Robert Bradley receives honor from the Ellison Medical Foundation

Dr. Robert Bradley of the Public Health Sciences and Basic Sciences divisions at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has received the New Scholar Award in Aging from the Ellison Medical Foundation for his project titled “Inhibition of RNA Quality Control in Differentiating and Aging Cells.”

He is among 25 recipients of the award, which provides funding of $100,000 per year for four years. Funding from the foundation will permit the Bradley lab to open new lines of research in cell differentiation and aging.

Bradley and colleagues have found that normal RNA surveillance mechanisms become less efficient during the differentiation and aging processes. These changes in RNA quality control likely play important roles in cellular differentiation; however, they may also result in increased levels of aberrant RNAs as cells age. Such increased levels of normally degraded RNAs could contribute to abnormal protein production and age-related disorders.

Bradley’s goal is to understand why RNA quality control efficiency changes during differentiation and aging, and test whether these changes contribute to aging-associated diseases.

About the award

The New Scholar award supports new investigators when establishing their labs and careers. The award allows recipients to draw from a funding source at a vulnerable stage in their careers.

The Ellison Medical Foundation supports biomedical research with a focus on understanding how humans and other organisms age. The foundation strives to define biological mechanisms that would help prevent age-related diseases and disabilities.