University of Iowa News Release

Feb. 5, 2008

UI graduate student in biology wins American Heart Association fellowship

Andrew Garrett of Coralville, Iowa, a neuroscience doctoral student in the University of Iowa Graduate College, has received a two-year fellowship from the American Heart Association. The award will provide support as he continues to conduct research and study in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of Biological Sciences.

His research involves the role of adhesions between astrocytes and neurons in synapse formation, part of a study of neural development and various brain disorders.

Garrett is a researcher in the laboratory of Joshua Weiner, assistant professor and Presidential Biological Scholar in the Department of Biological Sciences. Weiner recently received a five-year, $1.47 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how neurons in the brain are wired together.

STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa News Services, 300 Plaza Centre One, Suite 371, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-2500.

MEDIA CONTACT: Gary Galluzzo, 319-384-0009, gary-galluzzo@uiowa.edu