NIH awards $3.1 million grant for Washington University, St. Jude ALS research Five-year grant to McKelvey School of Engineering’s Pappu and co-PI Mittag will support study of RNA-binding proteins March 5, 2021 SHARE Rohit Pappu, the Edwin H. Murty Professor of Engineering in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, received funds to study RNA-binding proteins that are mutated in patients with familial forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Scientists from Washington University in St. Louis and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have been awarded a five-year $3.1 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, an affiliate of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).