Postdoc in Cannon Lab Wins Prestigious NIH K Award

Written by Lynne Dahmen, ldahman@purdue.edu

Shreesh Sammi

As a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Jason Cannon’s lab at Purdue, Dr. Shreesh Sammi has been looking into the neurotoxicity of forever chemicals known as PFAS.  As described in a recent article, PFAS and are potentially neurotoxic, but the extent of their toxicity to the brain is unknown, especially for the years and decades they may accumulate in the brain.

Dr. Sammi will soon pursue this topic further through a newly awarded NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) program. This prestigious award will support his research titled, “Elucidation of mitochondrial mechanisms critical to mediating PFAS neurotoxicity.” As his mentor, Dr. Cannon adds that, “Shreesh’s work is filling a critical mechanistic gap in the literature with respect to PFAS neurotoxicity and potential adverse outcomes.” Dr. Aaron Bowman, head of the School of Health Sciences, also serves as a co-mentor of Dr. Sammi. Both Bowman and Cannon are part of a pre-eminent team doing research on PFAS at Purdue, a key research focus within Purdue Center for the Environment’s Chemical Exposures research area. Both Cannon and Bowman are also members of the Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience (PIIN).

The award provides up to five years of support consisting of two phases. The initial award (K99) provides one to two years of mentored, postdoctoral support while the second phase (R00) provides up to three years of independent research support and is activated when the awardee accepts a full time tenure track (or equivalent) faculty position. The value of this award is nearly $1 million.

Congratulations, Dr. Sammi!