Sioux Center, Iowa — A professor at a northwest Iowa institution of higher learning has received a sizable grant for biomedical research.
Dordt University officials tell us that their Dr. Joshua Zhu, associate professor of chemistry at Dordt, was awarded a grant of over $350,000 by the National Institutes of Health for pharmacology, physiology, and biological chemistry research.
Dr. Zhu says that with this grant, they will be able to use chemistry tools to explore how the immunological protein is involved in biological processes such as immune responses and disease development. He says that in the process of this research, they are hoping to expose their undergraduate students to the frontier field of biomedical-related research.
Dordt officials tell us the research project will allow student researchers to have the opportunity to learn how to use organic chemistry and biochemistry technologies to understand the delicate structures of peptides and proteins and their functions in biological systems, especially in the immune system.
According to the National Institutes of Health, the goals of the grant are to “support meritorious research, expose students to research, and strengthen the research environment of the institution.”
