WVU graduate student awarded research grant from National Eye Institute

A West Virginia University Department of Biochemistry graduate student has been awarded a fellowship grant from the National Eye Institute to conduct research to develop novel therapies for blindness.

Rawaa Aljammal, Ph.D. candidate, was awarded approximately $92,000 for a fellowship with the United States Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, and National Eye Institute entitled, “Mechanism Behind Blindness Linked to Excess Glutamylation.”

The study aims to explain the mechanisms behind excess protein glutamylation that lead to vision loss. Aljammal said that the long-term goal of understanding the basic mechanism is to develop treatments that restore the balance of protein glutamylation and prevent vision loss.

Aljammal is a fifth-year student in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Program in the Department of Biochemistry. Her advisor is Visvanathan Ramamurthy, Ph.D., Department of Biochemistry chairman and professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences.

This two-year grant provides around $46,000 per year for on-site research conducted in Dr. Ramamurthy’s lab, where Aljammal will be the principal investigator.

“I am extremely proud of Rawaa for securing this funding,” Ramamurthy said. “There is still a lot unknown about how changing the glutamylation of protein can lead to blindness. This study by Rawaa provides us with a unique opportunity to better understand the significance of protein modification in vision.”

Aljammal said she is grateful to play such a crucial role in research that she hopes will prevent blindness.

For more information on biochemistry or visual sciences programs, visit medicine.wvu.edu.