UVA Wise, Shell awarded CHRS grant

Mike Shell, associate professor of biology at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, has been awarded a grant from the Commonwealth Health Research Board.

The $38,745 grant will support research activities that Shell and student researcher Morgan Blair are doing as they investigate the physical interaction between human DNA repair proteins XPA and XPC.

Shell said the results will provide insight into the molecular mechanism of how proteins assemble into a dynamic machine to identify and repair a wide range of DNA lesions. The Commonwealth Health Research Board awards grants to support biomedical and human health research projects in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Shell said the grant application was the first UVA Wise submitted to CHRB. The College was in a multi-step competition of all higher education and research institutions in Virginia.