Dr Yu Heng Lau is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemistry. He completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge, developing new chemical methods for synthesising peptide-based therapeutics. He then moved to Harvard Medical School as a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow in the field of synthetic biology, building recoded synthetic genomes in bacteria and engineering self-assembling protein nanocompartments in yeast. At Sydney, he has held ARC DECRA, Westpac, and NHMRC Investigator Research Fellowships.

The Lau group uses a combination of organic chemistry and synthetic biology to control the architecture of natural proteins and peptides to create new medicines and catalysts.

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We are always interested in welcoming enthusiastic and talented individuals from diverse backgrounds to join our team! We are looking for PhD applicants who have an outstanding academic or research track record to apply for scholarship funding.

Research interests

We have a number of research projects available that cover a range of chemical and biological topics, including:

Medicinal Chemistry: design and synthesis of peptide and small molecule cancer therapeutics
Chemical Biology: novel strategies for enhancing phage and mRNA display libraries
Protein Engineering + SynBio: self-assembling protein cages as nano-reactors for carbon fixation

Whether you are a prospective undergraduate, Honours student, PhD candidate or postdoc, see our group webpage for more info, and please feel free to contact me to learn more about our research and the current opportunities available.

Teaching and supervision

CHEM3121 Chemical Biology
CHEM2523 Chemistry of Biological Molecules
MICR3988 Synthetic Biology: The iGEM Competition

Awards and honours

RACI ACES Early Career Award 2022 - Royal Australian Chemical Institute
NSW Young Tall Poppy Award 2021 - Australian Institute of Policy and Science
Best Transdisciplinary Team 2021 - Centre for Drug Discovery Innovation
Sydney Research Accelerator SOAR Prize 2021 - The University of Sydney
Supervisor of the Year Award 2021 - Sydney University Postgraduate Students Association
J G Russell Award 2019 - Australian Academy of Science
Robin Anders Young Investigator Award 2019 - Lorne Proteins
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 2019 - Advance HE
Selby Research Award 2018 - Selby Scientific Foundation

PhD and master's project opportunities

Synthetic biology: catalysis inside protein cages

Organic chemistry: Anti-cancer peptide therapeutics

Current research students

Project title	Research student
Cell free expression (CFE) platform	Nida AHMED
Efficient Expression of Cacaoidin through CFPS and Research on Its Antibacterial Activity and Mechanism	Qinzhou CAI
Peptide inhibitors targeting FANCM RMI interaction as a novel therapeutic strategy against ALT positive cancers	Eva GAO
Design Synthesis and Evaluation of FANCM RMI Inhibitors in ALT Cells	Sumyee WU

Publications

By Type

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Book Chapters

Sharma, K., Kunciw, D., Xu, W., Wiedmann, M., Wu, Y., Sore, H., Galloway, W., Lau, Y., Itzhaki, L., Spring, D. (2018). Double-click stapled peptides for inhibiting protein-protein interactions. In Jesko Koehnke, James Naismith and Wilfred A. van der Donk (Eds.), Cyclic Peptides: From Bioorganic Synthesis to Applications, (pp. 164-187). United Kingdom: Royal Society of Chemistry. [More Information]

