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Malliotakis Announces $391,003 for the College of Staten Island

August 19, 2021

(WASHINGTON, DC) - Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11) today announced the Department of Health and Human Services will award the College of Staten Island (CSI) $391,003 in federal grants. The funds are part of the National Institue of Health's SCORE Program and will be used for research conducted by Leora Yetnikoff, an Assistant Professor of Psychology, that challenges a century-long belief that the principal cells in the brain—neurons—can only communicate with other neurons. This is the first time a CSI faculty member has received a SCORE Award, which the NIH presents to institutions of higher learning that have records of graduating biomedical students from groups that have been historically underrepresented in the field.

I'm happy to see residents' taxpayer dollars return to Staten Island to support the students, staff, and biomedical research being conducted at the College of Staten Island,said Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis. These SCORE funds will go a long way in learning more about human brain functions and disease, including schizophrenia, drug addiction, and multiple sclerosis, and allow Dr. Yetnikoff to increase the number of students who will receive training in her lab. I'm looking forward to seeing all the work Dr. Yetnikoff and her students accomplish throughout their research.

“We are learning more and more that glial cells ‘listen’ to neuron signals, and actually change the way they interact with neurons based on their interpretation of these signals,” said Dr. Leora Yetnikoff. “My students, collaborators, and I worked tirelessly together—remotely—during a pandemic to put out a competitive proposal with sound scientific merit and it is extremely gratifying and rewarding to learn that these efforts paid off.”

“The advantage of the SCORE Award is that it is geared towards academic institutions that teach and train students that are not well-represented in the biomedical sciences," said Dan McCloskey, Chairperson of the Department of Psychology at the College of Staten Island. "We have seen other CUNY Colleges really benefit from SCORE Funding and the net result is a greater population of students who go onto careers in research and medicine. Diverse students bring diverse perspectives which means new ideas for the treatment and cure of diseases. Dr. Yetnikoff’s award is an important first step to open the door for more faculty and students to add to this workforce.”