The Department of Genetics has established a non-endowed program fund in the UNC Health Foundation – the Chair’s Mid-Career Genetics Faculty Research Fund. \u00a0Funds were provided by a donor based on their belief that cutting-edge fundamental research relies on the creativity and ingenuity of scientists and their willingness to challenge long-held assumptions. \u00a0The fund is intended to provide outstanding mid-career scientists with the freedom to continue to challenge dogma and engage in transformative research. \u00a0The fund provides a three-year award for an Associate Professor. \u00a0Dr. Adriana Beltran (Associate Professor and Director of the Human Pluripotent Cell Core) is the first recipient of this new award.<\/p>\n
Dr. Beltran intends to utilize these funds to advance high-risk, high-reward projects focused on developing novel physiological models, functional assays, and analytical pipelines. \u00a0Using novel systems, including patient-specific neuronal models of epilepsy, hepatocyte-neuron integrated systems to study the brain-liver axis, and estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer organoid models, Beltran proposes to redefine how we study disease by using physiologically relevant cellular systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"