Journals

Krishna Sudhakar, H., Yau, J., Alcock, L., Lau, Y. (2024). Accessing diverse bicyclic peptide conformations using 1,2,3-TBMB as a linker. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 22(30), 6095-6102. [More Information]
Young, R., Huang, T., Luo, Z., Tan, Y., Kaur, A., Lau, Y. (2024). Development of stapled NONO-associated peptides reveals unexpected cell permeability and nuclear localisation. Journal of Peptide Science, 30(5), e3562. [More Information]
Alcock, L., Krishna Sudhakar, H., Young, R., Lau, Y. (2024). Fluorescence polarization assay for screening FANCM-RMI inhibitors to target the alternative lengthening of telomeres. Methods in Enzymology, 698, 361-378. [More Information]
Szyszka, T., Giessen, T., Lau, Y., Andreas, M., Lie, F., Miller, L., Adamson, L., Fatehi, F., Twarock, R., Draper, B., et al (2024). Point mutation in a virus-like capsid drives symmetry reduction to form tetrahedral cages. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121(20), e2321260121. [More Information]
Wu, X., Krishna Sudhakar, H., Alcock, L., Lau, Y. (2023). Mannich Base PIP-199 Is a Chemically Unstable Pan-Assay Interference Compound. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 66(16), 11271-11281. [More Information]
Lie, F., Szyszka, T., Lau, Y. (2023). Structural polymorphism in protein cages and virus-like particle. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 11(28), 6516-6526. [More Information]
Lau, Y. (2023). The supramolecular chemistry of protein cages and viruses. Australian Journal of Chemistry.
Tasneem, N., Szyszka, T., Jenner, E., Lau, Y. (2022). How Pore Architecture Regulates the Function of Nanoscale Protein Compartments. ACS Nano, 16(6), 8540-8556. [More Information]
Szyszka, T., Jenner, E., Tasneem, N., Lau, Y. (2022). Molecular Display on Protein Nanocompartments: Design Strategies and Systems Applications. ChemSystemsChem, 4(1), e202100025. [More Information]
Adamson, L., Tasneem, N., Andreas, M., Close, W., Jenner, E., Szyszka, T., Young, R., Cheah, L., Norman, A., MacDermott-Opeskin, H., Lau, Y., et al (2022). Pore structure controls stability and molecular flux in engineered protein cages. Science Advances, 8(5), eabl7346. [More Information]
Szyszka, T., Jenner, E., Tasneem, N., Lau, Y. (2022). Review: Molecular Display on Protein Nanocompartments: Design Strategies and Systems Applications. ChemSystemsChem, 4(1), e202100043. [More Information]
Cheah, L., Stark, T., Adamson, L., Abidin, R., Lau, Y., Sainsbury, F., Vickers, C. (2021). Artificial Self-assembling Nanocompartment for Organizing Metabolic Pathways in Yeast. ACS Synthetic Biology, 10(12), 3251-3263. [More Information]
Vu, Q., Young, R., Krishna Sudhakar, H., Gao, T., Huang, T., Tan, Y., Lau, Y. (2021). Cyclisation strategies for stabilising peptides with irregular conformations. RSC Medicinal Chemistry, 12(6), 887-901. [More Information]
Sharma, K., Strizhak, A., Fowler, E., Xu, W., Chappell, B., Sore, H., Galloway, W., Grayson, M., Lau, Y., Itzhaki, L., et al (2020). Functionalized Double Strain-Promoted Stapled Peptides for Inhibiting the p53-MDM2 Interaction. ACS Omega, 5(2), 1157-1169. [More Information]
Wu, Y., Kaur, A., Fowler, E., Wiedmann, M., Young, R., Galloway, W., Olsen, L., Sore, H., Chattopadhyay, A., Kwan, T., Lau, Y., et al (2019). Toolbox of diverse linkers for navigating the cellular efficacy landscape of stapled peptides. ACS Chemical Biology, 14(3), 526-533. [More Information]
Sharma, K., Strizhak, A., Fowler, E., Wang, X., Xu, W., Jensen, C., Wu, Y., Sore, H., Lau, Y., Hyvonen, M., et al (2019). Water-soluble, stable and azide-reactive strained dialkynes for biocompatible double strain-promoted click chemistry. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 17(34), 8014-8018. [More Information]
Lau, Y., Clegg, J., Price, J., Macquart, R., Todd, M., Rutledge, P. (2018). Molecular Switches for any pH: A Systematic Study of the Versatile Coordination Behaviour of Cyclam Scorpionands. Chemistry - A European Journal, 24(7), 1573-1585. [More Information]
