UT Southwestern researcher wins NIH New Innovator Award to study DNA’s 3D structure
Jian Zhou, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in UT Southwestern’s Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics, recently received $1.5 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to use artificial intelligence to investigate the three-dimensional structure of DNA. The New Innovator Award that Dr. Zhou received is part of nearly $9 million in highly competitive NIH Director’s Awards received by UT Southwestern researchers from the NIH Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Program.
Dr. Zhou, a Lupe Murchison Foundation Scholar in Medical Research, developed computational tools to better understand the interactions that underlie the organization of chromatin – the three-dimensional complex that forms when chromosomal DNA is wrapped around protein spools called histones. The groundbreaking work Dr. Zhou has undertaken at UTSW – inventing entirely new ways to computationally analyze large biological datasets – isn’t often funded by the NIH because the research has little precedent, making it a perfect fit for the New Innovator Award.
Read more about Dr. Zhou’s research award.