Calvin Earns $190,000 Grant

February 25, 2005 == MEDIA ADVISORY

A grant of almost $190,000 to Calvin College professor and researcher Kumar
Sinniah will both assist scientific research efforts on a global level and
boost the career aspirations of budding student scientists at the college.

Sinniah, a professor of chemistry, received the grant from the National
Institutes of Health for a project entitled "Biophysical Analysis of Enzyme
Inhibitor Interactions."

"In layman's terms," says Sinniah, "the project is a three-year examination of
an enzyme called carbonic anhydrase. This enzyme is a good thing in our bodies
- it helps us breathe - but it also can be a bad thing. When it is overactive
it can cause glaucoma."

Sinniah (pronounced SIH NIGH AH) says the upcoming Calvin study is not likely
to yield anything so earth-shattering as a cure for glaucoma. But it will make
a difference.

"What we will do at Calvin," he says, "is contribute to understanding
enzyme-inhibitor interactions at the molecular level. This understanding is
fundamental to successful drug design. So, what we will do may someday become
part of a new screening method for development of a glaucoma drug. Or it might
not. But we will be a link in a scientific chain."

Sinniah notes that schools like Calvin often are not part of that chain.

Indeed this recent NIH grant has him paired up with colleagues at the
University of Cambridge in England (where he spent his 2001-2002 sabbatical
doing research). Sinniah notes that Cambridge is considered probably the top
scientific university in Europe, and when his Cambridge colleagues would hear
that his work at Calvinincluded significant contributions from undergraduate
assistants, they'd be floored.

"Generally the sorts of things our students do at Calvin are typically
reserved for major research universities," says Sinniah. "I usually get
surprised reactions when people realize I'm being assisted by undergrads."

For the full story see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2004_05/kumar_grant.htm

Contact Sinniah at 526-6058

-end-
Received on Fri Feb 25 10:56:12 2005