Gary J. Gorbsky, Ph.D., a scientist at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, has been selected to chair a grant selection committee for the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
The National Institutes of Health is the largest supporter of academic and non-profit research in the U.S., awarding approximately $23 billion in research grants annually. As chair of the Institutes’ Nuclear Dynamics and Transport Study Section, Gorbsky will oversee about two dozen other researchers in determining which scientists are best qualified to receive grants to conduct basic biomedical research on how cells control the functioning and duplication of their chromosomes.
In 2006, Gorbsky received international attention after he found a way to reverse the process of cell division. That discovery could have important implications for the treatment of cancer, birth defects and numerous other diseases and disorders. His findings appeared in the journal Nature, one of the world’s leading scientific publications.
At OMRF, Gorbsky holds the W.H. and Betty Phelps Chair in Developmental Biology and heads the Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology research program. He also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
About OMRF:
Chartered in 1946, OMRF (www.omrf.org) is a nonprofit biomedical research institute dedicated to understanding and curing human disease. Its scientists focus on such critical research areas as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, lupus and cardiovascular disease. It is home to Oklahoma’s only member of the National Academy of Sciences.
