On April 1st, Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemisty Ishita Mukerji received a four-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) worth $798,368 to fund her research on the structure of DNA. She studies four-stranded DNA that is involved in DNA repair and recombination, different from the more well known two-stranded DNA.

Specifically, Mukerji looks at the proteins that bind to the junction of the DNA and how they affect DNA repair and recombination. 

“These are fundamental processes in the cell,” Mukerji said. “It increases our understandings of our processing because if they don’t work properly they can lead to tumors.” 

The broader picture of her research focuses on understanding how such medical conditions can be prevented or possibly cured. Mukerji’s lab is focusing on understanding which proteins prevent DNA from swapping genes, a process that can lead to tumor formation.

“People are very interested in meiosis and gene repair,” Mukerji said, explaining why her team won the competitive national grant out of a pool of 200 applicants. “It’s a really tough time to get funding right now, so in that case we are lucky.”

The money that she received will go to pay student assistants salaries, stipends and materials for the research. Mike Lubrano ’09, who works with Mukerji, spoke about the University’s strength as a liberal arts research institution. 

“It’s very unusual for a school of our size to have a separate department for Molecular Biology,” he said. “We are able to do several research projects on how biological molecules are related to disease. If you have a better understanding of these fibers, you can create drugs to prevent them.”

Grabel reflects on Obama’s executive order in support of stem cell research

On March 9th, 2009, President Obama signed an executive order ending restrictions that the Bush administration had placed on federal funding for stem cell research. For the last eight years, federal dollars could only be used to study stem cell lines that had been created before the restrictions were imposed in 2001. This latest success for proponents of stem-cell research is reflected in the research of Professor of Biology Laura Grabel, yet she warns against reading too much into the repeal of the ban.

“It’s a smaller step then I think most people think it is,” Professor Grabel said. “It’s not like the issue is over now or has been resolved.” 

Although some restrictions have been removed, researchers will not necessarily see additional funding in the near future. Given state and federal budgetary crises across the nation, an increase in federal funding for any scientific research would be unusual. Grabel’s main concern was whether Connecticut would continue to support the state-wide research. On Wednesday she heard back from Congress that Connecticut will continue to fund the research that she is currently working on with Professor of Biology Janice Naegele and Assistant Professor of Biology Gloster Aaron.

Obama’s executive order will allow scientists like Grabel to begin working with new cell lines. There have been 100 new cell lines created since 2001. The order will allow federal money currently being used for stem cell research to apply to these new lines, which are created frequently. Federal funds will not be used, however, to generate new lines. 

“Now we will be able to use a new cell line in my lab,” Grabel said.

Scientists have recently been researching how to create embryos and cell lines that model specific diseases. This is called therapeutic cloning. A nucleus from a patient cell with the targeted disease is placed into an egg and genetically compatible cells are created. This process is still in the planning stages and has not yet been completed successfully. It will take another generation of new lines and more legislative action to approve any continuing research, but Grabel believes President Obama’s executive order is a step in the right direction.