Professor Michael Yarsev has been named the recipient of the Rising Star Award in neuroscience research from the Mahoney Institute for Neurosciences in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The 2020 award honors a young researcher for outstanding contributions to the technology of brain science research.
awards
Congratulations new BioE NSF Graduate Fellows
Congratulations to incoming and current PhD students, and BS alumni, who have been awarded new NSF Graduate Research Fellowships!
Congratulations to current PhD students Joann Gu, Melod Mehdipour, and Hannah Schmitz; incoming doctoral students Ilina Bhaya-Grossman, Jessica Herrera, Nicholas Higgins, Claire Hilburger, Kevin Joslin, and Lucas Waldburger; and BS alumni Francesca Zhoufan Li, Amy Lyden (also an incoming PhD), Tomer Rotstein, Connor Tour and Brenda Yang.
Yartsev named ONR Young Investigator
Michael Yartsev has been named a 2020 Young Investigator by the Office of Naval Research for his work on “Neural Computations Underlying the Utilization of Sensory Information in Spatial Navigation”.
Postdoc Grist to attend Lindau Nobel Meeting
Samantha Grist, postdoctoral researcher in Prof Amy Herr’s lab, is one of only 20 UC researchers selected to participate in this year’s Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. The fellows will travel this summer to attend a week of invitation-only lectures and small seminars with some 40 Nobel laureates gathered in Lindau, Germany. They will join about 600 university students and postdoctoral fellows from around the world. This is the third member of Prof Herr’s lab selected to attend a Lindau meeting in the past 12 years!
Patrick Hsu wins Rainwater Prize for Innovative Early-Career Scientist
Congratulations Assistant Professor Patrick Hsu! The Rainwater Prize rewards outstanding achievements of a scientist in the early stages of their academic career in neurodegenerative disease research. Hsu was chosen by a committee of international scientific leaders based on his scientific contributions, leadership, mentorship, and overall contributions to the scientific community.
BioE startup Correlia Biosystems wins SLAS Ignite Award
Correlia Biosystems was named the 2020 SLAS Ignite Award winner from the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening, an award that recognizes the best exhibiting start-up or emerging company at the conference Innovation AveNEW. Correlia was founded by BioE PhDs Akwasi Apori and Samuel Tia, and former postdoc Kursad Araz, all from Professor Herr’s lab.
Tejal Desai elected to National Academy of Inventors
Joint Professor Tejal Desai, PhD alumna and chair of the UCSF Department of Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences, was named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. The NAI Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.
Congratulations Dave Schaffer, AAAS Fellow
Professor David Schaffer, of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Bioengineering, has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Liana Lareau Named IGI SKCF Faculty Scholar
The UC Berkeley Innovative Genomics Institute has awarded the 2019 Shurl & Kay Curci Foundation Faculty Scholars Program award to Liana Lareau. Lareau will spearhead a novel project using genome editing tools to understand how “silent” mutations—DNA changes that do not alter the amino acid make-up of protein—lead to human disease, and to predict which silent mutations have big effects on human health.