Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) awarded the University of Pennsylvania $665,172 under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) effective September 1, 2026, through April 30, 2031. This Modular Research in Aging (MIRA) Project Grant consolidates two predecessor R01 grants and funds investigator-initiated basic research focused on the structure, mechanism, and inhibition of metal-dependent enzymes. The research deliverables encompass two primary research areas: (1) structural and functional studies of histone deacetylases (HDACs) 6, 10, and 11 to establish structure-based rationales for designing isozyme-selective inhibitors applicable to cancer chemotherapy, immune modulation, and neurodegenerative disease treatment; and (2) investigation of terpene cyclase structure, function, and engineering to advance understanding of complex carbon-carbon bond formation mechanisms in natural product biosynthesis, with applications to pharmaceutical development including cancer and antimalarial therapeutics.

The award represents NIGMS's strategic investment in fundamental biomedical research that advances understanding of biological processes underlying disease diagnosis and treatment development. Consistent with NIGMS funding policies, the MIRA mechanism prioritizes supporting meritorious investigator-initiated research over multiple individual R01 awards, enabling the laboratory to consolidate prior efforts and address remaining knowledge gaps in enzyme structure-function relationships critical to drug discovery efforts.