University of New England

Biology researcher Geoffrey Ganter awarded $207,000 grant to study steroid hormones and behavior
 
BIDDEFORD, Maine - University of New England Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Geoffrey Ganter, Ph.D., was recently awarded a $207,000, three-year federal grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) to conduct research on the influence of the body's natural steroid hormones on the brain's control of behavior.
 
Under this award, Ganter will investigate the connection between sexual behavior and the steroid hormone ecdysone in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.  

Previous research suggests that the hormone influences mate selection and sexual motivation in adult animals.  Ganter began research on the subject while supported by a National Science Foundation Research Opportunity Award to study fruit flies in the laboratory of National Academy of Science member Dr. Edward A. Kravitz in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School.
 
NIGMS
Ganter's grant from NIGMS is an Academic Research Enhancement Award, a federal funding mechanism that seeks to increase the opportunities for undergraduates to pursue research with faculty at predominantly undergraduate universities. 

NIGMS is one of the National Institutes of Health and supports, among many others, research projects that use the fruit fly as a model for understanding the basic mechanisms of biology that underlie human health. 

(Press release posted March 24, 2008)