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Auburn Cellular Biologist Receives $300,000 NIH Grant
AUBURN, Ala.—What do babies and scientists have in common? Both may benefit from a $300,000 National Institute for Health (NIH) grant that has been awarded to an Auburn University researcher.
Marie Wooten, a cellular biologist working on research through the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station at Auburn University, received a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), one of several agencies operating within the NIH. The grant offers Wooten a chance to apply basic science to the study of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), a disorder occurring in infants whose mothers consumed alcohol during pregnancy.
"My lab primarily works on how cells perceive extracellular signals to move information across the cell membrane and into the cell nucleus to affect gene expression," explained Wooten, an assistant professor in Auburn's Department of Zoology and Wildlife Science.
Most of her work concentrates on cell growth and how cells differentiate and eventually specialize to perform specific functions, such as become neurons. "In the lab, we are trying to get a basic understanding of events, make new discoveries and work out problems associated with this process," she added.
Through her research, Wooten has developed a laboratory model used to scrutinize cellular activity. Scientists trying to understand the interaction of alcohol with the developing fetal brain can use this model to find out what's happening in specific cells to cause changes that may lead to this syndrome.
According to Wooten, children suffering from FAS usually exhibit a decrease in brain size and morphological changes, such as altered facial features. Her work already has shown that cells exposed to alcohol take on properties of mature cells faster than normally developing cells. This suggests that FAS is a growth-related problem that may affect the number and/or the type of neurons present in the brain.
The NIAAA grant will allow Wooten to examine the underlying cellular and molecular events that contribute to FAS. "We are moving from basic research to an applied area, and then back to a very basic question. This study lends itself well to the overlap of the two areas," she said.
Wooten's cellular model also offers another advantage for scientists studying health issues. Animal experimentation was once the only effective way to study these types of health problems. This model provides an alternative to animal experimentation that will not totally eliminate the need for animals in such research, but can provide other options. And new developments that come from Wooten's work may also further enhance basic science research methods.
In addition to this substantial grant from NIAAA, Wooten also has received grants from the National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Defense Department for this and other studies. She noted that the holistic approach of this research to several areas of neurobiology is one reason her program has been awarded numerous grants. But she also credited her laboratory personnel with this success. "They are the core of the program, the ones who make the goals and dreams of our research efforts come to life," she said.
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By:
Katie Smith
