IU professor lands $2.8 NIH grant to study ‘DNA folding’
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An Indiana University biologist has been awarded a $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to better understand how DNA is structured.
Stephen Bell, a professor of biology and molecular and cellular biochemistry, will investigate how DNA is compressed in a cell through folding. DNA misfolding has been linked to a variety of genetic diseases and certain types of cancer, according to an IU news release.
“There has been a lot of research on gene expression, and we know a lot about how DNA replicates — how it splits apart and is rebuilt,” Bell said in the news release. “What isn’t as well understood are the systems that organize DNA, including the DNA compaction system, and these are of fundamental importance to chromosomal health. Technology has advanced enough that we finally have the tools to study these processes biochemically.”
Every human cell contains about 2 meters of DNA, Bell said. A type of protein helps fold the DNA into structures called chromosomes that are less than 10 millionths of a meter in length.
Through a field of science known as “synthetic biology,” Bell and his team aim to build their own version of the DNA compaction system so they can better control the research variables.
“After we rebuild it, we’ll want to create an even simpler model,” Bell said. “The goal is always to reduce the potential number of potentially conflicting variables. Once we’ve stripped everything else away, we can really start to grasp how it all works.”
The funding comes from the NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences.