Barry’s Dr. Leticia Vega receives 300K SCORE Grant

Barry’s Dr. Leticia Vega receives 300K SCORE Grant

MIAMI SHORES, Florida — Barry University professor Dr. Leticia Vega has been awarded a Support of Continuous Research Excellence (SCORE) Grant in the amount of $300,000. The SCORE Grant is sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Vega, a professor of Biology in Barry’s College of Arts and Sciences will work with Dr. Angelika Amon, a Howard Hughes investigator and a faculty member at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Amon studies chromosome segregation and regulated proteolysis. Vega’s three year grant allows for funding the first year with subsequent funding depending on yearly progress reports from Vega. In addition to research, the grant will cover expenses for Amon and a laboratory assistant to conduct research at Barry University.

During the grant period, Vega and her research team will conduct research on the cell cycle regulation and protein modifications of Pif1p, a protein that regulates the enzyme telomerase in the model organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Telomerase is an enzyme that helps to maintain telomeres, which are the physical ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. Telomeres are important because they help to keep DNA stable and protect chromosomes from genetic instabilities that lead to cancer and other human diseases.

Upon conclusion of her research Vega will publish her results and apply for more funding to continue her studies on telomeres and telomerase.

NIGMS supports research that increases understanding of life processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, while NIH, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research.

For more information contact, Vega at 305-899-3212 or by e-mail at LVega@mail.barry.edu.