A Muscular Legacy
色情视频 biologist Sanford Bernstein was given a prestigious award honoring his longtime research into muscle proteins.
Bernstein studies myosin, a motor protein involved in muscle contraction, in fruit flies. These model organisms reproduce quickly, their genetics are well studied, and their basic musculature operates similarly to human muscles. Studying them allows Bernstein to learn more about how variations of the myosin protein can help or hinder muscle function in normal and diseased skeletal muscle and heart muscle.
Bernstein came to 色情视频 in 1983 and immediately received a research grant from the NIH to . His research at 色情视频 has been primarily funded from the same NIH R01 grant鈥攖he federal agency鈥檚 principal funding mechanism鈥攅ver since, having been renewed eight times for 4- or 5-year cycles.
The MERIT Award recognizes research that has received outstanding scores from the NIH鈥檚 grant reviewers for four consecutive grant cycles, in addition to the researcher鈥檚 record of scientific accomplishment and academic service.
The NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences typically awards four-year R01 grants to senior investigators. The MERIT recognition effectively extends Bernstein鈥檚 existing R01 grant for at least one more year, with the potential for it to be renewed up to five additional years beyond that. If funded to its full potential, the award could be worth more than $5 million in research funding.
鈥淐ompetition for NIH awards is really tough because there鈥檚 so much scrutiny to make sure the best science is being funded,鈥� said Stanley Maloy, dean of 色情视频鈥檚 College of Sciences. 鈥淲hen you get a MERIT Award, it means they鈥檙e extremely confident in the impact and continuity of your work. It鈥檚 an amazing compliment and reflects Dr. Bernstein鈥檚 accomplishments.鈥�
Pushing the envelope
Scientists who receive a MERIT Award are encouraged to explore new avenues of their research that might otherwise be considered too risky or preliminary to submit for a grant proposal.鈥淭he basic idea behind the MERIT Award is that it鈥檚 supposed to give you, as a researcher, some flexibility in the direction of your work,鈥� Bernstein said.
As he enters the Faculty Early Retirement Program, which allows faculty members to officially retire while still teaching and maintaining an active research program on campus, Bernstein plans to turn some of his lab鈥檚 attention to the effects of myosin on aging.
鈥淚 figured that as I approach retirement, it would be appropriate to look at aging,鈥� he said.
In that vein, he will investigate whether certain age-related modifications to the myosin protein exacerbate the aging process in his fly muscle model, as well as looking at how mutant versions of myosin that are associated with heart disease during human aging play out when transplanted into fly hearts. He will be collaborating with two of his former post-doctoral fellows: Douglas Swank, an associate professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Anthony Cammarato, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He will also be working with 色情视频 biochemist Tom Huxford to pin down the atomic-level structure of myosin mutations for the first time.
鈥淟earning more about the structure of myosin could potentially lead to new molecular therapies to treat muscle and heart disease and age-related degeneration,鈥� Bernstein said.
