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CONTACT:
Teng Ma, Ph.D., (850) 410-6558
Yanchang Wang, Ph.D., (850) 644-0402
By Jennifer Schmidt
September 2004
TWO FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS RECEIVE STATE RESEARCH GRANT
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.- Two Florida State University researchers are
among the recipients of 19 biomedical research grants announced
recently by Gov. Jeb Bush. Of the $9.2 million granted to biomedical
research in Florida, a combined $881,000 was given to FSU's two
recipients: Teng Ma of the Florida A&M/FSU chemical engineering
department and Yanchang Wang of the FSU College of Medicine.
Ma hopes to improve the treatment of heart disease caused by smoking
through vascular tissue engineering. Ma's team has successfully used
cells from a pig's small intestine to grow primary human smooth
muscle cells in cultures. Ma will examine the tissue from these
cultures to test the usefulness of pig small intestine for growing
blood grafts outside a patient's body. The long term objective is to
fully restore the functions of diseased or injured blood vessels by
implanting the grafts grown in the lab.
Wang's project is testing the "DNA damage checkpoint" function of an
enzyme originally discovered by Nobel Laureate Lee Hartwell to find
causes and treatment for cancer. Wang's team has preliminary data
indicating that the enzyme, phosphatase 2A, is required to stop cell
division when damaged DNA is present in budding yeast. With the
state research grant, Wang will try to answer why and how
phosphatase 2A is required to stop cell division. The study will
provide useful information for human cancer treatment, as
phosphatase 2A is also present in human cells.
The grants were made available through the James and Esther King
Biomedical Research Program. Bush recently signed legislation that
adds $6 million to the program each year and allows multi year
grants to biomedical researchers in Florida.
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