Inna Nechipurenko, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology and Biotechnology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, has recently received close to $564,000 in funding for her research.
Flyer printing can be used throughout a campus to inform the community of such special grants.
She will be launching two projects that will explore the genetic basis of the formation of primary cilia and function in nerve cells. This research will provide the foundation of science that is needed for developing therapies for people with genetic disorders that create defects in their primary cilia and prevent their proper functioning.
The first project is a grant of $363,984 over three years from the National Institutes of Health. This project will determine how a gene, RIC-8, shapes the function and structure of primary cilia structure in neurons. The second project is a grant of $200,000 over two years from the Charles H. Hood Foundation and will define the structure of another gene, GNAI1, in the assembly of primary cilia. Both projects build on the research of Nechipurenko into the molecular technology and operation that is important for correct function and assembly of primary cilia in the nervous system.
Nechipurenko said that over the past 20 years, it has become important to understand how much cilia play a role in every aspect of human physiology. She added that much has been learned about these molecules and their structure but more remains to be known about their function in the brain.
