NIU will receive about $2.3 million over the next four years for two grants to enhance research in agricultural genetics and treatment of teenage drug abuse.

Agricultural research, totaling $1.7 million over the next three years, is being conducted at NIU’s Plant Molecular Biology Center by three NIU scientists.

The scientists are attempting to “shut off” genes and introduce “foreign genes” into agricultural crops, including corn and wheat.

NIU scientist Randel Hauptmann said his research involves the insertion of foreign genes or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) into corn and wheat to produce desirable traits not normally found in the crops. The traits such as drought resistance could be used to control plant virus disease, he said.

All viruses have genes, which might allow researchers to block viruses that cause specific diseases, said Arnold Hampel and Richard Tritz, two scientists who are also working on the project.

Hampel and Tritz also are developing a system of gene insertion for animal application, while Hauptmann is trying to develop a system for plant application.

Hampel said his research includes “potential application of the hairpin catalytic RNA (ribonucleic acid), which was discovered at NIU.” A catalysis is an increase in the rate of a chemical reaction induced by a substance.

A patent has been applied for the catalytic RNA that can split different RNA sequences in a specific manner, Hampel said.

“We will try to determine if the reaction will occur within a living organism. Since the expression of the genes of an organism always involves RNA, splitting of this RNA would result in shutting off genes,” Hampel said.

If the system were to work in a living organism, scientists would have the capability to shut off undesirable genes in plants and animals, Hampel said.

“If the future research is successful, we believe that there are unlimited commercial applications for the technology in area ranging from therapeutics to agricultural genetics,” said Grant Brewen, president of the Peoria-based consortium known as the Biotechnology Research Development Corp.

The second grant, totalling $647,000, allows researchers to determine what type of treatment is needed to prevent a teenager’s relapse into drug abuse.

Sherilynn Spear, NIU assistant professor of community health, said she and Sharon Skala, a community health graduate student, received the grant to collect data with the Rosecrance Center in Rockford.

The grant covers a four-year stretch offered by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Bethesda, Md. The study is titled, “Evaluating Two Approaches to Adolescent Aftercare.”

Rosecrance Center Director Philip Eaton said, “With the kids that we’re admitting, we’re seeing that alcohol and marijuana are still pretty common. We’re seeing cocaine increases and what we’re concerned about most in the Midwest is crack.”

The study will target about 200 teenagers between 12 and 18 years old. The subjects will have been discharged from primary treatment for substance abuse with the consent of the Rosecrance Center.

Spear said even though most relapses occur within three months after residential treatment is finished, each teenager will be monitored for a year after treatment ends.