Wurtele receives $2.175 million NSF grant
December 6, 2016
Eve Syrkin Wurtele, a professor of genetics, development and cell biology, received a four-year, $2.175 million National Science Foundation grant to identify the origins and functions of “orphan genes” in the genomes of corn and other crops.
The grant will enable Wurtele and her research team to study the genomes of crops and identify orphan genes, which code for proteins that exist in the genomes of only a single species. The researchers also will study how orphan genes make it possible for crops to adapt to changing environments.