FAYETTEVILLE -- More than $10 million in federal grant money over five years will establish a new University of Arkansas, Fayetteville research center aiming to gather insights from across disciplines about cell and tissue metabolism.
The term in bioscience refers to the physical and chemical processes that allow for body functioning and development.
"Changes in metabolism are a key aspect of common health problems like cancer, diabetes, and obesity that have been devastating in Arkansas," Kyle Quinn, a UA associate professor of biomedical engineering, said in an email.
Quinn is the project leader for the National Institutes of Health grant award, which kicks off with $2,263,150 in funding this fiscal year. He said similar amounts will be awarded in the coming years for an expected total of about $10.8 million.
The grant money establishes the Arkansas Integrative Metabolic Research Center.
Quinn, the center's director, has previously won grant awards for his research on metabolic imaging, an area of study involving the use of advanced technology.
At the center, imaging and spectroscopy will be one of three core research areas, led by Narasimhan Rajaram, a UA associate professor of biomedical engineering.
Another core area, focused on what is known as bioenergetics, will be directed by Shilpa Iyer, a UA assistant professor of biological sciences. One aspect of the center's work will be measuring cellular respiration. This process can involve living matter converting oxygen to energy, for example.
A core area devoted to data science will be led by Justin Zhan, a professor in the computer science and computer engineering department.
"At our center, we have a collection of researchers across different scientific disciplines studying how altered metabolism plays a role in both common and rare diseases, and there will be a lot of natural synergy among the different projects," Quinn said.
The center also will support work by other UA and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences researchers.
Quinn said that over the past five years, members of the center's research team have won funding for their work studying metabolism from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense. Their earlier work "served as the foundation" for the funding proposal to establish the new center, he said.
"It is clear that the NIH recognizes this area of research as a strength at the U of A and an important aspect of human health that needs to be studied further," Quinn said in an email.
The institutes' summary of the award states that the new center "will invest in existing state-of-the-art microscopy service centers on campus."
Quinn, in an email, said the center's research team already has imaging and spectroscopy equipment that will be shared with other researchers.
"We anticipate expanding our capabilities with University support to meet researcher needs as the center is established and grows. The University is committed to providing physical space for the center's research cores, but an exact location hasn't been settled upon," Quinn said.
He said the grant dollars mostly are going toward supporting faculty and staff members as well as specific projects rather than toward major equipment purchases.