The hard work of the faculty, staff, postdocs, and graduate students who conduct basic biomedical research at Vanderbilt continues to be recognized on the local and national level. Here we list a few of the researchers who have been recently celebrated.
- Tina Iverson (Pharmacology) received an Innovation Catalyst Fund award for the February 2024 cycle and was named associate dean for faculty of Basic Sciences.
- Alissa Weaver (Cell and Developmental Biology) won the 2024 Chancellor’s Award for Research based on research in Developmental Cell that is crucial for advancing extracellular vesicle–based therapies.
- Antentor Hinton Jr. (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics) was named faculty mentor of the year by the Vanderbilt Postdoctoral Association and the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.
- Cody Siciliano (Pharmacology) received the third of Vanderbilt’s Keck Foundation grants since 2020 for his research on oral chemesthesis.
- Benjamin Brown (Pharmacology) was awarded an Avenir Award in Chemistry and Pharmacology of Substance Use Disorders.
- Jennifer Pietenpol (Biochemistry) has been named the 2024 Science of Oncology Award recipient by the American Society of Clinical Oncology for her many contributions to the cancer field.
- Carrie Jones (Pharmacology) received this year’s Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award for her work understanding schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, and addiction and her willingness to support students in her lab.]
- Lisa Monteggia (Pharmacology) received the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Liberal Arts & Sciences for her contributions to neuroscience.
- Erin Calipari (Pharmacology) and Jeff Spraggins (Cell and Developmental Biology) were selected for the 2024 cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows. Calipari also launched the AUD Research and Education Center with a five-year, $8.9 million P60 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study alcohol use disorder.
- Fellows.
- Andreanna Burman (Cell and Developmental Biology, Jim Goldenring and Izumi Kaji labs) was the grand-prize winner in this year’s StemCellfie contest hosted by STEMCELL Technologies.
- David Cortez (Biochemistry) won The Hans Neurath Award, a 2024 Protein Society award for recent contributions of exceptional merit to basic protein research.
- Neil Osheroff (Biochemistry) was awarded the Lillian B. Nanney Award for Outstanding Service to the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and VUMC Community of Educators by the Academy for Excellence.
- Teresa Torres (Microbe-Host Interactions program) has become the first Vanderbilt graduate student to receive the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award given by the American Association of Colleges and Universities.
- Kit Neikirk (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Antentor Hinton Jr. lab) has been named a 2024 Marshall Scholar by the British government.
- Dr. Benjamin Brown (Pharmacology) was awarded an Avenir Award in Chemistry and Pharmacology of Substance Use Disorders by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
- Darian Carroll (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics) and Jose Zepeda (Pharmacology) were two of the winners of the Graduate School Sesquicentennial Scholarship Exhibition & Celebration.
- Sean Davies (Pharmacology) and co-lead Amanda Doran (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics) were the first to receive support from the Innovation Ignition Fund. Postdoctoral research fellow Reza Fadaei(Pharmacology) will assist and Gary Sulikowski (Pharmacology) and Alex Waterson (Pharmacology) will provide scientific guidance for this project.
The 2024 recipients of the Dean’s Award for Exceptional Achievement in Graduate Studies are:
- Alyssa Parker, Human Genetics
- Alejandra Flores, Microbe-Host Interactions
- Soren Emerson, Neuroscience
- Junmin Hua, Cell and Developmental Biology
- Kevin McCarty, Biochemistry
- Zhengyi Chen, Chemical and Physical Biology
- Avery Bogart, Molecular Pathology and Immunology
- Amber Crabtree, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
- Harsimran Kaur, Chemical and Physical Biology
- Caroline Bodnya, Cell and Developmental Biology
Through Research Development and Support, the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation offers Seeding Success Grants to support new work or directions with strong potential for impact or funding from federal, foundation, or industry sponsors. Basic Sciences recipients from the 2023–24 academic year were:
Fall 2023: Yongjian Huang (Biochemistry), Neil Dani (Cell and Developmental Biology)
Spring 2024: Vivian Gama (Cell and Developmental Biology), Wenbiao Chen (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics)
The following 14 biomedical sciences students from across the School of Medicine Basic Sciences and the School of Medicine were awarded the 2024 Provost Pathbreaking Discovery Award from the Graduate School:
- Darian Carroll, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
- Marianne Casilio, Hearing and Speech Sciences
- Ryan Fansler, Microbe-Host Interactions
- Zahra Farahbakhsh, Neuroscience
- Azuah Gonzalez, Molecular Pathology and Immunology
- Monika Grabowska, Bioinformatics
- Mirazul Islam, Cell and Developmental Biology
- Tara Mack, Human Genetics
- Kara McNamara, Cancer Biology
- Amy Stark, Pharmacology
- Shengxin Tu, Biostatistics
- Paige Vega, Cell and Developmental Biology
- Cong Wang, Epidemiology
- Xiaoyu “Lily” Yu, Biochemistry