COBRE 2 Research Project Leader Project 2

This project is part of the newly funded UNE Center for Cell Signaling Research (CCSR), a five-year, $10.8 million Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) from the National Institutes of Health.

This work sits within a coordinated center-level effort to investigate fundamental questions about how impaired cell signaling contributes to prevalent conditions, including dementia, diabetes, osteoporosis and heart disease. The CCSR emphasizes translationally relevant cellular signaling research that aligns with regional health priorities, particularly the higher burden of chronic disease observed in rural populations such as Maine’s. The center’s leadership highlights the regional importance of this research; UNE leadership framed the award as evidence of the university’s growing capacity to investigate real-world health issues that affect Mainers and broader populations.

As one of four initial projects, this work will contribute to the center’s integrated approach: combining focused laboratory research on cell signaling defects with institutional efforts to expand infrastructure, training and collaborations. Collectively, the center’s activities aim to advance understanding of cellular signaling pathways implicated in chronic metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases, to foster research translation and to support the development of a sustainable biomedical research community at UNE.