Dr. Jorge Escalante received a 5-year extension of the National Institutes of Health MERIT award to continue his study of vitamin B12 biosynthesis. The NIH MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) award is very prestigious and is given to less than 5 percent of NIH-funded investigators. Investigators do not apply for MERIT awards, but rather, each institute of NIH submits proposals to their respective councils which discuss the merits of the candidates and select the recipients. The MERIT award allows recipients to pursue research projects that require longer timeframes than what is provided by most grant awards. Jorge is only the sixth MERIT award recipient at UGA since 1992.
