The National Institutes of Health announced it has awarded Drs. Jennifer Nyborg, Karolin Luger, and Laurie Stargell a $7.8 million, five-year grant to study how the basic unit that tightly packages DNA into chromosomes, known as a nucleosome, unfolds and disassembles to expose genes that give cells their biological traits.
“Because the nucleosome plays a pivotal role in gene expression, finding ways to manipulate its assembly and disassembly are of great biological and potentially therapeutic interest,” said Peter Preusch, who oversees biophysics grants at NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which supports this new grant. “With their strong scientific connections—both between each other and their subprojects—Dr. Nyborg and her colleagues are uniquely positioned to detail the mechanisms of these processes.”
Dr. Nyborg, a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, serves as the principal investigator on the NIH grant, known as a Program of Projects. The grant is expected to provide funding for as many as 15 postdoctoral positions, graduate students and technicians. Undergraduate students also will gain from hands-on instruction from some of the University’s top researchers and teachers.
Colorado State University’s Professor Temple Grandin has been included on Time Magazine’s list of the most influential people of 2010. Dr. Grandin garnered more than 15,000 votes in public online voting and ranked No. 31 on Time’s list. The full list, which appears in the May 10 issue of Time, is in its seventh year and recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals.
A Professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University and President of Grandin Livestock Handling Systems Inc., Dr. Grandin became internationally known as a popular figure this year with the February release of the HBO biopic, "Temple Grandin." Dr. Grandin is a role model for the autistic community, and is known around the world for her innovative livestock enclosure designs, writings on the ethical treatment of agricultural animals, and numerous books.
A Colorado State University researcher has received a $330,150 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to identify novel molecules that deliver drugs to prostate cancer cells, but not healthy cells. Molecules with this unique ability are well suited to decrease side effects associated with many drugs and increase the therapeutic impact of existing and future drugs.
Dr. Brian R. McNaughton, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, was named one of 28 recipients nationally of the 2009 Prostate Cancer Research Program New Investigator Award. He is the only researcher from an institution of higher education in Colorado to receive the award.
