URBANA — A University of Illinois student is one of only 48 in the world to win an important science and engineering grant.

Graduate student Sriram Chandrasekaran is studying regulatory and metabolic networks in brain cancer, one on 48 researchers from 22 countries in the first year of a fellowship program from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland.

Each will receive $43,000 a year to cover living costs as well as some research costs.

William R. Galey, who heads the institute's graduate and medical education programs, said many of the talented graduate students in the program are not eligible for other aid, even National Science Foundation grants, in this country.

"These are some of the best scholars in the world, who have a lot to offer America," he said Monday.

Chandrasekaran is working on a doctorate in biophysics.

"My research is on glioblastomas — an aggressive form of brain cancer for which no effective diagnosis or treatment methods exist," he said.

Chandrasekaran and his adviser, Dr. Nathan Price, are "developing a novel method to look at the cancer cell's 'secretome' (substances secreted by the cell) and non-invasively measure the cancer's status," the graduate student said.

He has also developed new methods to predict metabolic changes that occur in a cell and applying that tool to study glioblastomas as well.

Chandrasekaran was first selected via a biophysics department-wide competition. His department nominated him to the campus-level competition, and his home university nominated two students for the nationwide competition.

"These students devote their full attention to research at a critical time during their professional development as scientists," Galey said. "Hopefully this is going to do some good for some very bright people."

The program could grow to 50 international students next year, he said.

The International Student Research Fellowships will support science and engineering students during their third, fourth and fifth year of graduate school.

HHMI originally planned to give 35 fellowships worth $43,000 a year in this pilot year but increased the number to 48 because the quality of the applicants was so high.

"The applicant pool was spectacular," says Sean B. Carroll, HHMI's vice president for science education. "We hope, through these fellowships, to identify future scientific leaders."