Providence, R.I.--Four Providence College faculty members--three in the Department of Biology and one in the Department of Psychology--are among several researchers at colleges and universities in Rhode Island to benefit from a five-year, $18 million grant from the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The grant, which is intended to strengthen the biomedical research capacity in the state, is the latest in a series of multi-million-dollar grants awarded through the University of Rhode Island since 2001 to benefit Rhode Island's IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE). The goal of the federally supported IDeA Network is to build biomedical research capacity in states that have historically received low funding from the NIH.

The Rhode Island grant will support biomedical and behavioral science research projects of faculty members from the network's institutions. In addition to PC and URI, they comprise Rhode Island College and Brown, Roger Williams, and Salve Regina universities.

In the current fiscal period, which began May 1, PC faculty members have been allocated $308,692 to date, of a total statewide allocation of $3.8 million. An additional faculty member in the Department of Biology also is expected to receive research proposal approval and additional funding.

The current award to PC includes $44,603 in stipends to support 12 student research assistants--nine in biology and three in psychology--through the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows Program (SURF).

"The nice thing about this cycle of INBRE support is that we continue to fund research students in the summer," said Dr. Charles R. Toth, associate professor and chair of the biology department, who is administering the PC grant. "This continues student engagement in faculty research through a program that has been working quite well for us." 

Previous grants benefiting RI-INBRE researchers at PC included funding for laboratory equipment and renovations, as well as for the installation of videoconferencing capabilities to link the network's institutions for interactive seminars and workshops.

Research focus

Faculty members and their specific projects are listed below.

• Rev. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P., assistant professor of biology, is researching the "Genetic Characterization of UTH1 and BXI1, Two Genes Involved in Yeast Programmed Cell Death," a significant anti-tumor defense mechanism in multicellular organisms. His student researchers are Christopher Chin '10 (North Easton, Mass.), David Laprade '11 (North Smithfield, R.I.), and Kevin Murphy '12 (Franklin, Mass.).
• Dr. Christopher Bloom, assistant professor of psychology, is investigating "The Role of Operant Contingencies and Environmental Stressors in the Animal Model" in order to identify the underlying mechanisms that produce and maintain self-injury, with the hope of eventually developing more successful means of treating and preventing human behaviors such as "cutting." Assisting him are psychology students Adam Miller '10 (Kildeer, Ill.), David Pucino '10 (Glastonbury, Conn.), and Jesse Sheinhite '10 (Norwood, Mass.).
• Dr. Joseph DiGiorgis, assistant professor of biology, continues his studies on the "Characterization of Kinesin-3 and Kinesin-3 cargo in transit within the axon," including summer research at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Mass., where he looks at the squid as a model for understanding neuronal physiology. His student researchers are William Dundon '10 (Walpole, Mass.), Colin Samoriski '11 (Victor, N.Y.), and Jean Pierre Sarkis '10 (Cranston, R.I.).
• Dr. Yinsheng Wan, associate professor of biology, is investigating "Mechanisms of CpG-ODN's Protection against UV-induced Cell Death," which relates to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight and non-melanoma skin cancers. He is assisted by Gabriela Brum '12 (Swansea, Mass.), Michael McCauley '12 (Northport, N.Y.), and Ari Nalbandian '12 (Cranston, R.I.).

In addition to the student research assistants above, biology major Nicolas Vincent '11 (North Providence, R.I.) has received a stipend to assist Toth.

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