Deborah Lycan receives NIH Award

The National Institutes of Health has awarded the College a $257,775 grant in support of Deborah Lycan’ s project, “Nuclear export of the small ribosomal subunit”.  This three year Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) grant will allow Dr. Lycan, Professor of Biology, to continue her studies of ribosome biogenesis and export in yeast. The long-term goal of this project is to understand the nuclear export of the eukaryotic small (40S) ribosomal subunit.  Dr. Lycan noted, “The biogenesis of ribosomes is tightly coupled to cell growth; indeed, recent data suggest that changes in ribosome biogenesis may be among the most important molecular alterations in cancer cells. A better understanding of the details of ribosome biogenesis and export could potentially identify new therapeutic targets in the fight against cancer.”  This grant will help support the work of a postdoctoral scholar and undergraduate students. (August 2011)