Grant for Wormland

Professor and Chair of Biology Dr. Greg Hermann has been awarded a $469,411 grant for his project, “Investigating the mechanisms regulating the formation of lysosome-related organelles.” Supported by the National Science Foundation’s Division of Molecular and Cellular Biology and the Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) program, this three-year project will engage 30-55 undergraduates each year in mentored, investigative, and original research. Students in Dr. Hermann’s lab and upper division Cell Biology course, as well as several high school students, will carry out studies to identify and investigate the function of regulators present and active within lysosome-related organelles (LRO) cells. Building on Dr. Hermann’s prior work also funded by the National Science Foundation, his research team will analyze the biogenesis of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) gut granules, which are cell-type specific LROs responsible for specialized functions that coexist with conventional lysosomes. Studying the regulation of cell specialization during organogenesis will provide novel insights into the genes and mechanisms regulating this process—as well as the genetic construction of these important organelles. More information about Dr. Hermann’s research and his lab—Wormland—is available here.

A related announcement is available here.

August 2016