Gentry Receives NSF CAREER Award
LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 28, 2013) — Matthew S. Gentry, assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, has been selected to receive a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award.
This prestigious award is given in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of the university.
Gentry’s lab works on both a neurodegenerative disease called Lafora disease and biofuel research. These seemingly divergent areas are connected by sugar. Animal cells store energy in a sugar known as glycogen while plants store sugar as starch. Glycogen is soluble in water, while plant starch is not. This fact has dire consequences for people who suffer from Lafora disease. Lafora patients have genetic mutations that cause their cells to make a sugar more similar to plant starch, and this causes neurons in the brain to die.
Gentry received this award for his work on novel methods to manipulate starch. Starch plays a central role in many aspects of daily life. Starch is a central component of human and animal food and a key constituent in many manufacturing processes, including production of plastics, paper, pharmaceuticals and textiles. Starch is also a first-generation biofuel to generate ethanol, and it is vital to future efforts focused on algae hydrogen and oil production. Growing starch demand has fueled a rise in corn prices and competition among food, biofuels and industrial manufacturers. An additional concern is that current starch processing methods use hazardous chemicals to modify the starch for industrial application.
Gentry’s work integrates scientific goals directed to increasing starch quantities and generating designer starches that can be modified without hazardous chemicals. In addition, Gentry will also train future generations of scientists by integrating high school students, high school teachers, undergraduates and graduate students in this work.
Gentry received his doctorate in molecular biology from Syracuse University in 2003 in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Hallberg, and worked as a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Dr. Jack Dixon at the University of California-San Diego. At UCSD, Gentry discovered the function of two novel gene products that when mutated lead to Lafora disease. He received a National Institutes of Health Pathway to Independence Award (NIH K99/R00) in 2007 for this work. He established his lab at UK in 2008, continuing his work on Lafora disease, which resulted in a National Institutes of Health R01 grant in 2010. Gentry has published more than 30 papers in international journals and has filed two patent applications.
MEDIA CONTACT: Keith Hautala, 859-323-2396; keith.hautala@uky.edu