PHILADELPHIA - Jeremy E. Wilusz, PhD, an assistant professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Rita Allen Foundation. He will receive $100,000 per year for five years as a 2015 Rita Allen Foundation Scholar.
Wilusz studies circular RNAs, a recently discovered version of RNA. Ribonucleic acid, or RNA, is crucial for protein synthesis in all living cells and carries the genetic information of many viruses. Unlike double-stranded DNA, RNA consists of a single strand of nucleotides, and occurs in a variety of lengths and shapes.
One of these, circular RNA, unlike the better known and understood linear RNA, forms a continuous loop, resulting in unique properties, some of which have only recently been identified. Intriguingly, many circular RNAs are likely not translated into proteins, as is linear RNA, and thus it is still largely unclear why these enigmatic RNAs exist.
Wilusz and his team seek to describe and understand how circular RNAs are generated, regulated, and function. They also investigate whether circular RNAs are mis-regulated in various diseases, such as cancer, and if they can be therapeutically targeted against the diseases in which they may play a role.
Wilusz and six other early-career biomedical scientists were chosen as Rita Allen Foundation Scholars because their “research holds exceptional promise for advancing the frontiers of knowledge about how biological systems function in health and disease,” according to the Rita Allen Foundation.
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Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.