Research Project Leaders (RPLs)
One of the most important functions of any COBRE is to assemble a critical mass of investigators in a given scientific area. At any given time, the CMIC supports up to five junior investigators who serve as Research Project Leaders (RPLs). The projects supported by the CMIC are typically centered on using structural biology and quantitative molecular approaches to understand cancer biology and therapeutics. In that way, research associated with the CMIC usually has some component aligned with the equipment and services provided by the Structural Biology Core and the Biomolecular Interactions Core. The active RPLs are listed below, along with a brief description of their COBRE-related research program.
![Project 1 Joonas Jamsen, Ph.D.](https://medicine.uams.edu/cmic/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2024/04/Jamsen_Joonas-300x300-1.png)
Joonas Jamsen, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His COBRE-supported project is focused on studying the proteins and enzymes that participate in a DNA repair process called microhomology-mediated end joining. Dr. Jamsen’s COBRE mentors are Kevin Raney, Ph.D., and Wayne Wahls, Ph.D.
![Project 2 Sayem Miah, Ph.D.](https://medicine.uams.edu/cmic/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2024/04/Miah-222x327.jpg)
Sayem Miah, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His COBRE-supported project is focused on a newly discovered set of protein interactions that influence the packaging of DNA in breast cancer. Dr. Miah’s COBRE mentors are Alan Tackett, Ph.D., and Tudor Moldoveanu, Ph.D.
![Project 3 Mohammad Rahman, Ph.D.](https://medicine.uams.edu/cmic/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2024/04/Rahman-230x327.jpg)
Mohammad Rahman, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His COBRE-supported project is focused understaning how a mechanism that has evolved to control RNA transcript processing can be co-opted to different ends in solid tumors and bloodborne cancers. Dr. Rahman’s COBRE mentors are Angus Macnicol, Ph.D., and Fenhuang Zhan, Ph.D.
![Project 4 Katie Ryan, Ph.D.](https://medicine.uams.edu/cmic/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2024/04/Ryan-228x327.jpg)
Katie Ryan, Ph.D., is is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Her COBRE-supported project is focused on investigating a non-canonical Rho GTPase called Rnd3 that has distinctive ways of promoting metastasis in different tumor types. Dr. Ryan’s COBRE mentors are Marjan Boerma, Ph.D., and Ruud Dings, Ph.D.
Graduated RPLs
![Graduated RPLs Adam Wolfe](https://medicine.uams.edu/cmic/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2024/04/Wolfe_Adam-Ross-245x327.jpg)
Adam Wolfe, M.D., Ph.D., is a clinician-scientist who studies mechanisms in pancreatic adenocarcinoma that allow these tumors to survive radiation therapy. Dr. Wolfe graduated from the CMIC when he was awarded a prestigious American Cancer Society grant to pursue is COBRE-related work. Dr. Wolfe’s COBRE mentors were Fen Xia, M.D., Ph.D., and Eric Enemark, Ph.D.
Pilot Projects
Supported by funds from the UAMS College of Medicine, the CMIC Pilot Project Program seeks to identify researchers with ideas that align with the mission of the center and that could serve as a foundation for a full-fledged COBRE research project. To help these ideas mature and obtain key preliminary results, the CMIC will fund up to two $75,000 Pilot Project awards annually.
Download the most recent solicitation for Pilot Project applications (PDF).