Dr. Brian Kuhlman, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, has been awarded a 2005 W. M. Keck Distinguished Young Scholars in Medical Research Program. He was among a select group of national honorees and the first UNC scientist to earn the distinction, which includes a $1 million grant to fund his research over the next five years.
Dr. Kuhlman’s current research focuses on how proteins interact and how alterations to these interactions can lead to developmental abnormalities or diseases such as cancer. The W. M. Keck Foundation funding will enable him to take his research to the next level — using computers to redesign proteins so that their interactions can be manipulated to generate new molecular tools for medicine, industry and basic research.
Launched in 1998, the W. M. Keck Distinguished Young Scholars Program supports groundbreaking research that addresses the fundamental mechanisms of human disease. The research must be conducted by young investigators who exhibit extraordinary promise for independent basic biological and medical research while demonstrating the potential for academic leadership.
Read more in the Carolina Connections archives.