Control grant titled, "Production of Purified Viral Proteins and Determination of Resolution of Antigen-a."
3. Synergy II Nexus Award from Emory University titled, "Assembly and structural characterization of Aβ and propagons."

Nisha Raj, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Bassell Lab, Cell Biology, received the 2022 NARSAD Junior Investigator Award from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. Dr. Raj's research focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying specific cognitive, cellular and synaptic impairments seen in FXS, 15q13DS, DiGeorge syndrome and other autism related neurodevelopmental disorders. 

Timothy Sampson, PhD, Assistant Professor, Cell Biology, received a new R01 grant titled,"Interaction of Pyrethroid Exposure and the Microbiome on Parkinson's Disease related Pathologies."

Lindsey Seldin, PhD, Assistant Professor, Cell Biology, received a new grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The research is as follows:

Basal cell carcinoma is the most prevalent cancer type worldwide; however, a thorough understanding of the mechanisms that underlie its pathogenesis remains elusive. The stromal components of tumors, which include cancer-associated fibroblasts, have been shown to promote tumorigenesis. This project will investigate the mechanistic role of cancer-associated fibroblasts in basal cell carcinoma development. The broad objective of this research is to inform the development of targeted therapies to effectively treat and prevent cutaneous skin cancers.

Dorothy Lerit, PhD, Associate Professor of Cell Biology, is the recipient of the Günter Blobel Early Career Award from the American Society for Cell Biology. This award is given to an outstanding life scientist who has served as an independent investigator for no more than seven.

Chaoran Li, PhD, Assistant Professor, Microbiology and Immunology, received a new grant from the National Psoriasis Foundation titled, “The role of a novel skin regulatory-T-cell population in obesity-promoted psoriasis.” 

Jeremy M. Boss, PhD, Professor and Chair, and Christopher Scharer, PhD, Associate Professor, received a Program Project Grant with Drs. Ignacio Sanz and Frances Eun-Hyung Lee, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, and Dr. Frances Lund, University of Alabama, titled “Plasma cells in health and Disease.”  Dr. Boss’  project is titled, "Project 2: Epigenetic programming of plasma cell heterogeneity and metabolism." Dr. Scharer received a related project from this award titled, "Core B: Sequencing and Bioinformatics." 

Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University has been awarded a P01 program project grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to support research aimed at improving the effectiveness of immunotherapy for lung cancer in patients with a mutation of the LKB1 gene, a group for whom the present immunotherapy options do not provide robust benefit. This 5-year award titled, "Deciphering LKB1-associated immunotherapy resistance in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD)," will be led by Winship researchers Haian Fu, PhD, and Suresh Ramalingam, MD.

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Professor Ray Dingledine, PhD (left), and Associate Professor Thota Ganesh, PhD, of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology received a National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) award titled, "Optimization of EP2 Antagonists for Post-Seizure Cognitive Deficits," to develop new anti-inflammatory drugs for the prevention of comorbidities related to epilepsy, specifically the first preventative treatment for cognitive deficits related to epilepsy.

Congratulations to Dr. Andrey Ivanov, Assistant Professor in Pharmacology and Cell Biology, for his recent R21 award​ titled, "Predicting actionable cancer vulnerabilities enabled by mutant-directed protein-protein interactions."​

With this award, Dr. Ivanov becomes a member and will represent Emory University at the Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR) Program of the NIH National Cancer Institute. ITCR is a trans-NCI program supporting investigator-initiated, research-driven informatics technology development spanning all aspects of cancer research. 

Thomas Kukar, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, received a generous gift for the lab project titled, "Establishing the bioactivity of granulins in a mouse model of progranulin deficiency," from Arkuda Therapeutics, a biotechnology company, to conduct research focused on establishing the bioactivity of granulins in a mouse model of progranulin deficiency. The goal of the project is to complete proof-of-concept in vivo efficiency studies to determine if delivery of a single granulin protein in the Grn^-/- mouse brain is sufficient to rescue lysosomal dysfunction caused by progranulin (PGRN) deficiency.

Arkuda Therapeutics is focused on discovering and developing therapies with the potential to bring new hope to those affected by frontotemporal dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. When asked about Arkuda’s support of Dr. Kukar, Gerhard Koenig, Ph.D., President and CEO of Arkuda said: “The scientific literature points to the important roles granulins play in lysosomal health. Our therapeutic approach enhances both the secretion of progranulin and levels of lysosomal granulins. We are excited to support Dr Kukar’s project to help unravel the role of granulins in vivo.”