Chemist Receives NIH Grant for Computational Research

Chemistry Assistant Professor Frank X. Vázquez, Ph.D. has received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) grant in the amount of $492,000 over three years for his project, “Multiscale Modeling of Dynamin Induced Membrane Fission.”

Dr. Vázquez’s lab conducts computational research that models the motions of the protein dynamin. By developing models to understand the fundamental biological processes of protein-protein interactions, Dr. Vázquez’s research will ultimately contribute to scientific understanding of fundamental cellular processes.

The SCORE program seeks to increase the research competitiveness of faculty at under-resourced institutions that have explicitly stated historical missions focused on training and graduating students from groups nationally underrepresented in biomedical research.

The grant award will allow Dr. Vázquez’s lab to quadruple the size of its computing resources, gaining the technology needed to develop more advanced simulation methods and models.

Before joining the faculty at St. John’s, Dr. Vázquez completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Chicago and IBM. His Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry is from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and his B.S. in Chemistry is from Northern Arizona University.