Howard Temin Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) In September 2007, Chandravanu (CV) Dash, successfully competed for a Howard Temin Pathway to Independence (PI) Award (K99/R00) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) for his proposal “Role of Nucleic Acid Structure in HIV-1 Replication”. The award provides up to five years of support consisting of two phases. The initial phase will provide 1-2 years of mentored support (up to $90,000) for highly promising, postdoctoral research scientists. This phase will be followed by up to 3 years of independent support (up to $249,000) contingent on securing an independent research position. The primary, long-term goal of the PI Award Program is to increase and maintain a strong cohort of new and talented, NIH-supported independent investigators.

The long term goal of Dr. Dash’s PI award is to elucidate the mechanism of interactions between essential viral and cellular enzymes with their nucleic acid substrates during HIV replication. New and important biochemical data obtained from this proposal are expected to facilitate our understanding of the mechanism of HIV-1 replication, which is essential to design better and effective drugs against HIV. Dr. Dash is mentored by Dr. Stuart Le Grice and co-mentored by Dr. Vineet KewalRamani of the HIV Drug Resistance Program at NCI-Frederick.