Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) awarded Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-Shreveport a Project Grant of $516,250 under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) effective July 1, 2026 through March 31, 2031. The funded research investigates genome architecture and gene control in response to stress, specifically examining the three-dimensional topological rearrangements of the genome that drive transcriptional regulation. The project establishes budding yeast as a model system to study how Heat Shock Factor 1 (HSF1)-mediated responses orchestrate dynamic structural changes in heat shock response genes dispersed across multiple chromosomes, driving them to coalesce into transcriptionally active foci through HSF1-containing nuclear condensates.

The research delivers fundamental scientific knowledge regarding the mechanisms controlling dynamic genome topology and identifies key nuclear factors—including HSF1, RNA Polymerase II, the Mediator complex, nuclear pore complexes, and chromatin architecture proteins—that contribute to both condensate formation and gene coalescence. This basic research has translational implications for understanding HSF1 function in human malignant cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. The NIGMS Biomedical Research and Research Training program supports investigator-initiated basic research that increases understanding of biological processes and provides the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.