Current and Former Awardees

Dale F. Frey Breakthrough Scientists

2024 Recipients

Zibo Chen, PhD
“Protein-based molecular programming for cancer immunotherapy” at Westlake University
Junhong Choi, PhD
"Uncovering cell-fate decision via molecular recording" at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Rachel Segal Greenberg, PhD
“The function of interoceptive circuits in reproduction and cancer” at Harvard Medical School
Julia Su Zhou Li, PhD
“Uncovering the link between repetitive DNA, genomic instability, and tumor viruses” at Boston Children's Hospital
Jingchuan Luo, PhD
“Decoding the role of localized translation in normal physiology and cancer metastasis” at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
Mark R. Sullivan, PhD
“Identifying determinants of pathogenesis and drug resistance in opportunistic lung infection” at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

2023 Recipients

Liudmila Andreeva, PhD
"Making an inflammasome: Structural and biochemical elucidation of NLRP3 inflammasome activation" at Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen
Erin E. Duffy, PhD
"Activity-dependent changes in RNA stability as a mechanism for synaptic plasticity" at Harvard Medical School
Courtney Ellison, PhD
"The regulation and function of type IV pili in Acinetobacter biofilm formation" at University of Georgia
Christopher P. Lapointe, PhD
“Fundamental mechanisms that underlie human translation initiation and its dysregulation in cancer” at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Abigail Overacre-Delgoffe, PhD
"Harnessing the immune response to cancer through the microbiota" at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
Tyler Starr, PhD
"Protein evolution at the host-virus interface" at University of Utah
Benjamin M. Stinson, PhD
"Mechanism of DNA processing during non-homologous end joining" at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Lexy von Diezmann, PhD
"Single-molecule dynamics of DNA repair assemblies in live cells" at University of Minnesota

2022 Recipients

Robert S. Banh, PhD
“Codon- and nutrient-specific regulation of mRNA translation in pancreatic cancer” at New York University Grossman School of Medicine
Allison L. Didychuk, PhD
“Understanding the mechanism of genome packaging in oncogenic herpesviruses" at Yale University
Dian Yang, PhD
“Molecular recording of tumor evolution in response to macrophage modulations” at Columbia University
Xiaoyu Zhang, PhD
“Discovery of chemical probes that support targeted protein degradation in human cancer” at Northwestern University
Xin Zhou, PhD
“Designing signaling proteins to enact anti-tumor responses" at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute / Harvard Medical School

2021 Recipients

Leeat Keren, PhD
"Studying the tumor immune microenvironment in pancreatic cancer using multiplexed imaging" at Weizmann Institute of Science
Nora Kory, PhD
"Mitochondrial transporters in metabolite compartmentalization and homeostasis" at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Kara L. McKinley, PhD
"Physiology and pathology of the uterus" at Harvard University
Deepshika Ramanan, PhD
"Identifying functions of regulatory T cell subsets in intestinal inflammation and colorectal cancer" at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies

2020 Recipients

Lindsay B. Case, PhD
"Understanding the physical principles that regulate cell signaling" at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Natasha M. O'Brown, PhD
"Molecular and cellular regulators of blood-brain barrier function" at Rutgers University
Yi Yin, PhD
"Global analysis of DNA break repair by single-cell sequencing" at University of California, Los Angeles

2019 Recipients

Brian J. Beliveau, PhD
"Decoding Polycomb-mediated gene regulation in single cells with single-molecule super resolution imaging and synthetic biology" at University of Washington
Tera C. Levin, PhD
"Master microbial manipulators: how hosts are shaped by bacterial interactions" at University of Pittsburgh
Sigrid Nachtergaele, PhD
"Identifying novel mechanisms of gene expression regulation through mRNA modifications" at Yale University
Thomas M. Norman, PhD
"Efficient strategies for finding and elucidating genetic interactions" at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Esteban A. Orellana Vinueza, PhD
"tRNA dysregulation and cancer" at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Alistair B. Russell, PhD
"Impact of heterogeneity on the cellular recognition of influenza" at University of California, San Diego
Justin L. Sparks, PhD
"Fundamental mechanism of DNA-protein crosslink repair" at Harvard Medical School

