Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • 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
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • 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

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
  • Data Privacy Day 2021: Is Your Personal Information Safe?
    Monday, January 25, 2021, By Daryl Lovell
  • Spring 2021 Office of Research Events Focus on Research Success
    Monday, January 25, 2021, By News Staff
  • A&S Speech Disorders Professor: Poet Amanda Gorman’s Story Shares Important Lesson
    Monday, January 25, 2021, By Daryl Lovell
  • Syracuse University Names Four as “Unsung Heroes” in Honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
    Monday, January 25, 2021, By News Staff
  • WAER Will Transition to the Newhouse School This Summer
    Monday, January 25, 2021, By Wendy S. Loughlin

More In STEM

Data Privacy Day 2021: Is Your Personal Information Safe?

Jan. 28 is Data Privacy Day, an annual event to create and raise awareness about how personal information is collected, secured and shared in the growing digital world. A 2019 Pew Research Center report found a majority of Americans were…

Professor Rahman Awarded Google Grant to Engage Underrepresented Students in Computing Research

Electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) Professor Farzana Rahman received a 2020 Google exploreCSR award to fund the development of an undergraduate student engagement workshop program, Research Exposure in Socially Relevant Computing (RESORC). The RESORC program will provide research opportunities…

Arts and Sciences Welcomes New Director of Forensics Kathleen Corrado

After 25 years working in the field of forensic science and over two decades of executive experience as a laboratory director, Kathleen Corrado has been named director of the Forensic and National Security Science Institute (FNSSI) in the College of…

Hehnly Lab Awarded $1.2M NIH Grant to Research Critical Tissue Formation

A key process during the development of an embryo is tissue morphogenesis, where the number of cells in an organism increase through cell division and tissues begins to take shape. Heidi Hehnly, assistant professor of biology, has been awarded a…

The Role of Digital Forensics and Tracking Down US Capitol Riot Criminals

With just under a week left before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony, investigators and law enforcement agencies across the country are working speedily to identify as many of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot offenders as they can. Knowing exactly…

Subscribe to SU Today

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

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • 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
© 2021 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.