Iowa State’s Office of Biotechnology has awarded thousands of dollars this fall to five ISU professors’ research.

Lyric Bartholomay, Jeffrey Essner, Jeanne Serb, Michael Shogren-Knaak and Michael Spurlock, all professors in the College of Agriculture, are the recipients of a total of $500,000 which could further their respective projects.

Walter Fehr, director of the Office of Biotechnology, said the money has been made available to the office through a “combination of funds from the state and other sources.”

Shogren-Knaak, assistant professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, said he believed a large portion of the money for the program was a continuation from an early investment from the Iowa state government to the office of biotechnology in 1986.

When an individual is hired at the Office of Biotechnology, Fehr said, the new employee presents the amount of money he or she will need to conduct their research projects in his or her department.

“The number is not constant,” Fehr said. “It depends on the person’s area.”

Serb, assistant professor in ecology, evolution and organismal biology, said she is interested in the genes and mechanisms that form eyes and how they meet the needs of each specific organism.

Serb said she hopes to make a “vertebrae model to study diseases in humans.”

Shogren-Knaak said he will be using the money to further build and provide equipment for a laboratory for the department of biochemistry, which will be accessible for undergraduate and graduate students.

The funds will also be applied to the salary for a new assistant scientist Shogren-Knaak is in the process of hiring.

He said the research he is conducting could lead to better knowledge about diseases and technology for genetic engineering for plants and animals.

Bartholomay, Essner and Spurlock were unable to be reached for comment, but according to a press release, their research could further study plants, animals, insects and diseases.

The research being done on the immune response to mosquitoes by Bartholomay, assistant professor of entomology, could help control mosquito-borne diseases, according to the release.

Essner, assistant professor in genetics, development and cell biology, is studying new blood vessels during formation; his research could help prevent tumors in humans.

Spurlock, professor of food science and human nutrition, will be using the money to research better treatments for metabolic syndrome related to human obesity.

Fehr said he has faith there will be long-lasting benefits from the new faculty members.

“[This is the] reason they are hired in the first place,” Fehr said.