Lau, Y., Giessen, T., Altenburg, W., Silver, P. (2018). Prokaryotic nanocompartments form synthetic organelles in a eukaryote. Nature Communications, 9(1), 1-7. [More Information]
Iegre, J., Ahmed, N., Gaynord, J., Wu, Y., Herlihy, K., Tan, Y., Lopes-Pires, M., Jha, R., Lau, Y., Sore, H., et al (2018). Stapled peptides as a new technology to investigate protein-protein interactions in human platelets. Chemical Science, 9(20), 4638-4643. [More Information]
Kuo, J., Stirling, F., Lau, Y., Shulgina, Y., Way, J., Silver, P. (2018). Synthetic genome recoding: new genetic codes for new features. Current Genetics, 64(2), 327-333. [More Information]
Lau, Y., Stirling, F., Kuo, J., Karrenbelt, M., Chan, Y., Riesselman, A., Horton, C., Schafer, E., Lips, D., Weinstock, M., et al (2017). Large-scale recoding of a bacterial genome by iterative recombineering of synthetic DNA. Nucleic Acids Research, 45(11), 6971-6980. [More Information]
Xu, W., Lau, Y., Fischer, G., Tan, Y., Chattopadhyay, A., de la Roche, M., Hyvonen, M., Verma, C., Spring, D., Itzhaki, L. (2017). Macrocyclized extended peptides: Inhibiting the substrate-recognition domain of tankyrase. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 139(6), 2245-2256. [More Information]
Wu, Y., Villa, F., Maman, J., Lau, Y., Dobnikar, L., Simon, A., Labib, K., Spring, D., Pellegrini, L. (2017). Targeting the genome-stability hub Ctf4 by stapled-peptide design. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 56(42), 12866-12872. [More Information]
Wu, Y., Olsen, L., Lau, Y., Jensen, C., Rossmann, M., Baker, Y., Sore, H., Collins, S., Spring, D. (2016). Development of a multifunctional benzophenone linker for peptide stapling and photoaffinity labelling. ChemBioChem, 17(8), 689-692. [More Information]
Lau, Y., Wu, Y., de Andrade, P., Galloway, W., Spring, D. (2015). A two-component 'double-click' approach to peptide stapling. Nature Protocols, 10(4), 585-594. [More Information]
Lau, Y., Wu, Y., Rossmann, M., Tan, B., de Andrade, P., Tan, Y., Verma, C., McKenzie, G., Venkitaraman, A., Hyvonen, M., et al (2015). Double Strain-Promoted Macrocyclization for the Rapid Selection of Cell-Active Stapled Peptides. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 54(51), 15410-15413. [More Information]
Lau, Y., de Andrade, P., Wu, Y., Spring, D. (2015). Peptide stapling techniques based on different macrocyclisation chemistries. Chemical Society Reviews, 44(1), 91-102. [More Information]
Lau, Y., de Andrade, P., Quah, S., Rossmann, M., Laraia, L., Skold, N., Sum, T., Rowling, P., Joseph, T., Verma, C., et al (2014). Functionalised staple linkages for modulating the cellular activity of stapled peptides. Chemical Science, 5(5), 1804-1809. [More Information]
Lau, Y., de Andrade, P., Skold, N., McKenzie, G., Venkitaraman, A., Verma, C., Lane, D., Spring, D. (2014). Investigating peptide sequence variations for 'double-click' stapled p53 peptides. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 12(24), 4074-4077. [More Information]
Lau, Y., de Andrade, P., McKenzie, G., Venkitaraman, A., Spring, D. (2014). Linear aliphatic dialkynes as alternative linkers for double-click stapling of p53-derived peptides. ChemBioChem, 15(18), 2680-2683. [More Information]
Lau, Y., Price, J., Todd, M., Rutledge, P. (2011). A Click Fluorophore Sensor that Can Distinguish Cu(II) and Hg(II) via Selective Anion-Induced Demetallation. Chemistry - A European Journal, 17(10), 2850-2858. [More Information]
Lau, Y., Rutledge, P., Watkinson, M., Todd, M. (2011). Chemical sensors that incorporate click-derived triazoles. Chemical Society Reviews, 40(5), 2848-2866. [More Information]
Lau, Y., Spring, D. (2011). Efficient synthesis of Fmoc-protected azido amino acids. Synlett, 2011 (13), 1917-1919. [More Information]
Scully, C., Lau, Y., Jensen, P., Rutledge, P. (2011). Synthesis, electrochemistry and metal binding properties of monosubstituted ferrocenoyl peptides with thioether-containing sidechains. Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, 696(3), 715-721. [More Information]

