Broadening diversity among participants in human genomics research will maximize its potential to discover causes and possible treatments of diseases, requiring thoughtful study design and methodological considerations, write members of an international genomics consortium in the journal Cell.

Heather R. Lucas, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry in the Virginia Commonwealth University College of Humanities and Sciences, has received a $1.65 million National Institutes of Health grant to study the impact of brain metals such as iron and copper on a protein implicated in Parkinson’s disease.

The center will bring together researchers who study differing ways opioids and other drugs interact with the human body.

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a five-year, $2.33 million grant to the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Virginia Commonwealth University reached $310 million in sponsored research funding in fiscal year 2019, setting a new record for the university.

The study will build on work supported by a $62M award to VCU in 2013 to lead a consortium of institutions studying combat concussions.

VCU’s awards are part of 375 grant awards across 41 states made by the NIH this year in efforts to reverse the national opioid crisis.

Auctus, a student-run publication, publishes the best of undergraduate research covering a range of disciplines.