Congratulations to Katelyn Noronha, a third-year MB&B PhD student, for being awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31) from the National Cancer Institute. This fellowship is given through various institutes of the NIH to fund promising candidates while they perform their PhD dissertation research in a scientific health-related field.
The project Katelyn proposed is to study cancer-associated mutations in the tricarboxylic acid cycle genes that cause the production of oncometabolites. Her research aims to understand how these oncometabolites regulate nonhomologous end joining pathways. She will also evaluate important proteins in these pathways as potential therapeutic targets in oncometabolite producing cancers.
Katelyn said getting her research funded felt great because “this is an exciting area of research, and it is very encouraging to get favorably reviewed by our peers in the field.” On the impacts of this award, Katelyn said “hopefully this F31 frees up funding for ambitious potential follow up plans for this project!”
MB&B is incredibly proud of Katelyn for receiving this award and for her dedication to her research!
By Jake Thrasher