Los Angeles, CA, July 30, 2007: The W.M. Keck Foundation, a leading supporter of high-impact medical research, science and engineering, today announced the 2007 class of grant recipients under its Distinguished Young Scholars in Medical Research Program.
Robert A. Day, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said: “Now in its ninth year, our Young Scholars program is designed to give the nation’s most promising young scientists the resources they need to pursue potentially breakthrough research projects in biomedicine. We are very pleased to support this group of Young Scholars who clearly exhibit extraordinary promise for future research and academic leadership.”
Under the program, each grant recipient’s sponsoring institution receives an award of up to $1 million to support the scientist’s research activities for a period of up to five years, as well as to enable the institution to purchase necessary equipment and resources to facilitate the scientist’s ongoing study. It is hoped that the investment in the Keck Scholars will greatly benefit society for generations to come with continued advances in understanding – and combating – the fundamental mechanisms of human disease.
The Young Scholars Program was initiated in 1999 and has awarded grants totalling nearly $45 million to date. Each grant applicant must be nominated by his or her research institution and then evaluated by the Foundation’s Medical Research Board and a Scientific Advisory Committee and unanimously approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors. Nominations are accepted on an invitation-only basis.
The 2007 class of Distinguished Young Scholars is:
- Job Dekker, Ph.D., Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School – Dr. Dekker has developed a system to study the complex way in which chromosomes are regulated. By comparing cancer and normal cells, the research has the potential to uncover defects in chromosome regulation that cause malignancy, which may lead to advances in combating cancerous cells in the body.
- Wallace Marshall, Ph.D., Department of Biochemistry, University of California, San Francisco – Dr Marshall investigates how cilia, the hair-like projections that move substances over a cell, are involved as key factors in debilitating human diseases. By studying blue-green algae, Dr. Marshall’s research may lead to new insights into human ciliary disorders, such as polycystic kidney disease and retinal degeneration.
- Amy Wagers, Ph.D., Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Section on Developmental and Stem Cell Biology at Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School – Dr. Wagers investigates the decline with age in the body’s ability to maintain homeostatic cell replacement and to regenerate cells after injury. Building on previous research of the relationship between the age of stem cells and their ability to regenerate themselves, Dr. Wagers hopes to discover a method to slow down or reverse the natural process of aging, which may potentially lead to advances in treating age-related illnesses, such as diabetes, immune deficiencies, muscle weakness, and cancer.
- Xander Wehrens, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine – Dr. Wehrens hopes to define the mechanisms of specialized protein complexes in excitable cells, such as heart muscle. His research has the potential to explain the underlying causes of certain types of heart failure and cardiomyopathy.
- Jennifer Zallen, Ph.D., Developmental Biology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center – Dr. Zallen’s work on the nature of three-dimensional Rosetta cell structures combines molecular genetics, live imaging, and quantitative statistical analysis. Her study of a fruit fly’s cell structure may be applied to other organisms’ cell structures, with the potential to develop approaches to analyze cell behavior and structure in living embryos.
The Foundation’s Board of Directors has unanimously approved the recommendations made by the Scientific Advisory Committee.
Based in Los Angeles, the W.M. Keck Foundation was established in 1954 by the late W.M. Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Company. The Foundation's grant making is focused primarily on pioneering efforts in the areas of medical research, science and engineering. The Foundation also maintains a Southern California grant program that provides support in the areas of civic and community services with a special emphasis on children and youth.
For more information about the W.M. Keck Foundation and the Young scholars program, please visit the Foundation’s web site at www.wmkeck.org/programs/scholars.html.