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| W. Todd Monroe, assistant professor in LSU’s Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, was recently honored with the prestigious CAREER Award from the Biomedical Engineering division of the National Science Foundation, or NSF. The NSF CAREER Award is the foundation’s most highly-esteemed award for junior faculty members. It is part of the Faculty Early Career Development, or CAREER, Program, which, according to NSF literature, “recognizes and supports the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who are most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century.” CAREER Award recipients are selected on the basis of creative career-development plans that effectively integrate research and education within the context of the missions of their institutions. Monroe’s research for the grant will focus primarily on controlling RNA function in cells and tissues using photosensitive chemicals that inactivate the genetic material until exposed to light. In recent years, textbooks have been re-written to account for the newly discovered roles that RNA plays in controlling cell behavior. RNA is now known to play a critical role in controlling gene expression, which governs many biological processes. Monroe’s research team will design new ways to control small regulatory RNA molecules using light-sensitive chemistries and pinpointed laser activation in cells. Ultimately, such research could lead to better understanding and control of RNA-based drugs, a current “holy grail” of biotechnology industry. Monroe works in the area of cellular and molecular bioengineering, a field experiencing rapid growth in academic and research programs across the country. He runs a cell culture laboratory on campus and his area of expertise lies in using engineering principles to control gene expression in cells. “My collaborators related to this biophotonics work, Robert Hammer, professor in LSU’s chemistry department, and Kurt Svoboda, biological sciences professor at the university, make interdisciplinary projects like this possible,” said Monroe. “To have the most impact, we must focus on the unexplored areas between the interfaces between chemistry, cell biology and biomedical optics.” The team is currently using light to turn genes on and off in transparent zebrafish, which serve as a popular model for developmental and other biomedical research. In addition to the research, Monroe’s CAREER Award project also incorporates an educational component that will bring these new topics to the classroom and emphasize the importance of undergraduate research and outreach. “I am fortunate to have had excellent exposure to research while growing up in Baton Rouge, participating in a summer research internship here at LSU when I was a high school senior, followed by laboratory jobs at Pennington while an undergrad at LSU,” he said. “These wonderful experiences motivated me to pursue a career in science and engineering, and I would like to afford other young scholars similar opportunities.” After completing his undergraduate degree in biological engineering at LSU, Monroe pursued graduate and postdoctoral work in biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., before returning home in 2002 to his current position. Monroe plans to continue outreach with existing programs at LSU such as the Center for Biomodular and Multiscale Systems to have high school students and teachers and undergraduates in his laboratory during summers carrying out similar research projects. For more information, contact Monroe at tmonroe@lsu.edu or 225-578-1059. -30- |
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