The Ellison Medical Foundation is pleased to announce the New Scholar Awardees for 2004. They are:

Aging Program

Michael H. Brodsky, Ph.D.
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Epigenetic Regulation of Drosophila Telomere Protection

Andrew Dillin, Ph.D.
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Regulation of Aging by Insulin/IGF-1 and Mitochondrial Signaling Pathways

Eitan Glick, Ph.D.
University of Washington
Age-dependent Defects in the Mitochondrial Import Machinery

Jaime Grutzendler, M.D.
Northwestern University
Dynamics of Neuronal-Microglia Interactions in Alzheimer’s disease

Su-Ju Lin, Ph.D.
University of California - Davis
Genetic and Chemical Genetic Approaches to Study the MolecularMmechanism of Caloric Restriction and Longevity Regulation

Carlos Lois, M.D., Ph.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Role of Adult Neurogenesis in the Brain of Adult Songbirds: A Transgenic Approach

Scott Pletcher, Ph.D.
Baylor College of Medicine
The Role of Innate Immunity Signaling in Lifespan Extension via Dietary Restriction in Drosophila melanogaster

Pere Puigserver, Ph.D.
Johns Hopkins University
Regulation of Glucose Homeostasis through PGC-1a and SIR2 a

Catherine A. Woklow, Ph.D.
National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health
Tracing Pathways for Controlling Longevity by Insulin-like Signaling in the Nervous System

Xiaohua Wu, Ph.D.
The Scripps Research Institute
Understanding the Role of the Nbs1/Mre11/Rad50 Complex in the Maintenance of Genome Stability and the Prevention of Premature Aging

Global Infectious Disease Program

Peter John Bradley, Ph.D.
University of California - Los Angeles
Establishing an Intracellular Niche in Apicomplexan Parasites: The Role of Novel Rhoptry Proteins Conserved in Toxoplasma and Plasmodium

George Dimopoulos, Ph.D.
Johns Hopkins University
Characterization of a Pattern Recognition Receptor Family in Anopheles gambiae: Implication of GNBPs in the Mosquito’s Molecular Defense Against Malaria

Danielle A. Garsin, Ph.D.
University of Texas Health Science Center – San Antonio
C. elegans as a Model Host for Understanding Innate Immune Response to Infectious Disease

Stefan H. I. Kappe, Ph.D.
Seattle Biomedical Research Institute
Gene Expression and Function in Plasmodium Liver Stages

Liming Li, Ph.D.
Northwestern University
Facilitate Prion Research Using C. elegans

Mary X. D. O’Riordan, Ph.D.
University of Michigan Medical School
Bacterial Regulation of Intracellular Immune Surveillance

Dirk Schnappinger, Ph.D.
Cornell University
Controlled Silencing of rpoB and ffh in M. smegmatis and M. tuberculosis

Neal Silverman, Ph.D.
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Using Drosophila to Elucidate the Mechanisms of Pathogenesis: Genetic and Molecular Dissection of Signal Inhibition by Yersinia Virulence Factor YopJ

Marcelo Carlos Sousa, Ph.D.
University of Colorado - Boulder
Detecting and Overcoming Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria

Vanessa Sperandio, Ph.D.
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Cell-to-cell Signaling in E. coli O157:H7 Pathogenesis

Heather L. True-Krob, Ph.D.
Washington University
Breaking barriers: Defining Environmental and Genetic Factors that Modulate the Barrier to Interspecies Transmission of Prions

Wolfgang Weninger, M.D.
Wistar Institute
The Role of CD4* Central Memory T Cells in Influenza Virus Immunity