2018 Recipients

Ryan D. Baldridge, PhD
"Investigating the mechanism of retro-translocation by ERAD" at University of Michigan
Liron Bar-Peled, PhD
"Identification of cysteine liabilities in NRF2-driven cancers" at Massachusetts General Hospital
Chao Lu, PhD
"Chromatin dysregulation as driver of oncogenesis" at Columbia University
Matthew P. Miller, PhD
"Deciphering tension-dependent stabilization of kinetochore-microtubule interactions" at University of Utah
Shruti Naik, PhD
"Immune-epidermal stem cell crosstalk in skin inflammation" at New York University School of Medicine
Neel H. Shah, PhD
"Identifying divergent mechanisms of oncogenicity in tyrosine kinases" at Columbia University

2017 Recipients

Gira Bhabha, PhD
"High-resolution studies of dynein structure and mechanism" at New York University School of Medicine
Andrew A. Bridges, PhD
"Bacterial cell fates: The role of quorum sensing in biofilm patterning" at Carnegie Mellon University
Lydia Finley, PhD
"Metabolic regulation of cell fate decisions" at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Jens C. Schmidt, PhD
"Single-molecule analysis of telomerase recruitment to telomeres" at Michigan State University
Jakob von Moltke, PhD
"Initiation of type 2 immune responses" at University of Washington

2016 Recipients

Alistair N. Boettiger, PhD
"Using super-resolution imaging to probe molecular mechanisms of Polycomb silencing" at Stanford University
Mingye Feng, PhD
"Macrophage-mediated immunosurveillance in metastasis" at City of Hope
Ivana Gasic, Dr.Sc.
"Molecular elucidation of the interphase Microtubule Integrity Response (MIR)" at University of Geneva
Ralph E. Kleiner, PhD
"Using chemistry to illuminate DNA and RNA damage processes in cells" at Princeton University
Iva A. Tchasovnikarova, PhD
"Fluorogenetic interrogation of chromatin position effects" at The Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge

2015 Recipients

Angela N. Brooks, PhD
"Characterizing somatic mutations that affect mRNA splicing in cancer" at University of California, Santa Cruz
Sidi Chen, PhD
"Investigation of Dicer as a novel therapeutic route towards the inhibition of tumorigenesis and neoplastic growth" at Yale University
Robert K. McGinty, MD, PhD
"Structural studies of the MLL1 Core Methyltransferase complex" at Pennsylvania State University
Michael J. Smanski, PhD
"Establishing a versatile platform for functionalizing biological magnetic nanoparticles" at University of Minnesota
Angela J. Waanders, MD
"Preclinical models for therapeutic targeting of pediatric astrocytomas" at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

2014 Recipients

David K. Breslow, PhD
Dissecting the role of the ciliary transport machinery in oncogenic signal transduction at Stanford University School of Medicine
Costas A. Lyssiotis, PhD
"Exploring the metabolic effects of oncogenic Kras in pancreatic ductual adenocarcinoma" at University of Michigan
Raymond E. Moellering, PhD
"Characterization of novel pathogenic pathways in cancer: do tumor cells use quorum-sensing molecules to support malignancy?" at The University of Chicago
Nathan D. Thomsen, PhD
“Molecular and cellular mechanism of caspase activation by small molecule pro-enzyme activators” at University of California, San Francisco
Cole Trapnell, PhD
“Globally characterizing lncRNA oncogenes with next-generation transciptomics” at University of Washington

2013 Recipients

Adam de la Zerda, PhD
“Molecular imaging of cell-cell signaling in the tumor microenvironment” at Stanford University
Gabriel C. Lander, PhD
“Structural basis of GTP hydrolysis in microtubule dynamic instability” at The Scripps Research Institute

2012 Recipients

Sean C. Bendall, PhD
"Improved single-cell phosphoprotein signaling analysis of oncogenic progression in leukemia" at Stanford University
Robert K. Bradley, PhD
“Investigating the splicing co-regulatory network” at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Jason M. Crawford, PhD
“Systematic approaches to discovering bioactive bacterial metabolites” at Yale University

2011 Recipients

Ken Cadwell, PhD
“Characterization of mice deficient in autophagy protein Atg16L1” at New York University School of Medicine
L. Stirling Churchman, PhD
“Visualizing global transcription in vivo at nucleotide resolution” at Harvard Medical School
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