Bio-Techne Go Everywhere Travel Grant - February 2018 Recipient Selected!

Bio-Techne’s Go Everywhere Travel Grant Program awards $1000 USD (or equivalent) to one researcher each month to attend the meeting of their choice. This grant program allows the researcher to attend more targeted meetings in their field and provides funding to support both small and large scientific associations that promote discovery and collaboration.

The recipient of the February 2018 grant is Daria Blokhina, a PhD Student in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Helsinki in Finland!

Daria Bolkhina, a PhD Student from the University of Helsinki, is the February 2018 recipient of the Bio-Techne Go Everywhere Travel Grant.

Daria has chosen to apply the grant to the EMBL Epitranscriptome Conference in Heidelberg, Germany in April 2018.

Daria’s work focuses on screening small molecules to investigate N-6-methylated adenosine (m6A) chemical modification of eukaryotic RNA. Specifically, she is looking at the catalysis of this modification from the Mettl3-Mettl14-WTAP enzyme complex. She performs in silico screening to determine sites that are complimentary to the S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) binding site, which acts as a methyl group donor for the Mettl3-Mettl14-WTAP enzyme complex, and performs in vitro enzymatic assays to evaluate the effects that the molecules of interest have on the enzyme. These small molecules, and their improved chemical daughter compounds in the future, will help discovery of novel epitranscriptomic mechanisms regulating physiological and pathophysiological processes.

Bio-Techne and our brands are proud to support Daria’s work and the work of many of the researchers that have applied to our travel grants so far this year. If you are interested in applying to any of our travel grants, please go to www.rndsystems.com/travel.