Anne Kenworthy, Ph.D., professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, has been named to a two-year term as chair of the Biochemistry and Biophysics of Membranes Study Section in the Center for Scientific Review of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Kenworthy, who joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 2001, will lead a 20-member group that reviews applications for NIH funding for research on the biochemical and biophysical aspects of membrane structure and function.
Invitations to chair NIH study sections are extended to scientists who are considered to be national leaders in their fields, based on the quality of their research accomplishments and other achievements.
Kenworthy’s research, which is supported by the NIH and National Science Foundation, focuses on understanding the organization, dynamics, and function of cholesterol-dependent membrane domains such as caveolae and lipid rafts. Her group utilizes a combination of cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics, and quantitative fluorescence microscopy approaches.
Her research may help improve treatment of diseases such as pulmonary arterial hypertension, and may lead to ways to prevent the bacterial toxin that causes cholera from “hijacking” cells in the body.