A long term range goal of New Mexico State University (NMSU) at Las Cruces, New Mexico, is to expand research and increase the opportunities for undergraduate and has as its objectives: (i) to conduct quality and competitive research within the mission of the categorical institutes of NIH; (ii) to increase opportunities for ethnic minority undergraduate students majoring in the natural and physical sciences to conduct research in the biomedical fields; (iii) to encourage, retain and train minority undergraduates in these disciplines by engaging them as participants in active on-going research programs; (iv) to assist and advise these undergraduates in order to assist them academically so as to become competitive for entry into postbaccalaureate schools for graduate or medical training in the biomedical sciences; (v) to recruit ethnic minority graduate students and assist them in earning graduate degrees in order to develop rewarding careers in biomedical research. To accomplish these goals, it is proposed that during the current award period thirty-nine undergraduate students and twenty-five active, on-going graduate research projects in the Departments of Animal Science, Agronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Sociology/Anthropology, Psychology, and Educational Psychology. Students will be permitted to select individual research projects for their independent investigation. Students may select research projects from areas including: functions of avian respiratory systems; the role of proteases in bacterial sporulation; morphogenesis in fungi; reproductive biochemistry and embryogenesis; synthesis of metabolic inhibitor drugs; molecular biology; chaperone proteins involved in protein assembly; protein nutrition improvements; electrophysiology; social-behavior of chimpanzees; clinical applications of analytical analyses; endocrinology; medical microbiology; chemical toxicology; and computer assisted genomics. The major criteria for success of the program will be the number of undergraduate appointees who subsequently pursue graduate degrees at this or other institutions after their tenure at NMSU, and by the number of graduate students who successfully complete graduate degrees at NMSU. This application is for continuation of a seventeen-year-old MBRS Program which has sent 181 minority students (81.6% of its participants) on to postbaccalaureate programs since 1975.
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