Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

NIH awards $3 million in grants to College of Arts and Sciences researchers for leukemia, nanobiotechnology projects

Tuesday, February 9, 2010, By News Staff
Share
College of Arts and SciencesResearch and Creative

Faculty researchers from the departments of biology and physics in Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences have been awarded $3 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health. The funding will be used to expand ongoing research to find new ways to treat leukemia and to develop new nanotechnologies that can detect diseases, including cancers, at earlier stages than currently possible.

Liviu Movileanu, assistant professor in the Department of Physics, was awarded more than $1.4 million over five years to further his research in the relatively new field of nanobiotechnology. Liviu’s research team engineers protein nanopores that can detect DNA-containing molecules. The grant will enable the team to build experimental prototypes that could potentially be developed into new diagnostic tools for detecting cancers and other disease processes at much earlier stages than currently possible.

Nanopores—which are about 20 times larger than an atom (a trillion could fit on the head of a pin)—are devices in cell membranes through which proteins are transported in and out of cells, one molecule at a time. The process causes a change in tiny electric currents flowing through the nanopore, which are unique to the molecule being transported. This characteristic enables scientists to identify the molecule by its electric signature as it moves through the nanopore.

Michael Cosgrove, assistant professor in the Department of Biology, was awarded more than $1.5 million to further his research on Mixed Lineage Leukemia proteins (MLL), which help regulate the formation of white blood cells. In normal cells, MLL combines with three other proteins to create a molecular switch that controls the way DNA is packaged when white blood cells are created. A broken MLL switch can prevent white blood cells from properly maturing, which can lead to leukemia.

Learning how to reprogram the way DNA is packaged in cancerous cells is a relatively new idea that scientists believe will lead to better treatments for leukemia and other types of cancers with fewer side effects. Cosgrove’s research team is making important contributions to the field by discovering how DNA packaging proteins work in normal cells and by identifying ways to fix broken MLL switches and reprogram cancerous cells into normal cells.

Movileanu holds a Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of Bucharest. He was a postdoctoral fellow in biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (1997-98) and at Texas A&M University (1999-2004). Movileanu has a second NIH grant on a collaborative project with researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School at Worcester. His research has also received funding from the National Science Foundation. Further information about his research is available at http://physics.syr.edu/~lmovilea/.

Cosgrove earned a Ph.D. at Syracuse University and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Cornell University. His research has also received funding from the Leukemia Research Foundation, the March of Dimes Foundation and the American Cancer Society. Further information about his research is available at http://biology.syr.edu/cosgrove/index.html.

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • College of Visual and Performing Arts Welcomes New Full-Time Faculty
    Monday, September 25, 2023, By Erica Blust
  • School of Education Faculty Publish ‘Lesson Study With Mathematics and Science Preservice Teachers’
    Sunday, September 24, 2023, By Martin Walls
  • Water Main Break Near Bird Library to Be Repaired Monday
    Sunday, September 24, 2023, By News Staff
  • University Musicians, West Point Band to Perform Together This Weekend As Part of Events Around Military Appreciation Day
    Friday, September 22, 2023, By Christine Weber
  • Turning Young Enthusiasts Into Scientific Researchers
    Friday, September 22, 2023, By Wendy S. Loughlin

More In STEM

Turning Young Enthusiasts Into Scientific Researchers

Miguel Guzman ’24, a native of Lima, Peru, is a senior biotechnology major in the College of Arts and Sciences with an entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises minor in the Whitman School of Management. His research centers on developing bio-enabled protein…

Center for Sustainable Community Solutions and Environmental Finance Center Announces New Director

The College of Engineering and Computer Science is pleased to announce the transition of Melissa Young into a new role as director of the Center for Sustainable Community Solutions-Environmental Finance Center (CSCS-EFC) at Syracuse University. CSCS-EFC is housed within the…

Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Attends UN Session on Reducing Plastic Pollution

Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Svetoslava Todorova attended the second session of the United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Negotiations Committee on Plastics this summer in Paris, France. Todorova was invited as an academic expert based on her research on the environment,…

Experts Say Federal Agency or Global Organization Should Govern AI, New Survey Co-sponsored by Two University Institutes Finds

A new survey co-sponsored by two Syracuse University institutes finds that a majority of computer science experts at top U.S research universities want to see the creation of a new federal agency or global organization to govern artificial intelligence (AI)….

Q&A With School of Information Studies Dean Andrew Sears: Seeing Countless Opportunities in the Ever-Changing Tech World

In the rapidly changing world of technology, School of Information Studies Dean Andrew Sears knows it’s hard to predict how technology and the iSchool will evolve if you look too far into the future. But, he knows if you pay…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.