Neuroscience Research Gets Boost with Second Jacob Javits Award

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Advanced research into the action of receptors involved in carrying chemical messages across certain brain synapses and all human nerve-muscle synapses has received increased momentum through a $4.63 million Jacob Javits Award in the Neurosciences to Anthony Auerbach, Ph.D., of the University at Buffalo.

The seven-year grant is the second Javits Award for Auerbach, professor of physiology and biophysics in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He received his first, for $2.7 million, in 2000.

The Jacob Javits Award in the Neurosciences is given to distinguished investigators who have a record of substantial contributions on the cutting edge of some field of neurological science and who can be expected to be highly productive for a conditional seven-year period, according to the award announcement.

Auerbach has conducted highly regarded research in cell communication and synapses for 18 years.His work centers on investigating the molecular processes involved in protein activity in the nervous system and on how synaptic receptors are activated by their transmitters.

During the initial award period, Auerbach showed that changes in shape that occur in a receptor during activity are not smooth transitions from one form to another, but more jagged wavelike patterns of activity brought about by as many as 20 moving parts.

He now will study how the subunits that form the receptor work together and how the protein limits its receptiveness to signaling mechanisms.

Javits Award recipients are selected from a pool of competing applicants during a grants cycle. Applicants are nominated by either the National Institute for Neurological Diseases and Stroke (NINDS) staff, or by members of the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council.

The council must approve each recommendation, with the final selection made by the NINDS director.

Auerbach lives in Buffalo.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. The School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is one of five schools that constitute UB's Academic Health Center.