Prof. Hermann Receives NIH Award

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the College $414,000 in support of Professor of Biology Greg Hermann’s research. This NIH R15 grant, funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and the Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) program will support a new trajectory for Dr. Hermann’s research, building on earlier work and discoveries made during his 2022-23 sabbatical. The proposed project, Investigating the role of lipid metabolism in the biogenesis of lysosome-related organelles, will provide insights into how alterations in lipid biosynthesis and degradation can disrupt cellular physiology, which will provide fundamental knowledge that could lead to the treatment of diseases.

The AREA program emphasizes providing meaningful biomedical research experiences for undergraduate students, and enhancing the research environment at applicant institutions. Dr. Hermann’s project will enable undergraduates to deeply engage with studies of cell biology. In addition to learning key methods used by nearly all C. elegans research labs, student experiences with these approaches will make them highly competitive for, and successful in, post-undergraduate biomedical research positions. One of Dr. Hermann’s primary goals is to train and mentor the scientific development of undergraduates. Over the past decade, Dr. Hermann has trained 50 undergraduate students to carry out studies of LRO biogenesis in his lab, Wormland. Each student is typically mentored for 2-3 years in the Hermann lab, and 26 of these students have been coauthors on research publications. Nearly all of the Hermann lab alumni have pursued careers in the sciences; notably, four have gone on to work with Nobel laureates. This new NIH AREA award will support the research efforts of six undergraduates during the academic years and three students full-time each summer of the three-year grant.

It is worth noting that this grant is Dr. Hermann’s second competitive award from the National Institutes of Health—the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world. Even more significantly, this is the thirteenth external research grant that Dr. Hermann has secured since 2002. All of Dr. Hermann’s grants have supported transformative research, provided valuable research experiences to Lewis & Clark undergraduates, and resulted in discoveries shared widely in peer-reviewed publications. Please join SPARC in congratulating Greg on his latest success and recognizing his tireless efforts for Lewis & Clark students!