Truman Lab awarded new R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health
The Klein College of Science’s Truman Lab has been awarded a new R01 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). From 2024 to 2028, the new grant will provide $1,278,920 for the project “Understanding the role of Hsp70 chaperone code in proteostasis,” adding to their research funding totaling over five million dollars.
“Andrew Truman is an incredible collaborator and a supportive mentor to so many students. He is leading the researchers in his lab to explore some of the fundamental aspects of a specific protein which could bring exciting developments to understanding diseases like cancer,” said Bernadette Donovan-Merkert, Ph.D., founding dean of the Klein College of Science. “The Truman lab has been quite successful in securing concurrent R01 funding for their innovative, ongoing research.”
The Truman Lab was established in 2015 by Andrew Truman, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, group leader of the Charlotte Group for Proteostasis Research (CGPR), and affiliate faculty in the School of Data Science. After obtaining his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at University College London, Truman worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins University and Boston University. As a research assistant professor at the University of Chicago, he published the first detailed study on Hsp70 phosphorylation.
The Truman Lab conducts research within their laboratory space and dedicated cell culture room located in Woodward Hall, a state-of-the-art science and technology building on the UNC Charlotte campus. The lab’s research focus is understanding the Chaperone Code, the myriad of post-translational modifications that impact the function of the Hsp70 molecular chaperone.
“Chaperone proteins are like mechanics that shape proteins and fix them up,” Truman explained. “They are present in all organisms, from bacteria, yeast, frogs, flies and humans, and are essential for life.”
The Truman Lab studies these hundreds of modifications on chaperone proteins in order to understand why a cell would put these modifications on and how they are regulated on a normal cell versus in disease. “You don’t just get one single modification, you have hundreds coming on and off depending on what a cell is exposed to, like heat, starvation, DNA damage, viruses, bacteria, or infection,” said Truman.
The lab consists of around 10-15 undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral researchers who work collaboratively to study all aspects of the chaperone code, from an evolutionary perspective through to the implications for human disease.
“We work closely with our mentors, which we’re each assigned, and help with projects. First we were just training with them, and now we have our own projects,” said Erica Flores, a senior majoring in biological sciences and minoring in public health. Flores is the vice president of the UNC Charlotte chapter of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and won the C.O.L.O.R. Travel Award at the SACNAS NDiSTEM conference this year.
The majority of the data that formed the basis of the new R01 grant was obtained by graduate student Siddhi Omkar, as part of her Ph.D. project. Omkar defended her thesis this November, only a couple of months after giving birth to her son, and will be joining the group as a postdoctoral researcher in January 2025.
As a first-generation college student, Truman is a big proponent of science outreach and encourages and empowers his researchers to speak and write about their work. “It’s rewarding to do exciting experiments and get novel results,” said Duhita A. Mirikar, a third-year Ph.D. student. “Dr. Truman motivates us to go to conferences, write reviews and publish articles.”
Megan Mitchem, a current Ph.D. student, visits local elementary schools to talk about science. “One of the things I enjoy the most is taking something that is really complex and being able to translate it into something I can talk to my family or friends about,” Mitchem said. “That was not something I was exposed to growing up, and I have a twelve-year old who I want to be able to communicate with about science and get him involved.”
Mitchem is a first-generation college student herself, and she obtained a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in biological sciences from UNC Charlotte. She is a 2023 NSF Graduate Research Fellow and received a Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Honorable Mention in 2023, making her the first student at UNC Charlotte to receive this distinction.
Mitchem is passionate about combining her creativity and scientific knowledge, and her art piece depicting Hsp70, “Guardian of the Cell,” was selected by American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) as one of the winners of the 2024 Molecular Motifs bioart competition. The piece will be featured in ASBMB’s upcoming 2025 calendar. “Being able to have something that’s aesthetically pleasing makes it easier for the reader or anyone who interacts with the material to get a sense of what is going on,” Mitchem said.
Postdoctoral researcher Yevheniia Bushman, Ph.D., came to UNC Charlotte specifically to learn from Truman’s expertise in Hsp70 and is glad that she did. “Dr. Truman is one of the best mentors that I’ve ever met, he’s really encouraging and we celebrate all of the ups and downs,” she said. Bushman’s undergraduate mentee Nick Maynard, a senior who recently joined the lab, said the most rewarding part is getting to be hands on and seeing things work. “You prepare for a very long time, so when you finally run an experiment or a component of an experiment and it works out and you get the result that you hypothesized or were looking for, it’s very satisfying,” Maynard said.
As part of his teaching and mentorship approach, Truman believes that one of the most important qualities to have in science is kindness. “I think that can be lost, especially because science is so competitive with grants and papers and things like that,” he said. The spirit of collaboration is a big reason that Truman was drawn to UNC Charlotte, and he emulates that in his lab, the Department of Biology, the Klein College of Science, and beyond.
“We collaborate with around 80% of the department, and we have collaborations with chemistry, physics and bioinformatics,” Truman said. These values have translated to the researchers in the lab, who all describe Truman’s teaching and mentorship style as positive, collaborative, and knowledgeable.
On October 21, Truman Lab members presented their research at the 10th Annual Biological Sciences Symposium held on campus. Bushman and Chathura Paththamperuma, Ph.D., presented their research during the postdoctoral oral presentations, while Mirikar presented during the graduate oral presentations. The afternoon poster session showcased research by Mitchem, Flores, Ashley Choi, and Shreya Patel. Flores was awarded third place for the Undergraduate Student Poster Presentations, and Patel received the Undergraduate Outstanding Scientific Communicator award.
Truman is proud of their lab and the contributions to the success of the university. “UNC Charlotte is on a meteoric rise upwards through the upcoming R1 status,” Truman said. “Student enrollment has gone up, we jumped fifteen spots to 81st [in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best Colleges rankings], and the university is interested in expanding core facilities which will allow us to increase our research, draw in more researchers and submit larger grants.”
The Truman lab currently receives over $5.1 million provided by four different NIH agencies including NIGMS, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). NIGMS supports research that increases the understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
In addition to his work in the lab, Truman is the senior editor of Cell Stress and Chaperones. He has authored over 60 papers in scientific journals including Cell, Molecular Cell, Cell Reports, PLOS Biology, PLOS Genetics and Journal of Biological Chemistry. More information about the team, research grants and publications can be found on the Truman Lab website.
