August 2012
LSRF AWARDS POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS
The Life Sciences Research Foundation is pleased to announce recipients of three-year
postdoctoral fellowships who will begin their training August 2012. The awards are the thirtieth
to be made by the Foundation, which was organized in 1981 as an alternative instrument for
guiding monies from industry, foundations, agencies, and other donors to the non-targeted
support of outstanding young scientists. The awardees were chosen by the Foundation's Peer
Review Committee from over 900 applicants. Each recipient will work at a non-profit institution
of his or her choice, and each will be identified as the individual recipient of support from one of
the Foundation's Sponsors.
The recipients, their institutional affiliations, and the sponsoring donors, were announced
by the Foundation's President, Donald D. Brown and Vice-President, Douglas Koshland as
follows:
Anand Balasubramani, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow:
Proposal entitled "Delineating the roles of ASXL1 mutations in myeloproliferative leukemias",
La Jolla Institute of Allergy and Immunology, laboratory of Anjana Rao. Dr. Balasubramani
received his Ph.D. from the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Harvey Chin, Merck Fellow:
Proposal entitled Proposal entitled “Organization and force production in subcellular machines:
the cytokinetic ring and the membrane fusion machine”, Columbia University, laboratory of
Ben O’Shaughnessy. Dr. Chin received his Ph.D. from Yale University.
Seemay Chou, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow:
Proposal entitled “Decoding the molecular determinants of Type VI effector inhibition by
cognate immunity partners”, University of Washington, laboratory of Joseph Mougous. Dr.
Chou received her Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley.
David Dodd, ISIS Pharmaceuticals Fellow:
Proposal entitled "Mechanism of promoter targeted RNAs", University of Texas Southwestern
Medical Center, laboratory of David Corey. Dr. Dodd received his Ph.D. from the University
of Western Ontario.
Jamie Fitzgerald, Ellison Medical Foundation Fellow:
Proposal entitled “The neuronal circuitry underlying Drosophila choice behavior”, Rockefeller
University, laboratory of Gaby Maimon. Dr. Fitzgerald received her Ph.D. from Harvard
University.
Gregory Hamilton, Genentech Foundation Fellow:
Proposal entitled “Determining the structural and functional roles of specific phosphorylation
sites using chemical tools”, University of California – San Francisco, laboratory of Kevan
Shokat. Dr. Hamilton received his Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley.
Euiseok Kim, Biogen IDEC Fellow:
Proposal entitled "Fine-scale connectivity analysis of ontogenetic neuronal cones using novel
trans-synaptic viral tracers", Salk Institute for Biological Studies, laboratory of Edward M.
Callaway. Dr. Kim received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical
Center.
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Tung Le, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Fellow:
Proposal entitled “The organization and dynamics of the chromosome during the cell cycle of
Caulogacter crescentus”, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, laboratory of Michael Laub.
Dr. Le received his Ph.D. from the University of East Anglia.
Amy Ma, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow:
Proposal entitled “Genetics and mechanisms of interactions between cyanobacteria and
amoebae”, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, laboratory of Bianca Brahamsha and James
Golden. Dr. Ma received her Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Daniel Mandell, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow:
Proposal entitled "Design of in vivo protein-based small molecule biosensors", Harvard
Medical School, laboratory of George Church. Dr. Mandell received his Ph.D. from the
University of California-San Francisco.
Mathieu Mateo, Merck Fellow:
Proposal entitled “Measles host exit and transmission: identification of the measles epithelia
cell receptor and characterization of viral trafficking through the epithelium”, Mayo Clinic,
laboratory of Roberto Cattaneo. Dr. Mateo received his Ph.D. from the École Normal
Superieure de Lyon.
Alison Narayan, Life Sciences Research Foundation Fellow:
Proposal entitled “Elucidating the brevetoxin pathway: a chemical probe based proteimocs
approach”, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, laboratory of David Sherman. Dr. Narayan
received her Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley.
Ting Pang, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow:
Proposal entitled " Cell separation and envelope integrity in Staphylococcus aureus", La Jolla
Harvard Medical School, laboratory of Thomas G. Bernhardt. Dr. Pang received her Ph.D.
from Texas A&M University.
Alexandre Persat, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Fellow:
Proposal entitled “Characterization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa surface sensing”, Princeton
University, laboratory of Zemer Gitai. Dr. Persat received his Ph.D. from Stanford University.
Monica Rodrigo-Brenni, The Ellison Medical Foundation/AFAR Fellow:
Proposal entitled “Cytosolic quality control of mislocalized membrane proteins”, Medical
Research Council, laboratory of Ramanujan Hegde. Dr. Rodrigo-Brenni received her Ph.D.
from the University of California-San Francisco.
Hannah Seidel, The Ellison Medical Foundation/AFAR Fellow:
Proposal entitled " Nutritional control of germline stem cell proliferation ", University of
Wisconsin-Madison, laboratory of Judith Kimble. Dr. Seidel received her Ph.D. from Princeton
University.
Mark Sheffield, The Ellison Medical Foundation Fellow:
Proposal entitled “Two-photon imaging of dendritic integration in hippocampal place cells of
awake-behaving mice”, Northwestern University, laboratory of Daniel Dombeck. Dr. Sheffield
received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University.
Anthony Studer, Office of Basic Energy Sciences-DOE Fellow:
Proposal entitled “The role of carbonic anhydrase in C(4) photosynthesis”, Donald Danforth
Plant Science Center, laboratory of Tom Brutnell. Dr. Studer received his Ph.D. from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Elizabeth Thatcher, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow:
Proposal entitled "Impact of redundant microRNA networks in an activated RAS cancer
model", University of Massachusetts Medical School, laboratory of Victor Ambros. Dr.
Thatcher received her Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University.
Yusuf Tufail, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow:
Proposal entitled “The role of astrocyte-interneuron communication in modulating cerebellar
brain dynamics”, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, laboratory of Axel Nimmerjahn. Dr.
Tufail received his Ph.D. from Arizona State University.
Rachel Vannette, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Fellow:
Proposal entitled “Does toxic nectar drive specialization of nectar yeast and maintain diversity
in nectar yeast communities”, Stanford University, laboratory of Tadashi Fukami. Dr. Vannette
received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Michael White, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow:
Proposal entitled “The evolution of young sex chromosomes in a vertebrate model of
speciation", Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, laboratory of Catherine Peichel. Dr.
White received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Joshua Widhalm, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Fellow:
Proposal entitled “Salicylic acid biosynthesis in plants: enzyme discovery and exploring
pathway dynamics”, Purdue University, laboratory of Natalia Dudareva. Dr. Widhalm received
his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Li Yang, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Fellow:
Proposal entitled “Functional characterization of a convergent target of divergent pathogen
effectors in Arabidopsis”, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, laboratory of Jeff Dangle.
Dr. Yang received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
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