EVANS RECEIVES NIH GRANT TO STUDY DYNAMIC BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES

September 30, 2009

Over the next two years, James Evans, project scientist in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences, will be leading research for two separate $1 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) Challenge Grants. Evans is the head of the Evans/Stahlberg Cryo-Electron Microscopy laboratory at UC Davis.

Competition was intense for the NIH Challenge Grants, which are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus bill. More than 25,000 grant proposals were submitted, and only 200 were awarded.

Grant to Elucidate Dynamic Biological Processes

James Evans is the principal investigator on a grant entitled “Real-Time Imaging of Dynamic Biological Processes at Nanometer Spatial Resolution.” Co-investigators on this grant are Jodi Nunnari, chair and professor of molecular and cellular biology, and Nigel Browning, professor of molecular and cellular biology in the College of Biological Sciences and professor of chemical engineering and materials science in the College of Engineering.

This $500,000 per year grant will cover tests to prove the capabilities of the world’s first electron microscope capable of filming live biological processes. Browning is building the new Bio-DTEM (dynamic Transmission Electron Microscope) with another $2 million NIH grant.

"We hope to outrun the damage that electron beams cause to biological samples and directly observe “live” processes for the first-time at nanometer and nanosecond resolution,” explains Evans.

The Bio-DTEM combines the image resolution characteristics of an electron microscope with the time resolution of ultrafast laser pulses to increase the spatiotemporal resolution five to eight orders of magnitude over current techniques.

The team plans to investigate the dynamics of mitochondrial division and microtubule assembly in addition to evaluating the time-scale and mechanism of electron beam induced damage and movement. This research has the potential to establish new protocols for future research aimed at understanding the mechanisms involved with both normal and abnormal cellular processes at the near-atomic scale.

A more detailed abstract about this NIH grant can be viewed online by searching for project number 1RC1GM091755-01.

Grant to Study Effects of Nanotubes on Human Health

Kent Pinkerton, director of the UC Davis Center for Health and the Environment and professor in the School of Medicine and the School of Veterinary Medicine, is the principal investigator for the grant “Novel Approaches to Evaluate Carbon Nanotube Health Impacts.” James Evans is a co-investigator for this grant, along with UC Davis colleagues Ting Guo, associate professor of chemistry, and Laura Van Winkle, associate adjunct professor of anatomy, physiology and cell biology in the School of Veterinary Medicine. This grant award is also $500,000 per year for the next two years.

Carbon-based engineered nanomaterials, such as single-walled carbon nanotubes, are expected to proliferate into many manufactured goods in the next 5 years owing to their superior electronic, optical, mechanical, chemical, and even biological properties. Inhalation of carbon nanotubes may cause cellular injury and respiratory distress, and this grant will bring together a number of novel approaches to address key issues regarding the potential human health effects of inhaled engineered nanomaterials. Evans will direct high-resolution imaging and characterization of carbon nanotubes present in cellular tissue after inhalation.

A more detailed abstract about this NIH grant can be viewed online by searching for project number 1RC1ES018232-01.