show 31 more

Conferences

Lau, Y., Spring, D. (2012). Azide-based macrocyclisation strategies towards functionalised stapled peptides. 243rd ACS National Meeting and Exposition, USA.

By Year

Expand all

2024

Krishna Sudhakar, H., Yau, J., Alcock, L., Lau, Y. (2024). Accessing diverse bicyclic peptide conformations using 1,2,3-TBMB as a linker. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 22(30), 6095-6102. [More Information]
Young, R., Huang, T., Luo, Z., Tan, Y., Kaur, A., Lau, Y. (2024). Development of stapled NONO-associated peptides reveals unexpected cell permeability and nuclear localisation. Journal of Peptide Science, 30(5), e3562. [More Information]
Alcock, L., Krishna Sudhakar, H., Young, R., Lau, Y. (2024). Fluorescence polarization assay for screening FANCM-RMI inhibitors to target the alternative lengthening of telomeres. Methods in Enzymology, 698, 361-378. [More Information]
Szyszka, T., Giessen, T., Lau, Y., Andreas, M., Lie, F., Miller, L., Adamson, L., Fatehi, F., Twarock, R., Draper, B., et al (2024). Point mutation in a virus-like capsid drives symmetry reduction to form tetrahedral cages. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121(20), e2321260121. [More Information]

show 1 more

2023

Wu, X., Krishna Sudhakar, H., Alcock, L., Lau, Y. (2023). Mannich Base PIP-199 Is a Chemically Unstable Pan-Assay Interference Compound. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 66(16), 11271-11281. [More Information]
Lie, F., Szyszka, T., Lau, Y. (2023). Structural polymorphism in protein cages and virus-like particle. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 11(28), 6516-6526. [More Information]
Lau, Y. (2023). The supramolecular chemistry of protein cages and viruses. Australian Journal of Chemistry.

2022

Tasneem, N., Szyszka, T., Jenner, E., Lau, Y. (2022). How Pore Architecture Regulates the Function of Nanoscale Protein Compartments. ACS Nano, 16(6), 8540-8556. [More Information]
Szyszka, T., Jenner, E., Tasneem, N., Lau, Y. (2022). Molecular Display on Protein Nanocompartments: Design Strategies and Systems Applications. ChemSystemsChem, 4(1), e202100025. [More Information]
Adamson, L., Tasneem, N., Andreas, M., Close, W., Jenner, E., Szyszka, T., Young, R., Cheah, L., Norman, A., MacDermott-Opeskin, H., Lau, Y., et al (2022). Pore structure controls stability and molecular flux in engineered protein cages. Science Advances, 8(5), eabl7346. [More Information]
Szyszka, T., Jenner, E., Tasneem, N., Lau, Y. (2022). Review: Molecular Display on Protein Nanocompartments: Design Strategies and Systems Applications. ChemSystemsChem, 4(1), e202100043. [More Information]

show 1 more

2021

Cheah, L., Stark, T., Adamson, L., Abidin, R., Lau, Y., Sainsbury, F., Vickers, C. (2021). Artificial Self-assembling Nanocompartment for Organizing Metabolic Pathways in Yeast. ACS Synthetic Biology, 10(12), 3251-3263. [More Information]
Vu, Q., Young, R., Krishna Sudhakar, H., Gao, T., Huang, T., Tan, Y., Lau, Y. (2021). Cyclisation strategies for stabilising peptides with irregular conformations. RSC Medicinal Chemistry, 12(6), 887-901. [More Information]

2020

Sharma, K., Strizhak, A., Fowler, E., Xu, W., Chappell, B., Sore, H., Galloway, W., Grayson, M., Lau, Y., Itzhaki, L., et al (2020). Functionalized Double Strain-Promoted Stapled Peptides for Inhibiting the p53-MDM2 Interaction. ACS Omega, 5(2), 1157-1169. [More Information]

