Predoctoral Researcher A.J. Treichel recently received a coveted three-year F31 fellowship award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to enrich his Ph.D. education and training. In his fellowship application, Treichel proposed to study how very small, overlooked proteins have large impacts on early vertebrate development.

The F31 fellowship is part of the Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award program intended to augment the development of predoctoral researchers into productive, independent research scientists.

“The fellowship application process was a humbling experience—writing, submitting, getting feedback, and then rewriting and resubmitting. It was a lot of work, and it feels good to see it pay off,” said Treichel. “My advisor was extremely supportive throughout the entire process, but he let me fly when it came to writing the application and responding to the comments of the reviewers. Because of his approach, I have gained a new level of confidence as a writer and as a scientist.”

Treichel joined the Stowers Graduate School Ph.D. program in 2020 and is performing thesis research in the lab of Stowers Associate Investigator Ariel Bazzini, Ph.D., which studies how genes and their resulting proteins are regulated in development and disease.

Proteins are the main drivers of all cellular functions. From a single fertilized egg, the precise coordination of cell division, proper signaling, movement of cells, and their differentiation that determines which organs and tissues they will become is governed by many different proteins.

Advanced technologies have identified hundreds of small proteins called microproteins that are synthesized from small sequences of RNA messages. One of these, APELA, has been found to play a vital role in zebrafish and mouse heart development. In humans, this same protein maintains embryonic stem cells in a pluripotent state, so they can differentiate into any type of cell when needed.