Jonathan Todd Eggenschwiler, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, has been awarded a Basil O’Connor Starter Research Grant funded by the New Jersey Chapter of the March of Dimes. This $75,000 grant will help Dr. Eggenschwiler launch his independent research project aimed at determining the role of a newly identified gene in causing spina bifida (“open spine”) and related birth defects. He follows in the footsteps of Princeton University President, Shirley M. Tilghman, PhD, also a molecular biologist and a Basil O’Connor Grant recipient between 1979 and 1981.

Over the past six decades, March of Dimes grantees have achieved a remarkable track record of lifesaving breakthroughs for babies. One way the March of Dimes seeks to ensure ongoing progress in the fight to save babies is by encouraging promising young scientists like Dr. Eggenschwiler, who are on the threshold of successful research careers. This is the goal of the Basil O’Connor Starter Research Grants program, which the March of Dimes began in 1973. Since then, more than 2,000 researchers have received this prestigious award. The greater majority have continued research on birth defects, three have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and one is the Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Each year about 2,200 babies are born with spina bifida and other neural tube defects (NTDs), serious birth defects involving the spinal cord and brain. Though both genetic and environmental factors (including insufficient maternal intake of a vitamin called folic acid) are believed to contribute to these birth defects, their cause is not well understood. Dr. Eggenschwiler is studying a gene (Rab23) that is part of a cell-to-cell signaling pathway that is crucial for normal patterning of the embryonic neural tube, the structure that develops into the brain and spinal cord. By clarifying the underlying genetic basis of these disorders, Dr. Eggenschwiler hopes to pave the way to developing ways to prevent and treat NTDs and other brain defects.

Dr. Eggenschwiler received his doctorate in genetics and development from Columbia University in New York City in 1998. Following this, he did postdoctoral research at the Sloan-Kettering Institute, also in New York City. He joined Princeton University in 2003.

The March of Dimes is a national voluntary health agency whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. Founded in 1938, the March of Dimes funds programs of research, community services, education, and advocacy to save babies and in 2003 launched a campaign to address the increasing rate of premature birth. For more information, visit the March of Dimes Web site at marchofdimes.com or its Spanish Web site at nacersano.org.