2019

Wu, Y., Kaur, A., Fowler, E., Wiedmann, M., Young, R., Galloway, W., Olsen, L., Sore, H., Chattopadhyay, A., Kwan, T., Lau, Y., et al (2019). Toolbox of diverse linkers for navigating the cellular efficacy landscape of stapled peptides. ACS Chemical Biology, 14(3), 526-533. [More Information]
Sharma, K., Strizhak, A., Fowler, E., Wang, X., Xu, W., Jensen, C., Wu, Y., Sore, H., Lau, Y., Hyvonen, M., et al (2019). Water-soluble, stable and azide-reactive strained dialkynes for biocompatible double strain-promoted click chemistry. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 17(34), 8014-8018. [More Information]

2018

Sharma, K., Kunciw, D., Xu, W., Wiedmann, M., Wu, Y., Sore, H., Galloway, W., Lau, Y., Itzhaki, L., Spring, D. (2018). Double-click stapled peptides for inhibiting protein-protein interactions. In Jesko Koehnke, James Naismith and Wilfred A. van der Donk (Eds.), Cyclic Peptides: From Bioorganic Synthesis to Applications, (pp. 164-187). United Kingdom: Royal Society of Chemistry. [More Information]
Lau, Y., Clegg, J., Price, J., Macquart, R., Todd, M., Rutledge, P. (2018). Molecular Switches for any pH: A Systematic Study of the Versatile Coordination Behaviour of Cyclam Scorpionands. Chemistry - A European Journal, 24(7), 1573-1585. [More Information]
Lau, Y., Giessen, T., Altenburg, W., Silver, P. (2018). Prokaryotic nanocompartments form synthetic organelles in a eukaryote. Nature Communications, 9(1), 1-7. [More Information]
Iegre, J., Ahmed, N., Gaynord, J., Wu, Y., Herlihy, K., Tan, Y., Lopes-Pires, M., Jha, R., Lau, Y., Sore, H., et al (2018). Stapled peptides as a new technology to investigate protein-protein interactions in human platelets. Chemical Science, 9(20), 4638-4643. [More Information]
Kuo, J., Stirling, F., Lau, Y., Shulgina, Y., Way, J., Silver, P. (2018). Synthetic genome recoding: new genetic codes for new features. Current Genetics, 64(2), 327-333. [More Information]

show 2 more

2017

Lau, Y., Stirling, F., Kuo, J., Karrenbelt, M., Chan, Y., Riesselman, A., Horton, C., Schafer, E., Lips, D., Weinstock, M., et al (2017). Large-scale recoding of a bacterial genome by iterative recombineering of synthetic DNA. Nucleic Acids Research, 45(11), 6971-6980. [More Information]
Xu, W., Lau, Y., Fischer, G., Tan, Y., Chattopadhyay, A., de la Roche, M., Hyvonen, M., Verma, C., Spring, D., Itzhaki, L. (2017). Macrocyclized extended peptides: Inhibiting the substrate-recognition domain of tankyrase. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 139(6), 2245-2256. [More Information]
Wu, Y., Villa, F., Maman, J., Lau, Y., Dobnikar, L., Simon, A., Labib, K., Spring, D., Pellegrini, L. (2017). Targeting the genome-stability hub Ctf4 by stapled-peptide design. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 56(42), 12866-12872. [More Information]

2016

Wu, Y., Olsen, L., Lau, Y., Jensen, C., Rossmann, M., Baker, Y., Sore, H., Collins, S., Spring, D. (2016). Development of a multifunctional benzophenone linker for peptide stapling and photoaffinity labelling. ChemBioChem, 17(8), 689-692. [More Information]

2015

Lau, Y., Wu, Y., de Andrade, P., Galloway, W., Spring, D. (2015). A two-component 'double-click' approach to peptide stapling. Nature Protocols, 10(4), 585-594. [More Information]
Lau, Y., Wu, Y., Rossmann, M., Tan, B., de Andrade, P., Tan, Y., Verma, C., McKenzie, G., Venkitaraman, A., Hyvonen, M., et al (2015). Double Strain-Promoted Macrocyclization for the Rapid Selection of Cell-Active Stapled Peptides. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 54(51), 15410-15413. [More Information]
Lau, Y., de Andrade, P., Wu, Y., Spring, D. (2015). Peptide stapling techniques based on different macrocyclisation chemistries. Chemical Society Reviews, 44(1), 91-102. [More Information]

