Vicki Chandler, University of Arizona (UA) Regents' Professor and director of the BIO5 Institute, has received the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director's Pioneer Award. The award, made to exceptionally creative scientists, will provide Chandler with approximately $4 million to support her research, which has the potential to lead to significant advances in human health. Chandler is the first researcher in Arizona to receive the highly competitive award and is one of only 13 recipients selected this year from 840 scientists.

Chandler studies plants as model systems to understand the mechanisms that regulate gene activity. Her ground-breaking research, funded by the National Science Foundation for the past 10 years, has uncovered new evidence about the mechanisms by which living organisms transmit genetic information. She has shown that Mendel's laws, discovered more than 150 years ago, do not account for all aspects of inheritance, which could explain why certain human diseases are inherited in ways that have long puzzled researchers.

"The genetic mechanisms in plants, animals, and humans are strikingly similar," Chandler said. "We have reason to believe that the genetic processes we observed in plants also exist in humans. Applying our findings to animal model systems will help us better understand what causes certain diseases, such as diabetes and muscular dystrophy. This award is incredibly exciting and timely as it will enable us to take what we have learned from studying plant systems and apply it to animal systems, including humans."

In addition to serving as the director of BIO5, Chandler is a Regents' Professor of plant sciences and molecular and cellular biology at the UA, with a primary appointment in the department of plant sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The NIH Director's Pioneer Award is a key component of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. The NIH Roadmap is a series of far-reaching initiatives designed to transform the nation's medical research capabilities and speed the movement of research discoveries from the bench to the bedside. It provides a framework for the priorities addressed by the NIH to optimize its entire research portfolio and lays out a vision for a more efficient and productive system of medical research.

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Department of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona

BIO5

NIH Roadmap