B. Duygu Özpolat, an assistant professor of biology in WashU Arts & Sciences, received a renewal on her Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She follows seven other faculty members in biology who recently received MIRA grants or renewals. The MIRA is intended to provide experienced and early-stage researchers greater funding stability and flexibility to encourage long-term, high-potential projects, according to the NIH.
Özpolat received renewal for $2.3 million for the continuing study of cellular and molecular mechanisms of germline regeneration. Through the study of segmented worm Playnereis dumerilii, Özpolat and her team will study germ cell biology and the factors that enable its regeneration.
