Geneticist Earns Beckman Young Investigators Grant
Dr
. Reade Roberts, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, has been named one of seven recipients of the Beckman Young Investigators grant. The grant program has provided research funding to promising young faculty in the life sciences since its inception in 1991.
Roberts will use the four-year, $750,000 grant to study the genetics of African cichlid fish, one of the most rapidly evolving vertebrates on the planet. Through this research, Roberts seeks to identify novel genes and pathways involved in pathological responses to the human diet, work that could lead to a better understanding of widespread global health issues like malnourishment and obesity.
Roberts earned his Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology in 2003 from Vanderbilt University. He went on to take a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Maryland before joining NC State as an associate professor in the genetics program.
The California-based Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, founded in 1977, is a not-for-profit foundation involved in scientific research in chemistry and biology-related fields.
