The awards are part of $1.88 million in 2023 biomedical research grant funding for Colorado researchers
Halil Aydin is one of three University of Colorado Boulder assistant professors who have been named 2023 Boettcher Investigators, each earning $235,000 in grant funding to support up to three years of biomedical research. The 13-year-old program invests in leading Colorado researchers during the early stages of their careers, providing support to fund their independent scientific research.
The three CU Boulder award winners and their fields of study are:
- Nuris Figueroa, assistant professor, physics; studying the mechanics of mucus organization and transport;
- Halil Aydin, assistant professor, biochemistry; investigating cellular and molecular mechanisms of mitochondrial form and function in human health and disease; and
- Nick Bottenus, assistant professor, biomedical, mechanics of materials, and robotics and systems design in the College of Engineering and Applied Science; studying binding kinetics of targeted microbubble agents.
Funding for the awards is made possible in part by the Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards program, which is administered by the Boettcher Foundation.
“It’s an honor to be acknowledged by a distinguished organization,” Aydin said of the Boettcher Foundation. “The Boettcher Foundation Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Award will grant our laboratory the opportunity to develop novel approaches and push the boundaries of high-resolution imaging and structural cell biology to advance our understanding of how cellular machines function normally, and how they are corrupted by disease. An integrative understanding of how protein machines function has implications for targeting cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, cancers, aging and a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases.”
Halil Aydin is an expert in membrane biology, cell signaling, proteins and enzymology, molecular biophysics, structural biology, and electron cryo-microscopy (cryoEM).