Columbia researchers rake in NIH awards

It would be hard to deny: the National Institute of Health has been good to Columbia researchers this year.

With four faculty members nabbing prestigious NIH awards, University faculty say they’re looking forward to the research they can now pursue with the grants­—grants that were awarded for innovative thinking and unique research.

Alla Grishok, an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Columbia University Medical Center, was one of 54 recipients of the New Innovator Award. Having worked at the medical center for two years, Grishok is a considered a “young” faculty professor. This is her first major grant award for future research.

According to the NIH website, the new innovator award is “designed specifically to support unusually creative new investigators with highly innovative research ideas at an early stage of their career,” when they might not have the preliminary data required for an NIH Research Project Grant. In other words, these researchers have shown early potential for scientific breakthroughs, though they may not have been able to conduct the full studies yet.

Grishok studies the RNA interference (RNAi), a process that silences gene expression. “RNAi is a reverse genetic approach. We know the genes, but we don’t know what they are doing,” Grishok said.

The removal of a gene from an organism, Grishok explains, either intensifies or suppresses activity. “More often than not, there will be a change. Either cells will divide more or cells will divide less. Anything can happen depending on what system you are using,” Grishok said.

RNAi is an important tool to study gene function, as knocking down genes better enables scientists to see what will happen next. Grishok plans to investigate the extent by which RNAi affects adaptation to the environment.

Naa Oyo A. Kwate, assistant professor of sociomedical sciences—the study of medicine and health as they relate to social welfare—at the Mailman School of Public Health, also received the NIH New Innovator Award.

The NIH New Innovator Award was not the only NIH grant given to University faculty. David Fidock, associate professor and director of graduate studies in microbiology and immunology, was one of two recipients of the NIH Director’s Transformative R01 Award, or T-R01.

According to the NIH website, “the primary emphasis of the Transformative R01 Program is on creative ideas—projects that have the potential to transform a field of science and to provide adequate support for the work.” Fidock’s study is mainly focused on improving methodologies for malaria prevention.

Prior to receiving the NIH grant, Fidock was studying de novo fatty acid biosynthesis (FAS-II) in parasites with malaria. According to Fidock, they found several things of note. In particular, studies showed that the de novo fatty acid synthesis was the first biochemical process that is unique to a place where synthesis is essential: the liver stage.

Fidock says he can attribute some of his success to the resources he found at the University.

“The quality of the faculty, postdocs, and students here at Columbia and the emphasis on innovative, mechanistic science is outstanding,” Fidock commented. “There is also a lot of interest across the campus in infectious diseases, and that has given me the opportunity to begin to work with superb individuals.”

James Hone, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, also received the NIH Director’s Transformative R01 Award (T-R01).