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8/11/17, 12(40 PMNIH Director's Early Independence Award Program - 2016 Early Independence Award Recipients | NIH Common Fund
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Jonathan Abraham, M.D., Ph.D.
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Project Title: Antibody Therapeutics for Human Viral
Hemorrhagic Fevers and Prevention of Late Neurological
Syndromes
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023084
Jonathan Abraham is an Instructor in Biological Chemistry and
Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School and a
Clinical and Research Fellow in Infectious Diseases at Brigham
and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. He
obtained his B.A. at Harvard College, his M.D. and Ph.D.
degrees in the Harvard-MIT combined M.D.-Ph.D. program, and completed residency in
Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His research focuses on the human
antibody response to emerging viruses using structural biology, molecular virology, and
immunology.
Marie-Abèle Bind, Sc.D.
Harvard School of Public Health
Project Title: Transporting Established Insights from Classical
Experimental Design to Address Causal Questions in
Environmental Epidemiology including the Understanding of
Biological Mediating Mechanisms
Grant ID: DP5-OD-021412
Funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences
Dr. Marie-Abèle Bind earned her joint Sc.D. degree in Environmental Health and Biostatistics at
the Harvard School of Public Health. Subsequently, she worked as a postdoctoral Ziff Fellow at
the Harvard University Center for the Environment with Prof. D. Rubin and estimated causal
N I H D i r e c t o r ' s E a r l y I n d e p e n d e n c eA w a r d
National Institutes of HealthOffice of Strategic Coordination - The Common Fund
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effects of extreme weather exposures on health under the Rubin Causal Model. Dr. Marie-
Abèle Bind is a Research Associate in the Statistics Department at the Faculty of Arts and
Sciences, Harvard University. Her research focuses on transporting classical experimental
insights into the field of environmental epidemiology, as well as developing new causal
inference methods to address causality when examining the effects of environmental
exposures (e.g., air pollution and extreme weather) on health in complex settings (e.g., missing
data and big data).
Jacob O. Brunkard, Ph.D.
University of California, Berkeley and USDA ARS Plant Gene
Expression Center
Project Title: An Aminoacyl tRNA Synthetase is a Nitrogen
Sensor that Activates TOR in Plants
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023072
Jacob Brunkard is a researcher in UC Berkeley’s Plant and
Microbial Biology Department and the USDA Agricultural
Research Service’s Plant Gene Expression Center. Dr. Brunkard
conducted his doctoral research with advisor Dr. Pat Zambryski at UC Berkeley, and earned his
B.A. in Biology and History with high honors from Swarthmore College. His doctoral
dissertation investigated intercellular communication in plants and chloroplast redox
signaling. Dr. Brunkard’s group is focused on the TOR metabolic signaling network in plant
development and physiology, emphasizing insights into the evolution of TOR signaling
networks across eukaryotes.
Brandon DeKosky, Ph.D.
The University of Kansas
Project Title: Comprehensive Analysis of Human Adaptive
Immune Receptors to Elucidate Correlates of Epstein-Barr Virus
Disease Suppression
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023118
Brandon DeKosky is an assistant professor at the Departments
of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Chemical & Petroleum
Engineering at the University of Kansas. He also is affiliated
with the Kansas Vaccine Institute in the KU School of Pharmacy. Brandon attained his Ph.D. in
the lab of George Georgiou at the University of Texas at Austin where he developed the first
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technology for high-throughput sequencing of complete antibody variable regions from single
B cells, providing an entirely new window for understanding immune responses to vaccination
and disease. Brandon performed his postdoctoral studies in the lab of John Mascola at the
NIAID Vaccine Research Center, where he applied high-throughput immune technologies to
accelerate development of vaccines and therapeutics against HIV, Ebola virus, and Zika virus.
Brandon’s lab at KU specializes in the invention and application of high-throughput immune
technologies to detect key molecular features of immune responses, and in translating those
insights into novel strategies to combat human diseases.
Sherrie J. Divito, M.D., Ph.D.
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Project Title: Investigating a Novel Cell Population in Delayed-
Onset Drug Hypersensitivity Reactions
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023091
Sherrie Divito received her MD and PhD (Immunology) from
the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Medical
Scientist Training Program. Her graduate work focused on
cellular therapeutics, dendritic cell biology, and T cell effector responses in transplantation.
She completed dermatology residency in the research track at Harvard, then joined the faculty
at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Divito’s lab performs
translational research, utilizing patient samples and humanized mouse models, with the direct
goal of improving patient care. The lab currently leverages innovative technologies and assays
to investigate the immune system in delayed-type drug allergies.
Jesse R. Dixon, M.D., Ph.D.
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Project Title: Mechanisms of Formation of 3D Genome
Structures
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023071
Jesse Dixon is a faculty fellow in the Salk Helmsley Fellows
program at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. Prior to
joining Salk, Jesse completed his M.D. and Ph.D. at the
University of California at San Diego. During his Ph.D., Jesse
worked in the laboratory of Bing Ren studying higher order chromatin structure. Jesse’s lab is
interested in how our genomes are organized in 3D space inside the nucleus and how
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alterations to 3D genome structure can influence the development of human disease.
Valentino M. Gantz, Ph.D.
University of California, San Diego
Project Title: Development, Characterization and Application
of CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Drive Technologies and Related Active
Genetic Elements to Benefit Research and Society at Large
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023098
Valentino Gantz is a Postdoctoral researcher in the Biological
Sciences division at UC San Diego. During his time as a
graduate student at UCSD, Valentino conceived and tested a
new application of the CRISPR/Cas system. The resulting
technology, the mutagenic chain reaction or MCR, is a new
method that allows MCR-type "active" genetic elements to be propagated at double the
expected frequency. In brief, in the germline of animals heterozygous for an "active"
transgene, the element is capable of converting the second chromosome leading to
homozygosity. This genetic behavior, also known as gene drive, holds great promise for basic
research, fighting insect-borne diseases and crop pest control. In a fruitful collaboration with
the James Lab at UC Irvine, Valentino helped bring this technology to a mosquito system, with
the end goal of using gene drive to modify a mosquito population not to be competent to carry
the malarial parasite. Valentino has also been involved with the UCSD Biosafety Committee in
outlining the UCSD safety guidelines for the cautious use of “active genetics” technologies in
the laboratory and, among his colleagues, they are progressing towards the establishment of
national guidelines.
Daniel P. Giovenco, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Project Title: Geographic Variation in the Diverse Tobacco Retail
Environment and Its Impact on Tobacco Use Disparities
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023064
Daniel Giovenco completed his undergraduate degree at The
College of New Jersey and received both his M.P.H. and Ph.D.
from the Rutgers School of Public Health, where he trained
under Dr. Cristine Delnevo in the Center for Tobacco Studies.
His research uses geographical information systems, field data collection, and survey data to
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uncover how community characteristics, such as the tobacco retail environment, influence
racial and ethnic disparities in substance use. Dr. Giovenco is an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public
Health.
Kristen Koenig, Ph.D.
Harvard University
Project Title: Investigating Organ Formation and the Emergence
of Complexity in the Visual System Using Comparative
Developmental Approaches
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023111
Kristen Koenig received a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology
and History from University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D.
in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Texas at
Austin. At University of Texas, Kristen worked in the lab of Dr. Jeffrey Gross to develop the
squid, Doryteuthis pealeii as a system to study the evolution and development of complex
visual systems. Currently Kristen is a John Harvard Distinguished Science Fellow at the FAS
Center for Systems Biology at Harvard University. The Koenig Lab is interested in using
comparative developmental, cellular and genetic approaches to study visual systems as a
model for understanding the emergence of organ complexity.
Aashish Manglik, M.D., Ph.D.
Stanford University School of Medicine
Project Title: Molecular Mechanisms of Iron Homeostasis
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023048
Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Aashish Manglik is currently the first Stanford Distinguished
Fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine. He received
B.A. degrees in Biology and Chemistry from Washington
University in St. Louis followed by an M.D. and a Ph.D. in
Biophysics from Stanford University. His graduate research under the
mentorship of Brian Kobilka focused on the structural and biophysical basis of G protein-
coupled receptor signaling. Now, the Manglik lab aims to understand the molecular basis of
transmembrane signaling and transport using a broad range of methods in structural biology,
protein biophysics, pharmacology, and protein engineering.
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Micaela Elvira Martinez, Ph.D.
Princeton University
Project Title: Hacking Epidemics: Unlocking the Drivers of
Transmission Seasonality to Battle Vaccine-Preventable
Diseases
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023100
Micaela E. Martinez ( ) is currently a
National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Biology in
the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Princeton
University, and a Postdoctoral Affiliate of the Global Health Program in the Woodrow Wilson
School of Public & International Affairs. She earned a Ph.D. in 2015 from the University of
Michigan Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, a B.S. in Biology, and a B.S. in
Mathematics from the University of Alaska Southeast. She uses cutting-edge statistical
methods and dynamic models to deconstruct epidemics and reveal information about host-to-
host transmission of viral infections, immunity in the population, and vaccine efficacy. She
works at the intersection of epidemiology, computational biology, chronobiology (i.e., the study
of biological rhythms), and ecology. Her traditional training in biology, coupled with research in
computational/applied mathematics and statistical inference, has allowed her to develop a
unique expertise: leveraging Big Epidemiological Data to unmask population-level biological
processes that impact human health.
Monica Mugnier, Ph.D.
Johns Hopkins University
Project Title: Variant Surface Glycoprotein Diversification
in Trypanosoma brucei
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023065
Monica Mugnier received her undergraduate degree in
Biochemistry from Tufts University and went on to do her Ph.D.
at Rockefeller University in the lab of Dr. Nina Papavasiliou. In
Dr. Papavasiliou’s lab, Monica studied the protozoan
parasite Trypanosoma brucei, which is the causative agent of
African trypanosomiasis, a devastating disease posing a huge
economic and public health burden on sub-Saharan Africa. During her Ph.D., Monica
developed bioinformatics tools for studying the way this parasite evades recognition by its
https://memartinez.org
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hosts’ immune systems. Now, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular
Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, her
lab will focus on understanding the molecular mechanisms of immune evasion in T. brucei.
Steve Ramirez, Ph.D.
Harvard University
Project Title: Artificially Modulating Memories to Alleviate
Psychiatric Disease-Like States
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023106
Steve Ramirez is a Junior Fellow and Principle Investigator at
Harvard University. He received his B.A. in neuroscience from Boston University and began
researching learning and memory in the laboratory of Howard Eichenbaum. He went on to
receive his Ph.D. in neuroscience in the laboratory of Susumu Tonegawa at MIT, where his work
focused on artificially modulating memories in the rodent brain, and his current work focuses
on leveraging these manipulations to alleviate symptoms associated with psychiatric diseases.
Steve has also received the Smithsonian's American Ingenuity award, National Geographic's
Breakthrough Explorer prize, Forbes and Technology Review's Top 35 Innovators Under 35
award, and has given a TED talk.
Aaron Ring, M.D., Ph.D.
Yale University School of Medicine
Project Title: Uncoupling Pleiotropy in the
LIGHT/HVEM/LTBetaR Signaling Network
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023088
Aaron Ring received his undergraduate training at Yale
University and entered the Stanford Medical Scientist Training
Program for his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. At Stanford, he worked
in the laboratories of K. Christopher Garcia and
Irving Weissman to use structure-based protein engineering to develop new cytokine and
immune checkpoint therapies for cancer. Aaron joined the faculty of the Yale Department
of Immunobiology in 2016 as the Robert T. McCluskey Yale Scholar and Assistant Professor.
The focus of his research is to understand and manipulate the activity of immune receptors
using structural and combinatorial biology approaches.
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Matthew H. Spitzer, Ph.D.
University of California, San Francisco
Project Title: Quantitatively Modeling Immune Responses to
Cancer
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023056
Matt completed his training in Immunology at Stanford
University in the laboratories of Garry Nolan and
Edgar Engleman. There, he developed experimental and
analytical methods to model the state of the immune system
using high dimensional single-cell data. This led Matt to develop the first reference map of the
immune system, providing a framework into which new data can be integrated and compared
for system-wide analysis. He has also developed new strategies for inducing powerful immune
responses against cancer. Matt’s lab combines methods in experimental immunology and
cancer biology with computation to understand the modes in which the immune system can
respond to tumors and to rationally initiate curative immune responses against cancer.
Kevin Yackle, M.D., Ph.D.
University of California, San Francisco
Project Title: Cellular and Molecular Identification of the
Breathing Pacemaker Neurons
Grant ID: DP5-OD-023116
Kevin Yackle is currently a Sandler Faculty Fellow in the
Department of Physiology at UCSF. Previously, he earned his
M.D. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Stanford University under the
supervision of Mark Krasnow. Kevin created the first systematic
molecular map of the neurons that generate the breathing
rhythm and demonstrated that small numbers of molecularly
distinct neurons have dedicated, interesting, and important functions in breathing. At UCSF,
the Yackle lab will adapt new methods to extend upon the molecular map in order to identify
the key neurons that generate the breathing rhythm, with the ultimate goal of transforming
medical fields like neonatology by developing a novel approach to control breathing
pharmacologically.
This page last reviewed on July 31, 2017
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