$6.8 million federal grant supports biomedical center

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $6.8 million grant to UD to create a Center for Biomedical Research Excellence in the area of structural and functional genomics. The NIH grant provides funding to support young faculty, according to Abraham Lenhoff, chemical engineering and principal investigator for the project.

In addition, it will be used to provide core research facilities both on the main UD campus and at the adjacent Delaware Biotechnology Institute.

The primary beneficiaries of the grant are assistant professors Jeremy S. Edwards and Anne Skaja Robinson, both from chemical engineering; Brian J. Bahnson and Yong Duan, both chemistry and biochemistry; and Ulhas P. Naik, biology.

Structural and functional genomics is a particularly hot topic given the recent publication of the human genome. "With all the excitement surrounding the human genome, it is time to see what it all means," Lenhoff said.

The human genome is made up of between 26,000 and 40,000 genes, each of which is a specific sequence of nucleotide bases whose sequences bear the information required for constructing proteins.

Proteins, in turn, provide the structural components of cells and tissues and also the enzymes needed for essential biochemical reactions.

The focus of the center will be to conduct research on the structure of proteins, the function of proteins and how multiple proteins work within a cell, Lenhoff said.

The NIH grant to the University of Delaware "is primarily used to fund young faculty with the understanding that they often have a difficult time finding the resources to support their research at the start of their careers," Lenhoff said.

"We were able to put together a multidisciplinary center encompassing chemical engineering, chemistry and biochemistry and biology," he said, adding that UD "has been very successful at hiring strong young faculty in these areas."

That fact that several disciplines will work together in the center is of great value because "everyone brings his own toolbox to the shop," Lenhoff said.

"Different disciplines have different outlooks. Where a biologist might be concentrating on how one protein works, an engineer wants to understand the system. Putting our heads together can be very effective, particularly in the life sciences."