Stefan Strack, University of Iowa professor of pharmacology and pathology, recently received a $275,000 grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes (NINDS) and today (Monday, Dec. 1) was named a winner of GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) 2014 Discovery Fast Track Challenge, which is designed to encourage the translation of academic research into novel therapies.

Strack’s two-year grant, titled “Outer Mitochondrial PKA and PP2A in Neurodevelopment and Plasticity,” runs through August 2016.

Mitochondria are important in Strack’s research because the organelles create energy. They take in nutrients, break it down and produce energy rich molecules for cells to use.

Abnormal mitochondrial function contributes to brain injury and disease. How mitochondrial signaling affects normal brain development, however, is poorly understood, so Strack and co-investigator Yuriy Usachev, UI associate professor of pharmacology, aim to examine the effects of mitochondria in the brain.

Results may lead to better treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders and brain injury.

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