Brandon Tan, MD, was recently awarded Mentored Research Training Grant from the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) to support his research on lipid modulation of the serotonin 3 receptor. The grant offers $250,000 in funding over two years to facilitate the development of skills, preliminary data, and research publications.
The aim of Dr. Tan’s research is to unravel the intricate mechanisms underlying the interaction between lipids and the serotonin 3 receptor, a key player in brain function and neurotransmission. By investigating how lipids bind to and influence the receptor, Dr. Tan hopes to shed light on the molecular processes involved and their potential implications for anesthesia and other related fields.
“Dr. Tan’s research has great potential to improve patient experiences and could directly provide critical basic mechanisms that lead to the development of new therapeutic agents,” says Vice Chair and Chief of Pediatric Anesthesiology, Dolores Njoku, MD.
Dr. Tan will lead this research along with his co-mentor Wayland Cheng, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Basic Science Research in the Department of Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine.
The FAER Mentored Research Training Grant is highly competitive and is awarded to exceptional faculty members who have completed their core anesthesiology residency training within the past 10 years. This prestigious grant not only provides financial support but also recognizes the potential of physician-investigators like Dr. Tan to make significant contributions to their respective fields.
Dr. Tan’s achievement in securing the Mentored Research Training Grant is a testament to his dedication, expertise, and potential as a physician-investigator. His research on lipid modulation of the serotonin 3 receptor holds great promise for advancing our knowledge of anesthesia and its impact on brain function.
Currently, Dr. Tan is a PGY5 and a trainee in our Academic Scholars Advancement Program (ASAP) which was designed to accelerate the careers of physician-scientists in anesthesiology and position them to make groundbreaking scientific discoveries. Dr. Tan will graduate from the Pediatric Fellowship program in 2023.
An organization of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), FAER is dedicated to developing the next generation of physician-scientists in anesthesiology and fueling anesthesiology’s future through scientific discovery. More information about FAER and the 2023 grant recipients is available on the ASA website.