Dr. Bi wins Early Career Scholar Award

Pengpeng Bi, assistant professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ genetics department and Center for Molecular Medicine, has contributed to understanding the molecular mechanisms of muscle development and regeneration. His role in discovering, characterizing and naming the protein Myomixer was a substantial advance. Muscle growth and repair depend on the fusion of smaller muscle cells. Bi identified the protein Myomixer as a switch for human muscle cell fusion. His group used a suite of model and non-model organisms to investigate the origin of muscle cell fusion, shedding light on a deep mystery of vertebrate evolution. His group is spearheading the development of a CRISPR toolkit to create genetically engineered mouse models and identify new genes essential for muscle development. These works have been published and constitute a resource for all investigators who employ mouse models, including those outside the muscle biology field.

Established by the UGA Research Foundation, these awards recognize junior faculty whose research, creative and scholarly achievements indicate a trajectory toward an exceptional, sustained research career and an imminent rise to international stature in their field of study.