07/14/2014

Chemical Biology Interface Training Grant renewed

Recent research from the research group of Professor

The National Institutes of Health has renewed the Chemical Biology Interface Training Grant (CBITG) for the next five years, which provides $1.2 million to fund graduate students working at the interface of chemistry and biology.

Overseen by Professor Mark Distefano, this grant will support five to six students per year over the next five years. The students take courses in chemistry and biology, attend a seminar series devoted to the chemistry-biology interface, are provided with funds to attend outside scientific meetings and career-related activities, and are responsible for organizing and running a symposium involving speakers from academia and industry. The training grant involves faculty from the departments of Chemistry, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, and Medicinal Chemistry.

The 2014 CBITG Symposium was organized by trainees Mathew Jensen, Cory Knoot, Anna Komor, Kimberly Maize and Aniekan Okon. More than 50 posters were presented by various students and post-doctorates participating in the grant. Featured speakers included Mark Adams (J. Craig Venter Institute), Michelle Henderson and Katie Peterson (former trainees), Elisabeth Martinez (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center), Claudia Schmidt-Dannert (University of Minnesota), Lance Seefeldt (Utah State University), and Peter Senter (Seattle Genetics). More than 150 students, post-doctorates, and faculty attended.