Awards, Research, People, Science & environment

Four UC Berkeley scientists receive prestigious NIH awards

By Brett Israel

UC Berkeley campus.
UC Berkeley scientists have received prestigious NIH awards.
UC Berkeley campus.

UC Berkeley scientists have received prestigious NIH awards.

Four UC Berkeley scientists have been recognized as innovators in their fields through new research grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Michael M. Yartsev, assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering, along with Elçin Ünal and Stephen Brohawn, both assistant professors in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, will receive NIH New Innovator awards designed to stimulate highly innovative research and support promising new investigators.

Jacob O. Brunkard, who earned his Ph.D. in plant biology from UC Berkeley in 2015, will receive an NIH Early Independence award, which provides an opportunity for exceptional junior scientists who have recently received their doctoral degree to skip traditional post-doctoral training and move immediately into independent research positions.

The awardees were announced this month as part of the NIH High Risk-High Reward program. Each recipient will receive a $1.5 million grant over the next five years.

Read more in the NIH newsroom.