Bio-Techne Go Everywhere Travel Grant – March Recipient Selected!

Bio-Techne launched its Go Everywhere Travel Grant Program which awards $1000 USD (or equivalent) to 1 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 March 2017 grant is Ken Hayama, a PhD Candidate at the University of California, Irvine!

Mr. Hayama works in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Demetriou for over three years. He has chosen to attend The American Association of Immunologists Annual Meeting (IMMUNOLOGY 2017™) in Washington D.C., in May.

Ken Hayama, a PhD Candidate from the University of California, Irvine, is the March Recipient of the Bio-Techne Go Everywhere Travel Grant in 2017

His research focuses on the immune function decline that occurs naturally with age, which contributes to an increase in the frequency and severity of infections in the elderly. There are multiple mechanisms that appear to contribute to reduced immunity in the elderly. Ken has been focusing his efforts on the age-related decline in the functional competence of peripheral T cells. Although it is known that caloric restriction delays immune senescence, it is not well known how this occurs. He hopes those who are visiting his poster will learn how N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), a common amino sugar that is part of the regular human diet and is endogenous to human serum, increases with age and correlates with N-glycan branching in T cells. Age-dependent increases in N-glycan branching, via increased supply of GlcNAc over a lifetime of dietary intake, impairs T cell immunity in the elderly.

If you are attending IMMUNOLOGY 2017™ and would like to learn more about his work, look for his abstract titled: Impaired T cell immunity in the elderly via N-glycosylation

When Mr. Hayama accepted the grant from Bio-Techne, he stated:

“Since the conference spans over five days and is on the other side of the country, there are very expensive hotel and travel fees. Thanks to the Bio-Techne Go Everywhere Travel Grant, I will be able to significantly reduce my out-of-pocket fees so I could attend the largest annual gathering of immunologists worldwide.”

Bio-Techne and our brands are proud to support Ken’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.