We are very excited to share that Assistant Professor Yasir Ahmed-Braimah has been awarded an Early-Stage Investigator MIRA grant for $1,875,000 from the National Institute of General Medicine (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIGMS supports biomedical research that explores the basic underlying systems of living organisms and their impact on human health, rather than focusing on specific diseases. The Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) is a five-year grant awarded for a program of research rather than an individual project. These highly competitive grants are designed with the goal of enhancing scientific productivity by providing researchers with greater stability and flexibility of funding.

Ahmed’s research is focused on the mechanisms of genetic incompatibilities between species. He and his team will study the fundamental genetic mechanisms of species diversification and seek to identify molecular pathways that underlie genetic incompatibilities between different Drosophila species. They aim to identify basic cellular processes impacted by mismatches in genome composition, and through that, learn more about the general mechanisms of interspecific genetic incompatibilities.