Los Angeles, CA. July 31 2009: The W. M. Keck Foundation, a leading supporter of pioneering medical research, science and engineering, today announced its 2009 class of Distinguished Young Scholars in Medical Research and Research Excellence Awardees.

Robert A. Day, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: “Our Young Scholars program helps to promote the early career development of some of the country’s most promising biomedical scientists.

“Over the past decade, Keck Young Scholars have consistently produced high-impact research and have advanced to become some of the most prominent scientists in their respective fields. We are proud to have helped jump-start the careers of some of our nation’s research leaders and are very pleased to support a new group of young scholars who we believe have the same potential.”

Under the Young Scholars program, each grant recipient’s sponsoring institution receives an award of up to $1 million to support the scientist’s research activities for a period of up to five years. Since its inception in 1998, the Young Scholars program has awarded 54 grants at leading research universities and institutions.

Each applicant was nominated by his or her academic institution and then evaluated individually by the Foundation’s Medical Research staff and an advisory committee of outside scientific experts. The committee carefully evaluated each of the finalists and recommended the ten recipients, who were unanimously approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

The Foundation also recognizes the achievement of five additional young scientists with Research Excellence grants of $25,000.

Members of the 2009 class of Distinguished Young Scholars are:

Wenying Shou, Ph.D., Assistant Member, Division of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center —Dr. Shou plans to study an engineered cooperative system of single-celled organisms to determine how such a system evolves to resist “cheaters” using both qualitative and quantitative analysis and game theory. This will provide insight into how human health can be compromised by cheaters such as cancer cells and infecting pathogens.

J. Christopher Love, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Dr. Love plans to study how the human immune system responds initially to HIV using microtechnologies that allow study at the single-cell level. This work may help researchers realize new treatments for HIV/AIDS and eventually other diseases through rational design of immunotherapies and vaccines.

Jason Brickner, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology, Northwestern University — Dr. Brickner plans to define the molecular mechanisms that control the spatial organization of the genome and determine the role of such organization in regulating gene expression. This will help explain how gene expression is regulated, and how it might be reprogrammed to intervene in genetic and complex diseases.

Chang-Zheng Chen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University — Dr. Chen aims to elucidate the regulatory information encoded in an abundant class of noncoding RNA genes, called microRNA genes. This work may lead to novel therapeutics for diseases including autoimmune disorders and cancer.

Nevan Krogan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco — Dr. Krogan plans to explore a global systems approach to studying host-pathogen interactions. Dr. Krogan will employ unbiased, systematic genetic and biochemical approaches to study how the pathogenic organisms HIV and TB hijack human cellular pathways.

The Foundation is also pleased to recognize the achievements of its 2009 W. M. Keck Research Excellence Awardees:

Thomas Westbrook, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine

Tatyana Sharpee, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Computational Neurobiology, Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Leor Weinberger, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego

Benjamin Peng-Chu Tu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Sreeganga Chandra, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Departments of Neurology, and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University

For more information on the W. M. Keck Foundation, please visit the website: www.wmkeck.org.