The Children’s Tumor Foundation is delighted to announce the funding of SIX Young Investigator Awardees from application received for our 2011 program. The recipients include three postdoctoral awardees and three graduate students; three focused on aspects of NF1 including tumors, bone dysplasia and learning disabilities; and three focused on NF2 or schwannomatosis. Four awardees are US-based and two are international. The 2011 Awardees represent an investment for CTF of around $500,000.
Young Investigator Awards provide the recipient with two years of salary support plus a $5,000 travel stipend to attend the NF Conference and other meetings.
2011 YIA recipients are as follows:
Miriam Smith, Ph.D., University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Project: Identification of novel genes predisposing to schwannomas and meningiomas by exome
Jonathan Payne, Ph.D., University of Sydney, Australia. Project: The Neural Basis and Treatment of Reading Disability in Children with NF1
Jianzhong Yu, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University. Project: Molecular genetic characterization of the Merlin tumor suppressor protein complex
Alejandra Petrilli Guinart, University of Central Florida. Project: LIM kinase – a potential therapeutic target for NF2
Steven Rhodes, Indiana University School of Medicine. Project: Targeting the hematopoietic bone microenvironment in the treatment of NF1 pseudarthrosis
Adrienne Watson, University of Minnesota. Project: Understanding the Role of Wnt Signaling in Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors
For more information on these projects and past YIA recipients please visit:
http://www.ctf.org/For-Scientists/young-investigator-awards.html