The Giovanni Armenise–Harvard Foundation has awarded its 2010 Junior Faculty Grants to Samara Reck-Peterson and Sandeep Robert Datta of HMS for their work, respectively, on motor-driven movement within cells and transmission of olfactory signals that trigger the fear response. The grants are one of several funding programs offered by the foundation at HMS and at leading universities and research institutes in Italy. The core of the foundation’s mission is to foster basic research in the United States and Italy, fulfilling the vision of its founder, Count Giovanni Auletta Armenise, to encourage and support extraordinary young investigators at the start of their careers.
A member of the Department of Cell Biology, Reck-Peterson will investigate “Mechanism and Regulation of Cytoplasmic Dynein” and explore how the dynein protein works as a molecular motor, transporting cargo within eukaryotic cells. Transport events driven by dynein are crucial for many processes including cell division, cell migration and spatial organization within cells.
Datta, in the Department of Neurobiology, will address “Carbon Dioxide Avoidance: A Window into Fear Circuits in the Brain,” measuring how the olfactory system conveys information to the brain, which then initiates instinctive fear behavior. This set of experiments will attempt to elucidate the brain’s method of deciphering and reacting to stimuli signaling danger.
The Junior Faculty Grants program provides the foundation’s largest individual awards at HMS, funding researchers at the level of $75,000 per year for two years.
Candidates are nominated by their departments and asked to submit a proposal to the Armenise–Harvard Foundation by December. The Senior Faculty Review Committee, which evaluates applications and selects the finalists, represents members of the seven basic science departments at the School. More information on the Armenise-Harvard Foundation and its programs can be found on the foundation’s website: http://www.hms.harvard.edu/Armenise/home.html.
