Campus briefs

UNC students receive state help for service projects

Eight UNC students won North Carolina Schweitzer Fellowships for their service projects designed to promote public health in the state.

The four UNC dental students to win the $2,000 fellowships are Christopher Durham of Manson; Brandi Jackson of Parkton; Jin Yi Kwon of High Point; and Nozomu Yamauchi of Chapel Hill.

UNC medical students Avik Chatterjee of Cary; Elizabeth Deans of Hickory; Carrie Hamby of Black Mountain; and Natalie Muth of Yorkville, Ill., were also awarded fellowships.

UNC students won eight of 22 statewide awards for fiscal year 2005-06. Six of the students will work in pairs and two will work individually for a total of five service projects.

 

UNC researchers discover leukemia-causing enzyme

University scientists have pinpointed an enzyme responsible for spurring the development of a type of leukemia.

The study identified hDOT1L as the causing agent of an unrestrained growth of bone marrow cells, a key aspect of acute myeloid leukemia.

AML affects less than 2 percent of the about 16,000 patients diagnosed with acute leukemia nationwide each year.

The study was headed up by Dr. Yi Zhang, associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UNC’s School of Medicine and a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.