Norcross Announces Nearly $900k for Scientific Research at South Jersey Universities

CHERRY HILL, NJ – Today, U.S. Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01) announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) has awarded $898,709 to Rutgers University–Camden and Rowan University for their respective Pharmacology, Physiology and Biological Chemistry Research programs.

“The frontiers of scientific advancement and medical innovation are being explored right here in South Jersey,” said Congressman Norcross, a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor. “The work going on at our area’s top-notch institutions will reshape the fields of science and medicine. I look forward to seeing the results of these grants and the next generation of thinkers and innovators they will foster.”

South Jersey universities to receive:

• $453,072 to Rutgers University–Camden Department of Biology for research into understanding the function of cisregulatory modules.
• $445,637 to Rowan University’s College of Science & Mathematics for research into nongenetic influences on gene expression.

“Research innovation happens every day at Rutgers University–Camden, where our faculty and students generate original thinking and new ideas that advance our state and our nation,” said Phoebe A. Haddon, Chancellor of Rutgers University–Camden. “This grant from the National Institute of General Medical Science will allow Dr. Jongmin Nam to advance the type of cutting-edge work that is critical to our economic growth here in South Jersey. We thank and applaud Congressman Norcross for his commitment to growing South Jersey as a hub for innovation and for his support of Rutgers–Camden.”

“Despite the long-held understanding that genes encoded in DNA define a large part our identity, non-genetic mechanisms play an important role in the inheritance of some human conditions,” said Benjamin Carone, professor of molecular and cellular biosciences in Rowan University’s College of Science & Mathematics. “Though many of these ‘epigenetic’ inheritance cases have been studied, research in understanding the underlying mechanisms has just begun. This proposed project aims to understand the mechanisms driving the inheritance of these acquired states by studying the way in which these epigenetic marks are established in sperm.”

HHS is a federal agency created to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans. Their mission is to provide effective health and human services and foster advances in medicine, public health and social services.

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a component of HHS, supports basic research that increases the understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

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