South Dakota Ag Connection - USD Biology Professor Receives NIH Grant

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USD Biology Professor Receives NIH Grant
South Dakota Ag Connection - 10/18/2018

University of South Dakota professor of biology Paula Mabee, Ph.D., was awarded funding for a team to be part of a National Institutes of Health's (NIH) project called the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP). HuBMAP is a program of the NIH Common Fund.

This is a four-year, $54 million initiative to develop an open, global map of the adult human body from the level of molecules in individual cells through tissue and whole-body anatomical levels -- essentially a Google Maps of the human body.

"The three-dimensional map can be utilized by researchers, clinicians and educators to better understand the human body, gene activity, spatial navigation systems and more," Mabee said.

USD's team received $570,152 for the initial nine-month period, with the expectation of continued funding through the duration of the project.

"We have a lead role and will work closely with the NIH," said Mabee. "We want to create a collaborative consortium that will maintain momentum and spawn creativity for years."

The opportunity is important to USD as the process is highly competitive. Only 15 teams across the United States were awarded funding to participate in this effort, including Harvard University, Stanford University, Carnegie-Mellon University and the California Institute of Technology.

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