The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) today announced the 2020 class of NYSCF - Robertson Investigators, welcoming six outstanding stem cell researchers and neuroscientists into the NYSCF Investigator Program.
The NYSCF Investigator Program fosters and encourages promising early career scientists whose cutting-edge research holds the potential to accelerate treatments and cures through the NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Awards and the NYSCF - Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Awards.
The awards provide critical seed funding - $1.5 million over five years - for scientists who have established their own, independent laboratories within the last five years. This year, three scientists joined the eleventh class of NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Investigators and three others joined the tenth class of NYSCF - Robertson Neuroscience Investigators. The tenth anniversary of this program is being commemorated at the annual NYSCF Conference, currently underway.
"The NYSCF - Robertson Investigator Program is such an integral part of our mission to accelerate treatments and cures for the major diseases of our time," remarked NYSCF CEO Susan L. Solomon, JD. "The unrestricted nature of these awards allows scientists to pursue the most cutting-edge research, ultimately bringing exciting discoveries out of the lab and into the clinic."
To date, the NYSCF global community includes 65 NYSCF - Robertson Investigators and Alumni at 43 institutions throughout the world. This community also includes 74 NYSCF - Druckenmiller fellows and Alumni as well as scientists and engineers conducting research at the NYSCF Research Institute.
"The 2020 NYSCF - Robertson Investigators are outstanding scientists whose work will no doubt transform their respective fields," said Jonathan Flint, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Catherine Dulac, PhD (Harvard University), a member of NYSCF's Initiative on Women in Science and Engineering, chaired the NYSCF - Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Awards selection committee and was joined on the jury by HHMI Investigator Leslie Vosshall, PhD (The Rockefeller University), Kelly Bales, PhD (Voyager Therapeutics), NYSCF - Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Alumnus Michael Long, PhD (the New York University School of Medicine), and Dr. Flint.
The NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Awards selection committee included Robert Blelloch, MD, PhD (University of California, San Francisco), recipient of the Inaugural 2011 NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Prize Pete Coffey, DPhil (University College London, University of California, Santa Barbara), NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Alumna Valentina Greco, PhD (Yale University), 2015 MacArthur Fellow Lorenz Studer, MD (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center), and 2013 NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Prize recipient Amy Wagers, PhD (Harvard University).
"As a longtime member of the NYSCF community and former recipient of this award, I know the profound impact it has on early-career investigators aiming to explore big ideas, especially through the incredible community of inspiring scientists that NYSCF connects you to," noted Dr. Greco. "I was honored to be part of the selection process, and I look forward to seeing what this talented group of scientists accomplishes over the next five years."
The 2020 NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Investigators:
The 2020 NYSCF - Robertson Neuroscience Investigators:
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About The New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute
The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute is an independent non-profit organization accelerating cures and better treatments for patients through stem cell research. The NYSCF global community includes over 200 researchers at leading institutions worldwide, including the NYSCF - Druckenmiller Fellows, the NYSCF - Robertson Investigators, the NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Prize Recipients, and NYSCF Research Institute scientists and engineers. The NYSCF Research Institute is an acknowledged world leader in stem cell research and in the development of pioneering stem cell technologies, including the NYSCF Global Stem Cell Array®, which is used to create cell lines for laboratories around the globe. NYSCF focuses on translational research in an accelerator model designed to overcome barriers that slow discovery and replace silos with collaboration. For more information, visit http://www.nyscf.org .