Michael Lazarus, Yunsun Nam, Jiaoyang Jiang, Piotr Sliz and Suzanne Walker were recognized by the Protein Databank (BDB) for solving the structure of O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine transferase (O-GlcNAc transferase). The PDB named O-GlcNAc transferase the Molecule of the Month for September. O-GlcNAc transferase is an essential mammalian enzyme, which couples metabolic status to the regulation of a wide variety of cellular signalling pathways by acting as a nutrient sensor. There are currently more than 76,000 molecules in the database. With several thousand new structures deposited per month, only twelve molecules per year receive this honor. Sliz is assistant professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston and HMS lecturer on biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology. Walker is HMS professor of microbiology and immunobiology.
JoAnn Manson, the Michael and Lee Bell Professor of Women’s Health at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital receives a Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Heart Association. She will be presented with the award during the Opening Session of the AHA’s Scientific Sessions in November. Manson is being recognized for exceptional contributions and leadership in the field of women’s health and prevention of cardiovascular disease in women, and for the impact her pioneering research that has had on clinical practice and public health.
Douglas Melton, co-chair of both the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (SCRB) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, is named Xander University Professor in recognition of his dedication to teaching and groundbreaking scholarship. A driving force behind the University’s ascendency in stem cell research, he has Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard University. Learn more.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center will recognize three investigators for innovative work to advance the field of cancer research. The researchers will receive the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research, an award presented every other year by Memorial Sloan-Kettering to honor promising scientists under the age of 46. The three winners will each receive an award of $50,000 and will speak about their work at a public symposium to be held at Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Rockefeller Research Laboratories Auditorium on December 1, 2011.
The HMS-affiliated prize winners are:
Scott Armstrong, associate professor of pediatrics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston, for notable achievements in the fields of cancer stem cell research and genomics have led to landmark findings that point to potential new therapies for leukemia.
Kornelia Polyak, associate professor of medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, for her pioneering genomic discoveries in normal and cancerous breast tissue and for her efforts to translate those findings into improved diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.
President Obama recently recognized 94 researchers with the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. “It is inspiring to see the innovative work being done by these scientists and engineers as they ramp up their careers — careers that I know will be not only personally rewarding but also invaluable to the nation,” President Obama said in a press release. Below are the HMS affiliated winners of the award, which was created by President Clinton in 1996:
Department of Defense
Ali Khademhosseini, associate professor of medicine and assistant professor of health sciences and technology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Department of Health and Human Services
David Breault, assistant professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston
John Brownstein, assistant professor of pediatrics at Children’s
Jose Florez, assistant professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute
W. Nicholas Haining, assistant professor of pediatrics at Children’s and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Department of Veterans Affairs:
B. Price Kerfoot, associate professor of surgery at Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and HMS
Department of Veterans Affairs:
B. Price Kerfoot, associate professor of surgery at Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and HMS
Nancy Rappaport, The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has awarded Nancy Rappaport the AACAP’s 2011 Sidney Berman Award for School-Based Study and Intervention for Learning Disorders and Mental Health. Rappaport, who is assistant professor of psychiatry and director of school-based programs at Cambridge Health Alliance, specializes in issues surrounding school violence, cognitive behavioral therapy for traumatized adolescents and safety assessments of aggressive students. She oversees and coordinates mental health services at Cambridge Health Alliance’s four school-based health centers in Cambridge, Somerville and Everett. She will present on “Improving the Odds for Children’s Safety In Schools: Lessons Learned” at AACAP’s 58th Annual Meeting on October 21 in Toronto. AACAP’s Schools Committee administers the annual award, which recognizes excellence in the study or treatment of learning disorders and work in a school setting.
Jason Block received the Milton W. Hamolsky award for outstanding research by a junior faculty member for his talk “Underestimation of Calories at Fast-Food Restaurants” at the National Society of General Internal Medicine conference. Block is an Instructor in the Department of Population Medicine with primary research interests in psychosocial and contextual factors associated with weight gain and population-level interventions to induce behavior change and weight loss.
Grace Lee was recently awarded the 2011 SHEA Pediatric Investigator Award from the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. Lee is assistant professor of population medicine and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, as well as Associate Medical Director of Infection Control and Associate Physician in Medicine at Children’s Hospital Boston. Her research focuses on vaccine economics, vaccine safety, infectious disease epidemiology and infection control and prevention.