2014

Lau, Y., de Andrade, P., Quah, S., Rossmann, M., Laraia, L., Skold, N., Sum, T., Rowling, P., Joseph, T., Verma, C., et al (2014). Functionalised staple linkages for modulating the cellular activity of stapled peptides. Chemical Science, 5(5), 1804-1809. [More Information]
Lau, Y., de Andrade, P., Skold, N., McKenzie, G., Venkitaraman, A., Verma, C., Lane, D., Spring, D. (2014). Investigating peptide sequence variations for 'double-click' stapled p53 peptides. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 12(24), 4074-4077. [More Information]
Lau, Y., de Andrade, P., McKenzie, G., Venkitaraman, A., Spring, D. (2014). Linear aliphatic dialkynes as alternative linkers for double-click stapling of p53-derived peptides. ChemBioChem, 15(18), 2680-2683. [More Information]

2012

Lau, Y., Spring, D. (2012). Azide-based macrocyclisation strategies towards functionalised stapled peptides. 243rd ACS National Meeting and Exposition, USA.

2011

Lau, Y., Price, J., Todd, M., Rutledge, P. (2011). A Click Fluorophore Sensor that Can Distinguish Cu(II) and Hg(II) via Selective Anion-Induced Demetallation. Chemistry - A European Journal, 17(10), 2850-2858. [More Information]
Lau, Y., Rutledge, P., Watkinson, M., Todd, M. (2011). Chemical sensors that incorporate click-derived triazoles. Chemical Society Reviews, 40(5), 2848-2866. [More Information]
Lau, Y., Spring, D. (2011). Efficient synthesis of Fmoc-protected azido amino acids. Synlett, 2011 (13), 1917-1919. [More Information]
Scully, C., Lau, Y., Jensen, P., Rutledge, P. (2011). Synthesis, electrochemistry and metal binding properties of monosubstituted ferrocenoyl peptides with thioether-containing sidechains. Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, 696(3), 715-721. [More Information]

show 1 more

Selected Grants

2025

A first-in-class targeted therapy for safe treatment of childhood bone cancer, Lau Y, Clive & Vera Ramaciotti Foundation/Health Investment Grants

2023

Therapeutic protein nanocages, Lau Y, Nano Institute/Kickstarter
Remodelling encapsulin nanocages to help enhance plant carbon fixation, Lau Y, Whitney S, Giesson T, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Projects (DP)

2022

Nanoparticle-based delivery of potent cyclic peptides forthe treatment of adolescent osteosarcoma, Lau Y, Sydney Cancer Institute/Sydney Cancer Institute Seed Grant
Morphology Controlled Fabrication of Rare Earth Magnetic Materials Using Engineered Biosystems, Bedford N, Lau Y, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (USA)/Research Support

2021

SOAR Prize, Lau Y, DVC Research/SOAR Prizes
High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with Mass-Directed Fractionation for Automated Purification of Biomolecules and Drug Leads, Payne R, Lau Y, Jackson S, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Equipment Grant
Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT): Target Discovery to Treatment, Pickett H, Cesare A, Reddel R, Lau Y, Department of Health and Aged Care (Federal)/MRFF - 2020 Childhood Cancer Research Grant

2020

Molecular characterisation of the DBHS proteins in telomerase assembly, Pickett H, Lau Y, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Ideas Grant
Building synthetic carbon-fixing organelles, Lau Y, Westpac Scholars and DVC Research Joint/Westpac Scholars

2018

Bio-compartmentalised chemistry: controlling selectivity using encapsulins, Lau Y, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA)
Bio-compartmentalised chemistry: controlling selectivity using encapsulins, Lau Y, Australian Academy of Science/JG Russell Award
Harvard University Mobility Scheme, Lau Y, Silver P, Office of Global Engagement/Travel Grants