Pelin Cengiz, MD, Awarded Career Development Grant from NIH

Pelin Cengiz, MD
Pelin Cengiz, MD

Congratulations to Pelin Cengiz, MD, who received a 5-year, K08 grant from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH/NINDS), for her project entitled, “Estrogen receptors and TrkB mediated neuroprotection in neonatal hypoxia-ischemia.” This award, in the amount of $977,810, will allow her to investigate novel neuroprotective treatments to improve outcomes after brain injury in neonates and children. Specifically, her project will investigate the role of a sex steroid receptor (estrogen receptor alpha – ERα) in activating nerve growth factor receptor (tyrosine kinase B receptor – TrkB) in a sexually different way in neonatal mice following cerebral ischemia. Identifying the role of ERα-TrkB interaction in neuroprotection will provide a new target for preventive and therapeutic interventions and significantly advance the developmental brain injury field, a defined mission of NINDS.