Year 2000 Research Grants 

Thanks to the generosity of VHL Family Alliance members, their families and friends, we were able to make the following three awards this year, for a total of $90,000 this year, and $340,000 total over the last four years.  Congratulations to these fine scientists.  We look forward to exciting reports from their research.  

Dr. William Rigby

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire

Title: The von Hippel-Lindau gene regulates hnRNP A2 expression: A mechanism for the post-transcriptional regulation of hypoxia-inducible genes

Dr. Rigby's proposal centers around the function of pVHL as a regulator of the expression of genes important for renal cell carcinoma by a process known as mRNA turnover. He will investigate how pVHL influences the expression of the RNA-binding protein hnRNP A2, and how hnRNP A2, in turn, modulates the expression of Glut-1 and other hypoxia-regulated genes.

Dr. Maria F. Czyzyk-Krzeska

University of Cincinnati, Ohio

Title: VHL Function in Pheochromocytoma

Renewing the grant awarded to her last year to study the role of the VHL protein in the creation of a pheochromocytoma. In the work completed to date she has established that pVHL regulates the expression of the hypoxia-inducible tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting enzyme. In
this new grant, she focuses on mechanistic aspects of how pVHL represses TH expression. 

Dr. Shahriar Koochekpour 

University of Louisiana, New Orleans

Title: Regulation of Fibronectin-integrin signaling

This investigator is working in the laboratory of Dr. Jim Gnarra. They will investigate the influence of the VHL protein on cell signaling through the fibronectin-integrin system, leading to uncontrolled cell division, invasiveness and metastasis in renal cell carcinoma.