A National Institutes of Health grant will allow a Wayne State University School of Medicine doctoral candidate to continue her education and further her research goals.

The F30 fellowship grant is designed to aid physician-scientists in training, including those on academic tracks such as the dual M.D./Ph.D. program being pursued by Andrea Batchev.

“The focus is supporting training of students who will fill both a researcher and physician role,” Batchev said. “The funds will go toward both my tuition as well as research. It will cover 50 to 60% of my tuition and it pays for part of my stipend. Part can also be used at my discretion for things like travel expenses and equipment. I will be working with different researchers and physicians who will mentor me and help me develop into becoming an independent researcher.”

The five-year $223,095 grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering will support Batchev’s research, “Outer Sphere Tuning of a Eu(II)-Containing Contrast Agent for Imaging Hypoxia via MRI.” The grant application was submitted by Matthew Allen, Ph.D., chair of Chemistry in Wayne State’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Batchev will use the funds to complete her education and further her studies, which combine both chemistry and medicine with a focus on improving the effectiveness of MRI scans of certain diseases and conditions.

“My main goal right now in getting a Ph.D. is bridging the gap between chemistry and medicine,” Batchev said. “We want to better utilize MRIs and how we use chemical approaches to improve the kind of information that people can garner from an MRI. I am studying hypoxia, which is abnormally low oxygen in the body and is linked to many conditions, including some types of cancer. Currently, there are no imaging methods to measure hypoxia that can obtain the information that is useful for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of relevant diseases. We want to address these gaps.”

“The F30 fellowship awards from the National Institutes of Health are prestigious awards made to dual-degree doctoral students,” said Ezemenari M. Obasi, Ph.D., vice president for Research & Innovation at Wayne State. “These awards provide students with valuable research experience and clinical training to aid them in becoming leading physician-scientists. I congratulate Ms. Batchev on receiving this important professional development opportunity from the NIH.”

The award number for this grant is 1F30EB035471.