Neuroscience Expert Appointed to Review Grant Applications for NIH
Gabriela K. Popescu, PhD
Published October 30, 2014 This content is archived.
Story by Alexandra Edelblute
Gabriela K. Popescu, PhD, professor of biochemistry, has been appointed to a six-year term as a reviewer with the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Center for Scientific Review.
Center is Portal for NIH Grant Applications
The center receives all NIH research grant applications and ranks them according to scientific merit.
As a peer reviewer, Popescu works to ensure that applications receive fair, independent, expert and timely reviews.
“Our job is to make sure that the best, most promising research in the field continues to be supported, which is of utmost importance at this time of deep funding cuts,” she emphasizes.
Prominent Researchers Invited to Review
Popescu, who has specialized knowledge of neurotransmitter receptors, has been appointed to the Neurotransporters, Receptors, Channels and Calcium Signaling Study Section.
She will review applications related to signal transduction pathways in neurons, muscles and other excitable cells with particular emphasis on cellular and molecular regulation, physiology and functional consequences.
Each study section — a peer group comprised of nationally recognized specialists — reviews applications in a specific research area.
“The most prominent and productive investigators in a particular field are invited to evaluate research proposals in that field,” Popescu explains.
Studying Mechanisms of Neurotransmitter Receptors
Popescu studies the function and regulation of an important class of glutamate-activated brain receptors that mediate neurotransmission in the brain and spinal cord, and are critical to memory, learning and many vital behaviors.
Working with undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral trainees in her lab, Popescu aims to delineate the fundamental properties of these N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors.