Current Awardees

Project Title: The molecular mechanisms of the initiation of type 2 immunity – how allergens are sensed
Postdoc Mentor: Ruslan Medzhitov
Affiliation: Yale University
Award Sponsor: Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Email: karen.agaronyan {at} yale.edu

Project Title: Nutrient Sensing and Spore Germination
Postdoc Mentor: David Rudner
Affiliation: Harvard Medical School
Award Sponsor: Simons Foundation (The)
Email: lior_artzi {at} hms.harvard.edu

Project Title: Learning to See the Physical World with Biologically-Inspired Recurrent Neural Networks
Postdoc Mentor: Daniel Yamins
Affiliation: Stanford University
Award Sponsor: Biogen Idec
Email: dbear {at} stanford.edu

Project Title: Identifying host factors required for flavivirus NS1 endocytosis and endothelial dysfunction
Postdoc Mentor: Eva Harris
Affiliation: University of California – Berkeley
Award Sponsor: Open Philanthropy Project
Email: sbiering {at} berkeley.edu

Project Title: Maternally deposited proteins recurrently innovate to process paternal repetitive DNA in the embryo
Postdoc Mentor: Mia Levine
Affiliation: University of Pennsylvania
Award Sponsor: Shurl and Kay Curci Foundation (The)
Email: clbrand {at} sas.upenn.edu

Project Title: Microbial modulation of forebrain development and social behavior
Postdoc Mentor: Judith Eisen and Philip Washbourne
Affiliation: University of Oregon
Award Sponsor: Open Philanthropy Project
Email: jjbruck {at} uoregon.edu

Project Title: Unraveling the mechanisms of cell division in the thermophilic crenarchaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius
Postdoc Mentor: R. Dyche Mullins
Affiliation: University of California – San Francisco
Award Sponsor: Simons Foundation (The)
Email: arthur.charles-orszag {at} ucsf.edu

Project Title: Engineering a self-deliverable CRISPR-Cas9 system for precise genome editing
Postdoc Mentor: Jennifer A. Doudna
Award Sponsor: Additional Ventures
Affiliation: University of California, Berkeley
Email: kchen90 {at} berkeley.edu

Project Title: Direct Neuronal Reprogramming for Determining Molecular and Genetic Mechanisms of Protein Homeostasis in Alzheimer’s Disease
Postdoc Mentor: Judith Frydman
Affiliation: Stanford University
Award Sponsor: Open Philanthropy Project
Email: cchou6 {at} stanford.edu

Project Title: Synapse-seq: Simultaneous acquisition of single-neuron transcriptome and neuroanatomy
Postdoc Mentor: Evan Macosko and Beth Stevens
Affiliation: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Medical School
Award Sponsor: Open Philanthropy Project
Email: mdolan {at} broadinstitute.org

Project Title: Chemical tools for uncovering the molecular mechanisms associated with transcriptional activation
Postdoc Mentor: Xavier Darzacq & Robert Tjian
Award Sponsor: Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Affiliation: University of California, Berkeley
Email: jferrie {at} berkeley.edu

Project Title: The neuronal foundation of social behavior in the ant
Postdoc Mentor: Daniel Kronauer
Affiliation: Rockefeller University
Award Sponsor: Open Philanthropy Project
Email: dominic.frank {at} rockefeller.edu

Project Title: Scalable methods for investigating the roles of cortical cell types in decision-making
Postdoc Mentor: Christopher Harvey
Affiliation: Harvard Medical School
Award Sponsor: Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Email: jonathan_green {at} hms.harvard.edu

Project Title: Neuropeptide circuits that regulate mosquito attraction to hosts
Postdoc Mentor: Laura B. Duvall
Affiliation: Columbia University
Award Sponsor: Life Sciences Research Foundation
Email: cg3251 {at} columbia.edu

Project Title: Avoiding Fatal Attraction – Crystallin proteins in crowded lens-like environments
Postdoc Mentor: Angela Gronenborg
Affiliation: University of Pittsburgh
Award Sponsor: Merck Research Laboratories
Email: ajg150 {at} pitt.edu

Project Title: Bringing dead enzymes back to life
Postdoc Mentor: Vincent S. Tagliabracci
Award Sponsor: DDBrown Awardee
Affiliation: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Email: genaro.hernandez {at} utsouthwestern.edu

