Ever since he was an undergraduate student, Gary Bulla, biological sciences professor, said he has been interested in how genes were controlled.

Thanks to funding from a research grant from the university, he has finally been able to pursue his passion.

“The more I learned, the more fascinated I became with the topic,” Bulla said.

Bulla said he entered a Ph.D. program where he studied how viruses controlled their genes. He also attended a seminar where the speaker described his research about how humans control gene expression.

“I was so excited by what I heard that I immediately requested to join his lab for a fellowship,” Bulla said.

Nowadays, Bulla is doing his own research focused on understanding how different cells in a body know to turn on some genes and turn off other genes depending on where they are in the body.

He said control of gene expression is the foundation of all life.

Bulla said his group of undergraduate and graduate students have made progress identifying key factors involved in dictating gene expression.

“We are using cutting-edge technology to explore these issues even further,” Bulla said.

Bulla said that, without the grant, it would be impossible to afford the supplies for his research.

Bob Chesnut, ex-officio for the office of research and sponsored programs, said the university sets aside money for these grants.

Chesnut said there is a council that chooses the recipients of the grants with representation of two people from each college.

Faculty that wish to receive a grant must submit an application explaining the research they want to do. The council reads through all the applications and meets to discuss who should receive the grants.

The council also uses a score sheet to rate each application. Bulla said he has applied for and received many grants over the past several years from different sources.

He said that this latest grant from the office of research and sponsored programs is designed to obtain preliminary results that will help obtain larger national grants.

“This is a new grant program that should allow investigators like myself to obtain federal funding,” Bulla said.

Bulla said that the research does cut down on his free time considerably, but he believes research is highly value in the College of Sciences.

“It is more of a matter of being careful to avoid spending so much time on research that other activities do not receive proper attention,” Bulla said.