News Release

Antonio-Ki Bem Kim, from Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, was among 43 Johns Hopkins University students to receive a Provost's Undergraduate Research Award for the 2000-2001 academic year. Results of Kim's research, titled "Mechanisms of Transcriptional Repression in the Germ Line," were presented at an awards ceremony on April 5 at Hopkins.

Kim, a sophomore in biology, has been studying a protein known as ACF1 in the lab of Victor Corces, chairman of the Biology Department in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. Research by others in Corces' lab lead to suspicion that ACF1 may belong to a family of proteins that help cells develop specialized structures and characteristics during the early stages of development.

"As a fly larva passes through its third larval stage and into pupation, body parts begin to emerge," explained Kim. "Two groups of genes help shape this emergence by differentially suppressing or promoting the expression of other genes."

With the support of his provost research award, Kim has been trying to confirm that ACF1 belongs to the family of genes that repress the activity of other genes. That could be a vital link, he explained, because ACF1 is already well- characterized through research into its role in chromatin, a structure in cells that helps store DNA. Researchers could use what they already know about ACF1 to get a better understanding of how some proteins repress the activity of other genes during development.

The Johns Hopkins University is recognized as the country's first graduate research university, and has been in recent years the leader among the nation's research universities in winning federal research and development grants.

The opportunity to do bench work in a real laboratory while still an undergraduate was a lure that helped bring Kim to Hopkins from another continent. Active involvement in important research is one of the distinguishing characteristics of an undergraduate education at Johns Hopkins. About 80 percent of the university's undergraduates engage in some form of independent research during their four years, most often alongside top researchers in their fields. Much of this research is funded through various institutional grant programs

The Provost's Undergraduate Research Awards represent one of these research opportunities, open to students in each of the university's four schools with full-time undergraduates: the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering, the Peabody Conservatory and the School of Nursing. Since 1993, about 50 students each year have been awarded up to $2,500 to propose and conduct original research. The award is funded through a donation from the Hodson Trust.

The Johns Hopkins University is recognized as the country's first graduate research university, and has been in recent years the leader among the nation's research universities in winning federal research and development grants.

The opportunity to be involved in important research is one of the distinguishing characteristics of an undergraduate education at Johns Hopkins. About 80 percent of the university's undergraduates engage in some form of independent research during their four years, most often alongside top researchers in their fields.

The Provost's Undergraduate Research Awards is one of these research opportunities, open to students in each of the university's four schools with full- time undergraduates: the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering, the Peabody Conservatory and the School of Nursing. Since 1993, about 40 students each year have been awarded up to $2,500 to propose and conduct original research, some results of which have been published in professional journals. The awards, begun by then provost Joseph Cooper and funded through a donation from the Hodson Trust, are an important part of the university's commitment to research.

Return to Provost's Undergraduate Research Awards news release.