Chandra Bhattacharya (Chemistry and Biochemistry) has been awarded a $1.88M Early Stage Investigator (ESI) R35 MIRA grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). This prestigious five-year award will support the Bhattacharya lab's research on developing innovative lipid nanoparticle platforms for targeted mRNA delivery - with a focus on reaching organs and cells beyond the liver.

The R35 MIRA (Maximizing Investigators' Research Award) is a highly competitive and career-defining grant that supports the overall vision of a research program, offering flexibility to explore new directions as discoveries unfold. This Early Stage Investigator Award is available to PIs who have received their Ph.D. within the last 10 years and have not yet received R01-equivalent grant support. Bhattacharya is the first UNLV faculty member to receive this Early Stage Investigator award and hopes it will be an award more young faculty members apply for in the future.