The School of Medicine is pleased to congratulate School of Medicine researchers Jinyi Tang, PhD, Helen Wang, PhD, and Matthew Devall, PhD, for earning National Institutes of Health (NIH)-K awards. The prestigious NIH-K awards are career development grants for scientists and clinicians at various career stages. K awards are a vital funding source that support faculty as they grow in their research and serve as a launchpad for future funding opportunities.
Jinyi Tang, PhD, a research scientist in the Sun Lab, part of the Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research and the Department of Medicine’s Division of Infectious, received a K99/R00 transition award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the power of vaccination, yet the continued circulation of SARS-CoV-2 and the occurrence of “breakthrough” infections show that there is still much to learn. Dr. Tang’s research focuses on our body’s immune defenses where respiratory viruses first attack: the mucosal surfaces of our airway. This local “mucosal immunity” is our first barrier against infection, but current injectable vaccines primarily generate a systemic response and are less effective at inducing robust protection at this entry point.
Dr. Tang aims to define what a successful mucosal immune response against SARS-CoV-2 looks like and develop strategies for protection against respiratory viral infection and other infectious diseases. In this groundbreaking investigation, Dr. Tang will define immune compartments conferring protection against respiratory infection and transmission after mucosal vaccine boosters and unravel the mechanisms underlying the respiratory protection induced by mucosal vaccination. His research could pave the way for novel vaccines, like nasal sprays, that are specifically designed to elicit strong mucosal immunity, capable of preventing infection from taking hold and thereby reducing virus transmission in the community.
Huilun (Helen) Wang, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate in the Qi Lab in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics (MPBP), was awarded the highly competitive K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Her project, “Novel Role of SEL1L–HRD1 ERAD in Neurodevelopment,” will investigate how protein quality-control pathways in the endoplasmic reticulum shape brain development.
Dr. Wang’s research focuses on ER-associated degradation (ERAD), a pathway that clears defective proteins from cells. Her earlier work showed that mutations in the SEL1L-HRD1 ERAD complex cause a severe congenital condition known as ERAD-associated neurodevelopmental disorder, marked by developmental delays, intellectual disability, and motor dysfunction. With this new project, she will use genetic mouse models to define how SEL1L-HRD1 ERAD supports healthy cortical development and how its disruption leads to disease.
“We are extremely proud of Helen’s achievement,” said Dr. Ling Qi, Chair of MPBP, “This award reflects her creativity and dedication, and it will accelerate her path to independence while positioning her as a future leader in neurodevelopmental biology.”
Dr. Wang is co-mentored by MPBP Department Chair Ling Qi, PhD, Shengyi (Iris) Sun, PhD, in the Department of Pharmacology, and Noelle Dwyer, PhD, in the Department of Cell Biology. Members of her advisory committee include John Lukens, PhD, and Lulu Jiang, PhD.
Matthew Devall, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine, was awarded a three-year, K22 Career Transition Award from the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, for a project titled “A novel approach for the use of normal colon organoids in the identification of true causal variants and mechanistic interrogation of their gene targets in colon cancer risk.”
This K award offers Dr. Devall the opportunity to begin his new role as an independent researcher here at UVA, while also affording him the protected time needed to develop additional training in the artificial intelligence research space to further develop his career.
Over 200 independent genetic risk loci have been associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk through genome-wide association studies (GWAS). However, as these studies identify large regions of 10’s-1000’s of variants that are highly correlated to each other, the vast majority of known causal variants associated with this risk remains far lower. This places a significant roadblock on the translational potential of GWAS studies.
The Devall Lab aims to accelerate the discovery of causal variants identified in CRC by first identifying variants of genes and regions that drive gene expression and chromatin accessibility differences observed between stem cells and more differentiated cells within the colon epithelium. To do this, Dr. Devall’s lab aims to unlock the power of the colon organoid model system, which they view as a model not only of the colon crypt, but of the colon crypt of the specific individual from which the organoid was derived. Through high-throughput genetic editing and high-resolution imaging, they will then work to functionally validate causal variants. Doing so will significantly advance our understanding of CRC risk etiology and may pave the way for novel biomarker and drug discovery.