News Release

Julia Zeitlinger named Pew Scholar

Grant and Award Announcement

Stowers Institute for Medical Research

Julia Zeitlinger, Ph.D., Assistant Investigator, has been named a Pew Scholar in Biomedical Sciences by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The honor carries an award of $240,000 over four years.

Pew Scholars are selected on the basis of performance during education and training and demonstration of outstanding promise as contributors in science relevant to human health. The Pew Charitable Trusts seek particularly creative and innovative approaches, and encourage risk-taking in research. Each year, Pew Scholars meet to present their research and engage in scientific collaboration and exchange with other Pew Scholars.

Dr. Zeitlinger is the Stowers Institute's second Pew Scholar — Peter Baumann, Ph.D., Assistant Investigator, was selected among the Class of 2003.

"I am very grateful to be selected for this award," said Dr. Zeitlinger. "In addition to the financial support, the Pew Scholar Program will help stimulate my research by providing regular opportunities to meet with some of the most creative scientists in this country."

"Julia Zeitlinger's successful competition for an award from the Pew Scholars Program is a testament to her exceptional promise as an investigator at the Stowers Institute," said William B. Neaves, Ph.D., President and CEO. "The Institute was drawn to Julia's work for the same reason she was recognized by the Pew Charitable Trusts — she brings innovative approaches to the exploration of gene regulatory networks that underlie cellular differentiation, a field of research with high relevance to regenerative medicine. She will advance her work even more rapidly with this additional support."

Dr. Zeitlinger joined the Stowers Institute in September 2007 from a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Richard Young, Ph.D., at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at M.I.T.

Her research uses the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to understand the gene regulatory networks that underlie cellular differentiation. One of the key methods in her research is ChIP-chip technology, a method that detects all genomic binding sites for a particular protein in one experiment. Using this technology, she has demonstrated that gene regulatory networks are often context-dependent and integrated with other networks. She hopes to build predictive models of gene regulation that could help in the treatment of human disease.

Dr. Zeitlinger earned a B.Sc. in Human Biology from King's College London, U.K., and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology for her work with Dirk Bohmann, Ph.D., at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. She was awarded an undergraduate scholarship from the German National Merit Foundation and a long-term postdoctoral fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program.

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About the Pew Charitable Trusts

The Pew Charitable Trusts is driven by the power of knowledge to solve today's most challenging problems. Pew applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improving public policy, informing the public and stimulating civic life. Based in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., Pew produces fact-based research and develops practical solutions to challenging issues.

About the Stowers Institute

Housed in a 600,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility on a 10-acre campus in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research conducts basic research on fundamental processes of cellular life. Through its commitment to collaborative research and the use of cutting-edge technology, the Institute seeks more effective means of preventing and curing disease. The Institute was founded by Jim and Virginia Stowers, two cancer survivors who have created combined endowments of $2 billion in support of basic research of the highest quality.


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