BRI Awards Research Excellence Grants
Freeman Suber, MD, explains his poster, “Innate Response to Self-Antigen Significantly Exacerbates Burn Wound Depth,” to Lorenzo Benatuil, PhD, at the BRI Research Excellence Awards.
Posters detailing groundbreaking research lined Cabot Atrium June 6 as BWH celebrated breakthrough research at the first Biomedical Research Institute (BRI) Research Excellence Poster Session & Reception, a forum designed to showcase the science and discovery happening daily throughout the BRI. The BRI Research Excellence Awards were made possible by a gift from the Partners Research Accelerator Program.
“These young researchers are on a great path to a career of scientific discovery and development in the biomedical sciences,” said Thomas Kupper, MD, director of the BRI and chairman of Dermatology.
The inaugural Research Excellence Poster Session was capped at 100 abstracts which were eligible for 12 award grants. The winning researchers will receive funding to continue their studies in diverse fields such as cancer, neuroscience, women’s health, human genetics and cardiovascular, diabetes and metabolic disorders.
The event offered hundreds of researchers, clinicians and staff the opportunity to come together and share ideas, concepts and practices. “It was great to see all of this research focused solely on medicine,” said Valerie Verstraeten, MD, a visiting researcher who listened to various explanations as she traveled poster-to-poster at the event. “This is a great opportunity learn about all of this patient-centered research.”
BWH President Gary Gottlieb, MD, MBA, commended the researchers for their hard work and dedication. “You are all award winners who continue to make us the hub of research excellence,” he said.
Research Excellence Awards Recipients:
- Amy Baldwin, PhD, “Kinases Targeted in HPV-Associated Carcinogenesis”
- Suzy Bianco, PhD, “An Activating Mutation of GPR54: The Role of Receptor Desensitization and Internalization in the Modulation of Kisspeptin Action and Onset of Puberty”
- Zhuoxiao Cao, MD, PhD, “The Kruppel-like Factor 10 (KLF10) induces a T regulatory phenotype and suppresses inflammatory markers”
- Joshua Gooley, PhD, “Spectral sensitivity of the human circadian timing system”
- Jiali Han, PhD, “Comprehensive Screening of Genetic Variants in DNA Repair Pathways and Premenopausal Breast Cancer Risk”
- Kerry Kocher, “Cytogenetic Approaches for Identifying Novel Genes and Regulatory Elements Associated with Hearing Loss”
- Juliet Moncaster, PhD, “Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease-Linked Aß Peptide Accumulation in the Lens by Non-Invasive Quasi-Elastic Light Scatterine”
- Sorachai Srisuma, MD, PhD, “Disruption of the SERPINE2 Gene Results in COPD-related Lung Phenotypes”
- Joseph Walpole, “Antineoplastic Drug Delivery Through the Use of Polymer Nanoparticles”
- James Wells, PhD, “Combined Adjuvant Triggering of Multiple Receptors Results in Synergistic Activation of Dendritic Cells and Potent CD8 T Cell Cytotoxicity”
- Tracy Young-Pearse, PhD, “A Critical Function for b-Amyloid Precursor Protein in Neuronal Migration Revealed by in utero RNA Interference”
- Yi Yu, PhD, “Aberrant Splicing of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase-Associated Protein Phosphatase KAP Increases Proliferation and Migration in Glioblastoma”