Newswise — Jennifer Abrams, a graduate student at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), has been awarded a three-year, $33,000 fellowship from the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) to support her innovative research into the molecular causes of protein misfolding diseases like Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s and Parkinson’s.
“I’ve always been interested in exploring the unknown,” said Abrams, who is a doctoral student at the UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. “There is much to learn about neurodegenerative diseases.”
Abrams is conducting her research in the laboratory of Kevin Morano, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the UTHealth Medical School. His laboratory is using a yeast model to learn more about the cellular biology linked to neurodegenerative diseases.
“We are studying the molecular details of protein folding in cells. This is important because protein misfolding can cause neurodegenerative disease. Information from our experiments will help us understand how our body deals with the early stages of these diseases. We can hopefully use this information to develop interventions,” Morano said.
Abrams was one of seven students to receive a 2010-2013 ASM Robert D. Watkins Graduate Research Fellowship. There were 50 applicants.
The Watkins fellowship seeks to increase the number of graduate students from underrepresented groups completing doctoral degrees in the microbiological sciences. The program is aimed at highly competitive students who are enrolled in a Ph.D. program and have completed their graduate coursework in the microbiological sciences.
Morano is Abrams’ mentor. The title of her research is “Determining functional specificity of cytosolic Hsp70 nucleotide exchange factors.”
Abrams has a bachelor of science degree in natural sciences from the University of Houston – Downtown and graduated from the Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions.
The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the oldest and largest single biological membership organization, with over 40,000 members worldwide.
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