Hui Zhang and Hong Sun (both Chemistry and Biochemistry) received an RO1 grant, “Regulation of SOX Proteins by Methylation-dependent Proteolysis in Stem Cells and Development,” from the National Institutes of Health for four years for a total of $1,238,360. The objective of this RO1 grant is to investigate how the pluripotency and self-renewal of embryonic stem cells and neurogenesis during the development of the central nervous system are controlled by novel lysine methylation-dependent proteolytic and cell-signaling mechanisms that regulate the homeostasis of the master stem cell protein SOX2 (SRY-related HMG box 2) and related SOX family members.