Associate Professor Brad Layton (MEM, PI) has been awarded a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for their project entitled "Multiscale Structure-Function Relationships of Collagen in the Marine Cyanobacterium Trichodesmium erythraeum.” His co-investigators are cyanobacteria expert, Shivanthi Anandan of Drexel’s Bioscience Department, and collagen expert, Fred Silver of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The collagen Layton discovered is the longest uninterrupted tri-glycine repeat ever found and may be responsible for making colony aggregation possible at the kilometer scale. Perhaps the most intriguing fact about this particular collagen sequence is its similarity to vertebrate collagen. The collagen extracted from Trichodesmium erythraeum has the potential for use in the pharmaceutical industry and also makes a toxin similar to Botox. The total amount of the NSF award for the project is $403,000 and Drexel’s portion is $280,000.