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Jason M. Sheltzer, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ’18 – ‘20), and Christopher Jewell, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ’14 – ’18), have received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government to researchers at the beginning their independent research careers, who show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology.
Emily P. Balskus, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ’14 – ’16), received the Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists in Chemistry, the largest unrestricted scientific prize ($250,000) offered to the most promising, faculty-level scientific researchers in the United States. Dr. Balskus, a chemical biologist at Harvard University, is being recognized for her “transformative work identifying the novel chemistry of the gut microbiome and deciphering its role in human health and disease.”
Adrienne A. Boire, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator ’17-’20), and Alex Kentsis, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator ’16-’19), both of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, each received a 2019 Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research. Recipients receive $200,000 per year for up to three years and opportunities to present their work to scientific and business audiences, helping to bridge the gap between the academic and business communities.
The five-year survival rate for leukemia has almost doubled in the past 45 years. Still, about 20 percent of children and more than half of adults with leukemia fail to respond to treatment or form drug resistance and eventually succumb to the disease. New findings published in the journal Cancer Cell from Former Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Alejandro Gutierrez, MD, and his colleagues at Boston Children’s Hospital offer hope to these vulnerable leukemia patients.
Five Damon Runyon alumnae were elected to the National Academy of Sciences (the science “Hall of Fame”), one of the highest honors given to a U.S. scientist. This membership recognizes their distinguished and continuing achievements in biomedical research. The total number of Damon Runyon scientists who are members of the National Academy of Sciences is now 79. This is a milestone year with women comprising 40 percent of the 100 newly elected members and 25 foreign associates, the most ever elected in any one year since the Academy was established in 1863.
Former Damon Runyon Fellow and Board Member Elaine V. Fuchs, PhD, and Former Fellow and Nobel Laureate James E. Rothman, PhD, have been elected foreign members of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom. In July, they will travel to London to sign the book that includes esteemed members such as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking.
Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Joshua Brody, MD, and his colleagues at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai report a promising new cancer vaccine that activates the immune system to fight tumors throughout the body. This exciting new reserach was published in Nature Medicine.
As high fructose corn syrup — common in soda and processed foods — has crept into everyday diets, rates of obesity and diseases like type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure have increased. Now, Former Damon Runyon Fellow Jihye Yun, PhD, and colleagues have discovered another reason to avoid the sweetener: consuming the equivalent of 12 ounces of sugary soda a day accelerated tumor growth in mice that were predisposed to colon cancer.
Nicknamed Canada’s Nobels, the Gairdner Awards for medical research celebrate the world’s best biomedical and global health scientists. This year Bruce W. Stillman, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ’78-81’), President and CEO of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, received the honor for his work describing the exact sequence of events involved in DNA replication.
The American Association for Cancer Research announced the winners of this year's Scientific Achievement Awards, which recognize scientists and clinicians who have made significant contributions to our understanding of the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer. Congratulations to three Damon Runyon Alumni for receiving this honor.
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