Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) awarded $307,854 to the University of Colorado (through its Office of Contracts and Grants) on April 3, 2026, under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859). This Project Grant supports fundamental research into the mechanisms controlling RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcriptional termination in human cells. The research will investigate how transcription termination is regulated both under normal cellular conditions and in response to cellular stress, such as heat shock, with particular focus on understanding why Pol II reads through typical gene end points and continues transcribing into intergenic regions and neighboring genes at thousands of genes.

The research will examine two critical steps of Pol II transcriptional termination: RNA cleavage to generate the 3' end of messenger RNA (mRNA) and removal of the polymerase from the genome. Specific Aim 1 will identify mechanisms that regulate the RNA cleavage step in response to heat shock stress, while subsequent aims will determine additional mechanisms controlling transcription termination. This basic research is designed to establish foundational knowledge about transcriptional regulation that may ultimately inform understanding of disease states associated with transcriptional mis-regulation. The project is scheduled for completion on December 31, 2029, and will be performed at the University of Colorado's Boulder, Colorado campus.