Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences

Seven Pew Scholars Named HHMI Investigators

On May 9, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announced that 27 of the nation’s top biomedical researchers—including seven Pew scholars—will become HHMI investigators and will receive the flexible support necessary to move their research in creative new directions. The Pew scholars named HHMI investigators are Peter Baumann (2003), Michael Dyer (2004), Nicole King (2004), Tirin Moore (2004), Dyche Mullins (2000), Michael Rape (2007), and Rachel Wilson (2005).

1990 Pew Scholar James Lupski Elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

James Lupski, a 1990 Pew scholar and The Cullen Endowed Chair in Molecular Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, has been elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The academy announced 198 new members April 24, including leaders from academia, business, public affairs, and the humanities.

2009 Pew Biomedical Scholar Charles Mullighan Helps Identify Mutations Linked to Brain Tumors

2009 Pew Biomedical Scholar Charles Mullighan was part of a research team at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital which recently found mutations responsible for more than half of a subtype of childhood brain tumors. Their paper in Nature Genetics pinpointed alterations in two genes that increased the risk of low-grade gliomas—the most common childhood tumors of the brain and spinal cord—and identified an existing drug as a possible treatment.

2012 Pew Scholar Earns ARI Young Investigator Grant

Salil Lachke, a 2012 Pew scholar and assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Delaware, has been selected by the Alcon Research Institute as a 2013 Young Investigator. As one of just eight researchers worldwide to receive the $50,000 grant, Dr. Lachke will continue his work on an online tool he created to discover genes related to glaucoma and other eye diseases.

2011 Pew Scholar awarded $1.13 million from NIH

Jeff Gore, a 2011 Pew Scholar and assistant professor of physics at MIT, has been awarded a four-year, $1,131,603 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences – one of the 27 National Institutes of Health –  to pursue research into cooperation and cheating in the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

2009 Pew Scholar Shows Cells Can Naturally “Reprogram” Themselves

Ben Stanger, a 2009 Pew scholar and assistant professor at University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, has demonstrated that cells can change their identities under normal conditions in the body. In a study published in Genes and Development, Dr. Stanger pinpointed the gene that allows the main type of liver cells in mammals to convert into the cells lining bile ducts.

1991 Pew Scholar Wins Prestigious Gairdner Award

2011 Pew Scholar is One of ''America's Best and Brightest Minds''

In celebration of what would have been Albert Einstein’s 134th birthday, FoxNews.com ran an article highlighting young researchers, including 2011 Pew scholar Ann Morris. Thanks to her creative research on vision in zebrafish, Dr. Morris was mentioned among scientists who are “poised to change the way we live today, and will continue to influence our culture in the coming decades.

2012 Scholar Profiled in National Geographic

2011 Pew Scholar Wins Paul Allen Distinguished Investigators Award to Unlock Fundamental Questions in Biology

Jeff Gore, 2011 Pew Scholar and assistant professor of physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has won the Paul Allen Distinguished Investigators Award to Unlock Fundamental Questions in Biology. The award, announced today by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, provides $7.5 million in exploratory grant funding to a carefully selected group of scientists who will embark on five new pioneering research projects that aim to unlock fundamental questions in biology. Dr. Gore will use single-celled yeast to explore how ideas from game theory can provide insight into cellular decision making.

2007 Pew Scholar Wins The Vilcek Prize

Dr. Michael "Micha" Rape, a 2007 Pew Scholar, has been named winner of The Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for his work on ubiquitination, a process which "tags" damaged or bad proteins for destruction, as it relates to many diseases, including cancer or neurodegeneration.

2009 Pew Scholar Identifies “Molecular Master Switch” for Pancreatic Cancer

Ben Stanger, named a Pew biomedical Scholar in 2009, co-authored a paper in Genes and Development describing a master regulator protein, which may explain the development of aberrant cell growth in the pancreas spurred by inflammation.

Pew Scholar Reveals Role of ''Braveheart'' Molecule

Laurie Boyer, named a Pew biomedical scholar in 2008, has helped uncover the functions of ribonucleic acids (RNAs) that don’t code for proteins. In a paper published in Cell, her MIT laboratory  demonstrated how a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) they dubbed “Braveheart” stimulated the transformation of stem cells into heart cells.

2011 Pew Scholar Identifies Treatment Target for MRSA

Anthony Richardson, a member of the 2011 class of Pew biomedical scholars, has pinpointed the gene that makes one strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria more infectious than others. In a study in Cell Host & Microbe, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assistant professor proved that a single gene made one strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) impervious to a skin compound that kills off other strains. Manipulating that gene could provide a potential treatment target for all strains of MRSA.

2011 Pew Scholar Uncovers Clues to Cancer and the Aging Process

2011 Pew Scholar Eros Lazzarni Denchi, an assistant professor at Scripps Research Institute, has uncovered the details of a protein that help keep chromosomes from sticking together. In a paper published online ahead of print in Nature, Dr. Denchi described how the protein TRF2 actively and passively suppresses DNA repair machinery that would fuse chromosomes together. This work has significant implications for our understanding of cancer and the aging process.