With the Cottrell grant, Arora will continue his research on a strategy that allows synthesis of short and highly stable alpha-helices, which play fundamental roles in the regulation of specific protein-protein interactions.
"Molecules that can predictably and specifically disrupt these interactions would be invaluable as tools in molecular biology, and potentially, as leads in drug development," said Arora. "In the laboratory, we have demonstrated that these synthetic molecules can target chosen protein receptors with high affinity."
Arora will also use the Cottrell funding to continue a university effort to reorganize the chemistry department's undergraduate curriculum and stimulate student interest in science by introducing students to contemporary research topics and modern instrumentation in introductory courses.
The Cottrell Scholar Awards, instituted in 1993, are named in honor of Frederick Gardner Cottrell (1877-1948), a professor of physical chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley and founder of Tucson, Ariz.'s Research Corporation.
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