LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- Dr. Jonathan Karp (left) of Hopewell, NJ, assistant professor of biology at Rider University, has received a three year, $102,057 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the effects of psychological stress on immune system function and susceptibility to disease.

A neuro-immunologist and a key faculty member in Rider's biopsychology undergraduate program, Dr. Karp's grant will also provide funds for both research supplies and undergraduate participation in laboratory research.

"The integration of nervous and immune system functions has become an important component for understanding human disease," said Karp. "The nervous system is clearly connected to the immune system through innervation of immune organs and shared chemical messengers. These processes influence our susceptibility to a variety of infections, autoimmune diseases, and cancer."

Karp's research will test the hypothesis that the effects of psychological states on immunity will be more robust in subjects with a suppressed immune system. His research will determine how different psychological states -- that are associated with different living conditions -- influence the body's immune response to infection with the herpes virus that causes cold sores.

Karp joined the Rider faculty in 1997 after serving for three years as a research assistant professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center's Center for Psychoneuroimmunology Research. He also has served as a postdoctoral fellow at the medical center's Division of Behavioral and Psychosocial Medicine, an adjunct instructor at Rochester Institute of Technology, and a laboratory technician at Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.

He has published several articles in peer reviewed research journals such as Journal of Neuroendocrinology, Physiological Behavior, Journal of Pineal Research, Journal of Neuroimmunology, and Brain Behavior Immunity.

He earned his Ph.D. in psychology and biology from Vanderbilt University and his B.A. degree in neuroscience from Colgate University.

Karp is the third Rider biology professor to receive a significant grant from the National Institutes of Health in the past year to support their research in timely and important areas. Combined the grants total more than $310,000.

Two other Rider biology professors have received $100,000 Academic Research Enhancement Awards -- an NIH program designed to enhance undergraduate research. Earlier in the fall, Dr. James Riggs of Lambertville, associate professor, obtained a three-year, $104,611 grant through the National Cancer Institute to study the effects of aging on the immune systems and susceptibility to cancer and other diseases. Last year, Dr. Julie Drawbridge of Princeton, an assistant professor, was awarded a $103,629 grant to examine the role of c-Ret, a gene that codes for a cell surface protein, in cell migration and kidney duct formation during embryonic development.

Rider University is an independent, coeducational, nonsectarian institution with a 353-acre main campus in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and a 23-acre campus in Princeton, New Jersey. The University offers 58 undergraduate programs and 17 graduate programs in the Colleges of Business Administration; Liberal Arts, Education, and Sciences; Continuing Studies; and Westminster Choir College. Ninety-three percent of the faculty hold doctoral or other appropriate advanced degrees.