The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) announced the 2019 class of NYSCF – Robertson Investigators, welcoming six of the most talented stem cell researchers and neuroscientists into the NYSCF Investigator Program.
The NYSCF Investigator Program fosters and encourages promising early career scientists whose cutting-edge research holds the potential to accelerate treatments and cures through the NYSCF – Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Awards and the NYSCF – Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Awards.
The awards provide critical seed funding – $1.5 million over five years – to outstanding young scientists as they move beyond their postdoctoral training to establish their own, independent laboratories. This year, three scientists joined the tenth class of NYSCF – Robertson Stem Cell Investigators and three others joined the ninth class of NYSCF – Robertson Neuroscience Investigators.
“The NYSCF – Robertson Investigators are some of the brightest minds in the stem cell and neuroscience fields,” remarked NYSCF CEO Susan L. Solomon. “This award gives them the freedom to pursue new and inventive ideas that may not get funded through traditional sources, pushing research toward better treatments for patients.”
“The class of 2019 are a group of incredibly impressive scientists — it was an honor to be involved in the selection of these individuals, and I have no doubt that their future accomplishments, thanks in part to NYSCF funding, will be stellar,” said Jonathan Flint, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The Merkle laboratory exploits the strengths of stem cells together with genomics, gene editing, high content screening, and animal models to model obesity. The aim of these studies is to reveal mechanistic processes that contribute to obesity and to identify new targets to treat obesity and neurodegeneration.
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