Dr. Vincent Fondong awarded $1.13 million research grant

The USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) has awarded DSU’s Vincent Fondong a four-year $1.13 million research grant to undertake a project to achieve a better understanding of a virus that adversely impacts potato farming.

Dr. Fondong, a Professor of Biological Science, will use the funding to study a protein found in the Potato Virus Y. The primary source of this virus is infected seed potatoes that are reintroduced each year through planting.

The protein under study – HcPro – restricts entry into cell multiplication in the same or closely related viruses, while promoting entry and replication of unrelated or distantly related viruses. Dr. Fondong’s research will attempt to unravel the mystery of the different impacts of the HcPro.

Dr. Fondong and his research team will use a state-of-the-art microscopy technique, Hybridization Chain Reaction Fluorescence in situ Hybridization, to investigate the social behavior of HcPro. This procedure will track the virus in the cell as it enters and replicates.

The project will provide research training for a postdoctoral researcher, a Ph.D. student, two master’s students, and a dozen undergraduate students.