Dominican at Providence College Receives NIH Grant

Nicanor Austriaco, O.P., associate professor of biology at Providence College, was recently awarded a three-year grant from the National Institute of Health/National Institute for General Medical Sciences for cancer research. Fr. Nicanor’s research project is entitled “Genetic Dissection of Yeast Bax Inhibitor Function in UPR and Calcium Signaling.” Prior to this grant award, he received one in 2010 for the project “Genetic Identification of Sulforaphane’s Mechanism of Action in Yeast Cell Death.” The funds from the grant will support Fr. Nicanor’s ongoing research, cooperating with undergraduate students at Providence College to learn more about a gene linked to cancer in humans. Fr. Nicanor’s research specialties include Biology of Programmed Cell Death, Biology and Ethics of Stem Cell Research, and Health Care Ethics and Bioethics in the Catholic Tradition. He received a bachelor’s degree from University of Pennsylvania in 1989, a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1996, and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. in 2005. See the complete press release here.