Aseem wins prestigious NIH award to pursue research, career development and mentoring
The Institute’s Obi Aseem, M.D., Ph.D., has won a prestigious NIH K08 grant to support “protected time” for his research on the transcription factor RUNX1’s role in biliary fibrosis.
The grant, from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, is also known as the Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award. It provides salary support for up to five years to help clinician-scientists focus on research and developing their career. Aseem was awarded $176,094 in mid-September and will receive about the same amount for each of the succeeding four years.
By focusing on transcriptomic and lipidomic regulations of cholangiocytes, Aseem hopes to gain a better understanding of the molecular signaling and cellular interactions in biliary fibrosis, which might someday lead to potential therapies for patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis.
Primary sclerosing cholangitis, or PSC, inflames and scars the bile ducts, a network of small tubes that carry digestive fluid from the liver to the small intestine. The scarring can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure, transplant or even death. An estimated 30,000-50,000 people in the U.S. have PSC, according to the patient-led nonprofit PSC Partners.
Aseem is leading the effort at VCU to study the health of PSC patients as a partner in the WIND-PSC study, a groundbreaking project aimed at accelerating drug development for PSC therapies.
The Institute’s director, Arun Sanyal, M.D., and Huiping Zhou, Ph.D., a VCU professor of microbiology and immunology, serve as Aseem’s designated mentors for the career development award. In addition, his detailed career development plan outlined a mentoring team of more experienced clinician-researchers, at VCU and abroad, who will participate in his growth.