Grant supports minority graduate research on body clocks

A five-year $635,000 grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke will help U.Va. and two partner institutions attract students from under-represented groups to graduate study, particularly in neuroscience and biological timing. U.Va. faculty in Arts & Sciences, Medicine and Engineering will participate. Collectively, the faculty have interests in temporal biology — the study of the mechanisms by which biological oscillations are generated and controlled.

Students selected for the program will participate in the graduate program of their home institutions and can receive additional training at one of the other participating schools. The program will provide research stipends and faculty mentors. Eventually the students will receive graduate support from regular research grants under a faculty adviser.

Northwestern University and the Morehouse School of Medicine are U.Va.’s partners in the program. Application details are available from the U.Va. provost’s office.