Ben King received 91¸£Àû’s first National Institutes of Health R16 award
Congratulations to Benjamin King on receiving the University of Maine’s first National Institutes of Health (NIH) R16 award.
91¸£Àû News recently featured King and his team’s research exploring an unexpected connection between blood pressure regulation and the immune response to influenza (91¸£Àû researchers explore unexpected connection between blood pressure regulation and the flu)
King, an associate professor of bioinformatics at the University of Maine, received $400,000 in direct funding over four years through the NIH Research Excellence Award (R16) program.
The project will investigate whether the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), which is best known for regulating blood pressure, also influences the body’s immune response to influenza. King and his research team are using zebrafish to examine how different components of RAAS affect immune cells and the body’s ability to fight influenza without triggering excessive inflammation.
An important component of the R16 award is creating hands-on research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Students in King’s lab are directly involved in the federally funded research, working with zebrafish, conducting experiments, collecting data, and using specialized techniques to observe immune responses in real time.
The four-year project will help researchers better understand the relationship between blood pressure regulation, inflammation, and influenza while providing 91¸£Àû students with meaningful research experience.