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Regeneron Announces the 2020 Winners of the Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation
"At Regeneron, we have always believed that science and technology are key to combating many of the truly existential threats facing humanity – whether it be disease or climate change – and the current pandemic only highlights the need to inspire and support the next generation of young scientists to take on these challenges," said
As part of the Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation, the country's leading research universities were asked to nominate top candidates in the graduate student and postdoctoral fellow categories. Submissions were reviewed by a selection committee of senior Regeneron scientists. In May 2020, finalists presented their 'dream' research proposals in biomedical research, which offered insight into each nominee's creativity and ability to think independently as scientists.
The two Regeneron Prize winners each received a $50,000 cash prize, and the institutions nominating them received a $5,000 donation. This year's winners are:
Antonio Fernandez-Ruiz , Ph.D.,NYU Grossman School of Medicine ,New York University , Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation by a Postdoctoral Fellow: Dr. Fernandez-Ruiz studies the role of hippocampal oscillations in learning and memory processing in the laboratory of György Buzsáki, M.D., Ph.D. He recently demonstrated that long-duration sharp-wave ripples, a type of hippocampal oscillatory patterns, were associated with memory, and that prolonging these ripples using optogenetic methods improved performance in rats during a spatial memory test. Dr. Fernandez-Ruiz believes that understanding the cellular and functional basis of these phenomena may ultimately lead to interventions for memory disorders.
Bo Xia ,NYU Grossman School of Medicine , Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation by a Graduate Student:Mr. Xia studies gene evolution in the laboratories ofItai Yanai , Ph.D., andJef Boeke , Ph.D. Using single-cell sequencing, he recently reported that widespread gene expression in the testis helps to maintain high DNA sequence integrity in the male germ cells, a phenomenon the paper terms "transcriptional scanning." These same expressed genes also maintain low evolution rates.Mr. Xia hopes to develop novel single-cell and spatial-resolved genomics technologies to expand our understanding of the etiology of human diseases associated with gene mutations.
In addition, this year Regeneron's selection committee identified a scientist to receive a $10,000 cash prize as an honorable mention. This year's honorable mention is:
Julia Joung ,Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard , Honorable Mention, Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation by a Graduate Student:Ms. Joung develops high-throughput genetic screening methods in the laboratory ofFeng Zhang , Ph.D. She andDr. Zhang have published a protocol for conducting genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 editing and applied this method to identify and characterize long noncoding RNAs involved in melanoma drug resistance.Ms. Joung hopes that the ability to conduct large-scale genetic screens could lead to the discovery and characterization of additional noncoding RNAs involved in cancer and other diseases.
"Each year, the Regeneron Prize allows us the opportunity to be inspired by the dreams of young scientists, and this year is no exception," said
About Regeneron
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