BCM geneticist receives NIH director's Pioneer Award

Glenna Picton
713-798-4710
picton@bcm.edu

HOUSTON -- (Sept. 24, 2009) -- Dr. Susan Rosenberg, professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, is one of 18 scientists nationwide to receive a 2009 National Institutes of Health director's Pioneer Award, presented to exceptionally creative researchers whose work explores new directions that promise to solve often age-old problems.

Rosenberg, who holds the Cullen Endowed Professorship in Molecular Genetics at BCM, uses the simple bacteria Escherichia coli to study mechanisms by which genomic instability occurs, causing gene mutations.

How does DNA become damaged?

Most genomic instability is instigated by damage to the genetic material followed by repair, which reassembles DNA imperfectly. She will use her five-year, $2.5 million Pioneer Award to study how the genetic material in living cells becomes damaged, leading to mutations and often leading to cancer.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the NIH, announced the awards today in a special ceremony at the NIH.

In addition to the Pioneer Awards, the NIH announced the 2009 director's Transformative R01 (T-RO1) Awards and New Innovator Awards. All three awards are granted under the NIH Common Fund's Roadmap for Medical Research program which supports cross-cutting, trans-NIH programs with a particular emphasis on innovation and risk taking.

Challenge status quo

"The appeal of the Pioneer, New Innovator, and now the T-R01 programs, is that investigators are encouraged to challenge the status quo with innovative ideas, while being given the necessary resources to test them," said Collins. "The fact that we continue to receive such strong proposals for funding through the programs reflects the wealth of creative ideas in science today."

Dr. Brendan Lee, a professor of molecular and human genetics at BCM, is one of 42 scientists to receive a 2009 director's Transformative R01 Award.

Controversial findings lead to change

Rosenberg's work opened doors to new understanding of mutation and damage. When she first described studies that showed that mutation rates increase as the bacterial cells are stressed, the concept was controversial. However, she persevered, and her findings now represent a new avenue of investigation into the changes that lead to antibiotic resistance in bacteria and cancer in human.

Rosenberg said that a better understanding of all the genes that affect levels of DNA damage may uncover what causes this genomic instability and affects cancer formation.

"We hope to find the genes, proteins, pathways and networks that control this DNA damage in E. coli and extrapolate it to humans," said Rosenberg. "We think many of these will be important cancer genes not previously recognized."

Rosenberg is a professor in the departments of molecular and human genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology and molecular virology and microbiology at BCM, as well as a member of the cell and molecular biology program in the NCI-designated Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center at BCM and the Translational Biology and Molecular Medicine Graduate Program.

"The kind of science pursued by Dr. Rosenberg promises to answer fundamental questions about genomes, cells and the repair mechanisms of both," said BCM Interim President Dr. William T. Butler. "We are pleased that her exceptional creativity and vision have been recognized and we look forward to the new understanding that will arise from her work in the future."

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