Clarkson Chemistry and Biomolecular Science Professor Costel C. Darie was just awarded a new grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. The $164K grant is a supplement for the current R15 Academic Research Enhancement Award R15 CA260126, granted to Dr. Darie, with Drs. Sumona Mondal, Brian Pentecost, and David Fenyo as co-investigators and Dr. Kathleen Arcaro as a collaborator.
The new grant was awarded to support an underrepresented graduate student for the duration of the parent award (until December 2024), which focuses on proteomics analyses of breast milk and serum from women with breast cancer and matched controls.
The new student, Pathea Bruno, a graduate in Biochemistry from Iona College (New Rochelle, New York), is not new to Clarkson University. She worked over the summer as an underrepresented McNair Scholar, through Clarkson’s CUPO office, with Biology Professor Susan Bailey.
“The grant will expand the current aims of the parent grant, and will focus on the characterization of peptidomes and metabolomes of breast milk and serum from women with breast cancer and matched controls, which represent parts of the biological fluids that have great biological significance in cancer detection and prevention”, said Darie. “This is the first grand of this kind awarded to a Chemistry and Biomolecular Science professor. I am thankful to Dr. Yourha Kang, who mentored Pathea while at Iona College, Dr. Bailey, who hosted Bruno in her lab, and to Ms. Marjorie Warden and Ms. Debbie Shipp from the CUPO office, who recommended Pathea for this grant application,” ended Darie.