Project Title: Deciphering the impact of phages on bacterial functions in the human gut microbiome
Postdoc Mentor: Adam P. Arkin
Affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Award Sponsor: Astellas Pharmaceuticals
Email: yolandahuang {at} lbl.gov

Project Title: Discovery of cryptic secondary metabolites from the human microbiome
Postdoc Mentor: Mohammad Seyedsayamdost
Award Sponsor: Open Philanthropy Project
Affiliation: Princeton University
Email: zheng.huang {at} mail.mcgill.ca

Project Title: TRPV1+ sensory neurons mediate Schistosoma-induced itch and suppression of dermal DCs.
Postdoc Mentor: De’Broski Herbert
Award Sponsor: Life Sciences Research Foundation
Affiliation: University of Pennsylvania
Email: jinclan {at} vet.upenn.edu

Project Title: Molecular basis for innate immune modulation by the Schlafen proteins
Postdoc Mentor: Philip J. Kranzusch
Award Sponsor: Open Philanthropy Project
Affiliation: DFCI/Harvard University
Email: alexanderG_Johnson {at} dfci.harvard.edu

Project Title: Gene therapy without the genes: delivering PTEN proteins via traceless bioreversible strategy
Postdoc Mentor: Ronald T. Raines
Award Sponsor: Shurl and Kay Curci Foundation
Affiliation: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Email: joomjun {at} mit.edu

Project Title: Dissecting curious exploration with self-supervised machine learning
Postdoc Mentor: Nick Haber
Award Sponsor: Merck
Affiliation: Stanford University
Email: ikauvar {at} stanford.edu

Project Title: Nitrogen Recycling in Pancreatic Cancer Cells and its Role in Anti-Tumor Immunity
Postdoc Mentor: Marcia C. Haigis
Affiliation: Harvard Medical School
Award Sponsor: Gilead Sciences
Email: kiran_kurmi {at} hms.harvard.edu

Project Title: Decoding rules of gene expression and quantitative trait variation in plants using deep conservation of cis-regulatory sequences
Postdoc Mentor: Zachary Lippman
Award Sponsor: Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Affiliation: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Email: lanctot {at} cshl.edu

Project Title: Structural analysis of the nucleus-like compartment formed by giant bacteriophages during replication
Postdoc Mentor: Elizabeth Villa & Joseph Pogliano
Award Sponsor: Simons Foundation
Affiliation: University of California, San Diego
Email: tlaughlin {at} ucsd.edu

Project Title: Cellular mechanisms of context dependent feature selectivity: inputs and plasticity
Postdoc Mentor: Jeffrey Magee
Affiliation: Baylor College of Medicine
Award Sponsor: Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Email: yidingl {at} bcm.edu

Project Title: Deciphering the embryonic stem cell splicing code
Postdoc Mentor: Oded Regev
Affiliation: New York University
Award Sponsor: Additional Ventures
Email: sl7927 {at} nyu.edu

Project Title: DNA double-strand break repair in the 4D genome
Postdoc Mentor: Taekjip Ha
Award Sponsor: Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Affiliation: Johns Hopkins University
Email: amaring1 {at} jhu.edu

Project Title: Phage-host interactions to investigate Corynebacterial biology
Postdoc Mentor: Thomas Bernhardt
Award Sponsor: Simons Foundation
Affiliation: Harvard University
Email: amelia_mckitterick {at} hms.harvard.edu

Project Title: Advancing T-cell immunotherapies by high throughput detection of trogocytosis using scRNAseq
Postdoc Mentor: Zev Gartner
Award Sponsor: MacMillan Family Foundation
Affiliation: University of California, San Francisco
Email: brittany.moser {at} ucsf.edu

Project Title: Monitoring on- and off-target transduction by engineered viral vectors non-invasively
Postdoc Mentor: Mikhail Shapiro
Award Sponsor: Amgen
Affiliation: California Institute of Technology
Email: nnystrom {at} caltech.edu

Project Title: Developing cell-based assays and genetic circuits for sensing and responding to persistent viruses
Postdoc Mentor: Pamela A. Silver
Award Sponsor: Open Philanthropy Project
Affiliation: Harvard University
Email: tai_ng {at} hms.harvard.edu