Dr. Nancy Horton, Associate Professor, recently received two awards: the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) International Fellowship for Research and an award from the UA Commission on the Status of Women. 
The first award is from JSPS International Fellowship for Research in Japan. JSPS provides fellowship programs for overseas researchers who have an excellent record of research achievements to conduct collaborative research, discussions, and opinion exchanges with researchers in Japan. The programs are intended to help advance the overseas researchers' research activities while promoting science and internationalization in Japan. Prof. Horton received funding for a three week stay in Japan for a project titled: In silico Investigation of the Activation of DNA Cleavage by SgrAI. During her stay in Japan, Prof. Horton will engage in collaborative work with Professor Florence Tama to investigate the active site geometry of SgrAI during DNA cleavage. The in silico work with be based on the recent 3.5 Å CryoEM structure of activated SgrAI, which however is missing a crucial piece of the active site (the scissile phosphodiester). Modeling will allow for the addition of this segment, and simulations to locate the positions of the active site Mg2+, water molecules, and protein side chains. Together these studies will illuminate the full mechanism of activated DNA cleavage by SgrAI. SgrAI is unusual in its formation of filaments once activated, wherein its DNA sequence specificity is also altered. These studies allow a unique opportunity to investigate this new enzyme mechanism involving filamentation.
The Principle Investigators on this project are Prof. Nancy Horton (PI), Prof. Florence Tama, Nagoya University, Japan (CoPI).
Dr. Horton also received an award from Commission on the Status of Women (University of Arizona) for her project Policy Changes to Mitigate Unconscious Bias in Faculty Development. The purpose of this grant is to hire a student to collate literature regarding policy recommendations to mitigate the negative effects of unconscious bias on faculty development, promotion, and tenure. This information will be collected and summarized in a document that would serve as policy suggestions to the University of Arizona with the goal of positively impacting the faculty development of members from under-represented groups.
Dr. Nancy Horton, Associate Professor, recently received two awards: the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) International Fellowship for Research and an award from the UA Commission on the Status of Women.
The first award is from JSPS International Fellowship for Research in Japan. JSPS provides fellowship programs for overseas researchers who have an excellent record of research achievements to conduct collaborative research, discussions, and opinion exchanges with researchers in Japan. The programs are intended to help advance the overseas researchers' research activities while promoting science and internationalization in Japan. Prof. Horton received funding for a three week stay in Japan for a project titled: In silico Investigation of the Activation of DNA Cleavage by SgrAI. During her stay in Japan, Prof. Horton will engage in collaborative work with Professor Florence Tama to investigate the active site geometry of SgrAI during DNA cleavage. The in silico work with be based on the recent 3.5 Å CryoEM structure of activated SgrAI, which however is missing a crucial piece of the active site (the scissile phosphodiester). Modeling will allow for the addition of this segment, and simulations to locate the positions of the active site Mg2+, water molecules, and protein side chains. Together these studies will illuminate the full mechanism of activated DNA cleavage by SgrAI. SgrAI is unusual in its formation of filaments once activated, wherein its DNA sequence specificity is also altered. These studies allow a unique opportunity to investigate this new enzyme mechanism involving filamentation.
The Principle Investigators on this project are Prof. Nancy Horton (PI), Prof. Florence Tama, Nagoya University, Japan (CoPI).
Dr. Horton also received an award from Commission on the Status of Women (University of Arizona) for her project Policy Changes to Mitigate Unconscious Bias in Faculty Development. The purpose of this grant is to hire a student to collate literature regarding policy recommendations to mitigate the negative effects of unconscious bias on faculty development, promotion, and tenure. This information will be collected and summarized in a document that would serve as policy suggestions to the University of Arizona with the goal of positively impacting the faculty development of members from under-represented groups.