Dr. Ephrat Levy Lahad, Associate Professor of Genetics and Medicine at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, is on sabbatical in the this fall and winter. Ephrat was a Fellow in at UW between 1992-1996, during which she cloned the Alzheimer’s disease gene presenilin 2 (Levy Lahad et al Science 269: 973-977, 1995). Ephrat continues her work with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as investigations of the genetics of BRCA1 and BRCA2, and the development of pre-implantation diagnosis for inherited disease.
Dr. Robert Waterston, chair of the Department of Genome Sciences and the William Gates III Endowed Chair in Biomedical Sciences, has been awarded the 2005 Genetics Prize of the Gruber Foundation, to be presented in October at the meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics in Salt Lake City . Dr. Waterston was selected for his many accomplishments, including his pivotal role in the Human Genome Project.
Research by Dr. Mark Rieder and the Nickerson Lab suggesting patients may respond to a widely prescribed anti-blood clotting drug differently because of newly identified genetic variations is featured in the New York Times.
Dr. Mary-Claire King is elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences. Election to membership in the Academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer.
Dr. King is the American Cancer Society Research Professor in the departments of Medicine and Genome Sciences. Her research interests include breast and ovarian cancer, inherited deafness, and systemic lupus erythematosus.
Dr. Eichler, a pioneer in the study of rapidly evolving portions of the genome, continues to study the organization, origin, and impact of recent segmental duplications within mammalian genomes. His selection brings the total number of HHMI investigators at the UW to 13, including Genome Sciences affiliated faculty members David Baker, Stan Fields, Phil Green, and Richard Palmiter.
The HHMI is the nation’s largest private source of support for biomedical research and science education, with an annual research budget of approximately $400 million. The institute periodically selects new members from among the nation’s top researchers in the ascending phase of their careers.