Research News

Grants

• Jennifer R. Amico, MD, associate professor of family medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) together with Noa’ A Shimoni, MD, assistant professor of family medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS), and Julie Blumenfeld, program director of nurse-midwifery program in the Rutgers School of Nursing, received a three-year grant for $5 million from the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs for the project, “New Jersey reproductive education and training initiative.”
• Avram Holmes, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry at the medical school and the Rutgers Brain Health Institute, received a five-year R01 competing continuation grant for $3.8 million from the National Institutes of Health for the project, “Functional genomics of the human connectome in psychiatric illness,” sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health.
• Michal Schnaider Beeri, PhD, professor of neurology at the medical school and director of the Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center at the Rutgers Brain Health Institute, was awarded a new five-year multi-PI grant for $3.8 million from the National Institutes of Health, together with Aron S. Buchman, MD, and Hans-Ulrich Kelin, PhD, for the project, “Decoding the role of the glycoproteome in Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders,” sponsored by the National Institute on Aging.
• Vikas R. Dharnidharka, MD, MPH, professor and chair of pediatrics at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, transferred to the medical school four years of a U01 grant for $3,6 million from the National Institutes of Health for the project, “Understanding the immune response changes to clinical interventions for Epstein-Barr virus infection prior to lymphoma development in children after organ transplants (UNEARTH),” sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. 
• David Harold Zald, PhD, professor of psychiatry at the medical school and the inaugural director of the Center for Advanced Human Brain Imaging Research, was awarded a new five-year R01 grant for $3.3 million from the National Institutes of Health for the project, “Temptation Resistance Failures: Transdiagnostic features and etiological influences across externalizing and internalizing disorders,” sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health.
• Hai Sun, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurosurgery and neurology at the medical school, vice chair of clinical affairs, chief of service, and director of epilepsy surgery, was awarded a new three-year R18 grant for $2.8 million from the National Institutes of Health for the project, “An epileptic-network closed-loop stimulation device (enCLS) designed to target and arrest ictogenesis,” sponsored by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
• Christian S. Hinrichs, MD, professor of medicine at the medical school, received a revised four-year multi-PI U01 grant for $2.5 million from the National Institute of Health, together with Jain Cao, PhD, and James L Gulley, MD, for the project, “E7 TCR-T cell therapy for HPV-associated cancers,” sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.
• Yanping Jiang, PhD, assistant professor of family medicine and community health at the medical school and the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, received a new four-year R01 grant for $2.8 million from the National Institutes of Health for the project, “Psychosocial and cultural determinants of cardiometabolic health among older Chinese Americans,” sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. 
• Michael Manhart, PhD, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the medical school and the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, was awarded a new five-year R35 grant for $2.2  million from the National Institutes of Health for the project, “Impact of ecological interactions on mutant fitness and evolution in microbes,” sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. 
• Lauren G. Poole, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology at the medical school, received a new five-year R35 grant for $2.1 million from the National Institutes of Health for the project, “Novel regulation of fibrinogen expression and function,” sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. 
• Jessica King Jensen, PhD, assistant professor of family medicine and community health at the medical school and the Institute for Nicotine and Tobacco Studies, and Ollie Ganz, DrPH, assistant professor of health behavior, society, and policy at the School of Public Health, received a new five-year R01 grant for $1.8 million from the National Institutes of Health for the project, “Advancing the science on the impact of cigar package quantity on cigar use behaviors,” sponsored by the National Cancer Center.
• Sunita Chaudhary, PhD, associate professor of surgery at the medical school and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, received a five-year R25 competing continuation grant for $1.7 million from the National Institutes of Health for the project, “Rutgers Youth Enjoy Science (RUYES),” sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. 
• Kristina Jackson, PhD, professor of psychiatry at RWJMS and the Rutgers Addiction Research Center of the Brain Health Institute, received a new five-year T32 grant for $1.6 million from the National Institutes of Health for the project, “Training in etiology and consequences of alcohol use across the lifespan,” sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
• Loren W. Runnels, PhD, professor of pharmacology at RWJMS, received a revised one-year T32 non-competing continuation grant for $1.5 million from the National Institutes of Health restoring funding for the project, “Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) at Rutgers-New Brunswick,” sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
• Nina Cooperman, PsyD, associate professor of psychiatry at RWJMS, was awarded a two-year R01 grant extension for $1.5 million from the National Institutes of Health for the project, “Motivational interviewing and mindfulness-oriented recovery enhancement for tobacco dependence and other drug use in methadone treatment,” sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. 
• Katie A. Devine, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics at RWJMS and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, received a revised two-year R37 grant extension for $1.3 million from the National Institutes of Health for the project, “Bright IDEAS-Young Adults: Problem-solving skills training to reduce distress among young adults with cancer,” sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. 

Research

• Smita S. Patel, PhD, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, led a recently published study highlighting Cryo-EM structures of active human mitochondrial transcription initiation complexes.  The study, “Human mitochondrial RNA polymerase structures reveal transcription start site and slippage mechanism,” published in the journal, Molecular Cell, involved a team of researchers at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rega Institute for Medical Research in Belgium, and University of Alberta in Canada 2025 August 21;85(16). 
• Zhiping Pang, PhD, professor of neuroscience and cell biology at the medical school and the Child Health Institute of New Jersey and Director of the Center for NeuroMetabolism, along with Mark Rossi, PhD, assistant professor of neuroscience and cell biology at the medical school and the Child Health Institute of New Jersey, recently contributed to two studies tracing brain circuits that tell us when to eat and when to stop. The articles, “State-dependent central synaptic regulation by GLP-1 is essential for energy homeostasis,” published in Nature Metabolism, and “Energy state guides reward seeking via an extended amygdala to lateral hypothalamus pathway,” published in  Nature Communications, trace the first complementary wiring diagram and satiety in ways that could refine today’s blockbuster weight-loss drugs and blunt their side effects. 2025 May 14;16:4474;2025 June 04; 7:1443-1458.
• A recent study, “Cypin regulates K63-linked polyubiquitination to shape synaptic content” published in Science Advances discovered how a key protein helps maintain strong connections between brain cells that are crucial for learning and memory. The research uncovered a previously unknown role for cypin, a brain protein, and could potentially point the way to new treatments for traumatic brain injuries and diseases including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Several scientists from Rutgers participated in the study, including Kiran Madura, PhD, professor of pharmacology. 2025 July;11(28).
• Michal Schnaider Beeri, PhD, The Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Professor of Neurology and Director of the Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center, Brain Health Institute and Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging, was co-author on the study, “Emotional response to amyloid beta status disclosure among research participants at high dementia risk,” published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia regarding the emotional and behavioral impacts of learning one’s risk for Alzheimer’s. 2025 May 07;5(21).