Collaboration landed two NIH grants totaling 3.4 million
Congratulations to Drs. Yong Cheng and Lin Liu who have been granted multiple PI R01 and R21 grants from NIH!
This is an outstanding achievement. Dr. Cheng was recruited as Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University (OSU) in 2020 and joined OCRID at the same year. He completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Cheng’s lab is focused on understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms of the host-pathogen interactions during mycobacterial infections.
The R01 from NIAID is titled “The role of FENDRR in host defense against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection” and totals nearly $3 million in funding. This grant is a collaborative product utilizing expertise of Dr. Cheng in host-pathogen interactions during Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and Dr. Lin Liu, OCRID director and a Regents Professor in the Department of Physiological Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, OSU in long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) biology. The grant is to understand the mechanism on how the host lncRNA regulates anti-tuberculosis activity in immune cells and animal models. Drs. Cheng and Liu have also worked together and secured a R21 grant titled “Genome-wide screening for host lncRNAs regulation host defense against Mycobacterial infection in macrophages.” The R21 grant seeks to identify the host lncRNAs against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection based on the CRISPR screen platform developed by the OCRID Molecular Biology Core directed by Dr. Lin Liu. The duo hopes to test a potential application of the host lncRNAs as a novel host-directed therapy for TB patients.