University of Texas at San Antonio Assistant Professor of Biology Gary Gaufo has been awarded a three-year, $225,000 grant from the Whitehall Foundation to support his research in developmental neurobiology.
The Whitehall Foundation is a non-profit corporation focused exclusively on assisting basic research in vertebrate and invertebrate neurobiology in the United States.
Gaufo studies the mammalian brain and his research focuses on identifying the mechanisms that control the growth of nerve cells which in turn control a variety of bodily functions including chewing, facial expression, heart rate, breathing and digestion.
"We would like to understand how simple, evolutionarily conserved mechanisms are used to generate the network of neurons that produce complex behaviors associated with the head, " said Gaufo. "With over 10 percent of birth defects in the US affecting the cranial-facial region, we hope that our research will also provide insight into developmental disorders associated with the genes that we are currently investigating."
Prior to joining UTSA in 2005, Gaufo was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Utah’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In Utah, he studied under the leadership of Mario Capecchi, one of the technological pioneers of genetic engineering. Gaufo earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in biology at The University of California, Berkeley.
The University of Texas at San Antonio is one of the premier institutions of higher education in South Texas and one of the fastest growing universities in the state. One of nine academic universities and six health institutions that comprise the UT System, UTSA is the second largest institution in the system. Celebrating its 37th anniversary, UTSA serves more than 28,300 students enrolled in 63 bachelor's, 43 master's and 20 doctoral degree programs.
Programs are offered through the colleges of Architecture, Business, Education and Human Development, Engineering, Honors, Liberal and Fine Arts, Public Policy, and Sciences, and the Graduate School. A Top 100 Hispanic-serving institution, UTSA is ranked among the top 10. A university of access and excellence, UTSA is committed to research and discovery, teaching and learning, and public service.