UCLA researchers receive NIH Director’s New Innovator Award
By Fiona Kirby
Oct. 9, 2014 4:36 a.m.
Four UCLA researchers recently received the National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award, officials announced in a press release Wednesday.
The annual award recognizes innovative research in science and supports creative new investigators, with each winner receiving $2.3 million for his or her research projects.
The four award winners, Dr. Reza Ardehali, Dr. Elissa Hallem, Dr. Sriram Kosuri and Dr. Lili Yang, work in different areas of stem cell research at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA, which focuses on understanding human embryonic stem cells.
Ardehali, an assistant professor of cardiology, received the award for his work on how to use stem cells to regenerate heart tissue. Hallem, an assistant professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, received the award for her work on human parasitic diseases.
Kosuri, an assistant professor of the chemistry and biochemistry department, received the award for his work solving current gene regulation problems, while Yang, an assistant professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, received the award for her discovery of a new way to track special immune cells.
A total of 50 people received the award, with UCLA providing the largest block of winners.
Compiled by Fiona Kirby, Bruin reporter.
