Six CU researchers named Boettcher Investigators

CU’s 2018 Boettcher Investigators, from left, David H. Root, Edward Chuong, Kathleen M. Gavin, Eszter K. Vladar, Jean M. Mulcahy Levy and Matthew Taliaferro.

Six University of Colorado researchers at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus and CU Boulder have been named Boettcher Investigators in the Boettcher Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards Program for 2018.

The awards support promising, early career scientific researchers, allowing them to establish their independent research and compete in the future for major federal and private awards. Recipients are awarded $235,000 in grant funding to sustain up to three years of biomedical research. They also receive the title of Boettcher Investigator.

“The 2018 class of Boettcher Investigators represents Colorado’s most dynamic emerging scientists, leaders who are committed to improving human health,” said Katie Kramer, president and CEO of the Boettcher Foundation. “The Boettcher Foundation is honored to support their research at this critical juncture in their careers and to elevate scientific innovation across our state.”

The 2018 Class of Boettcher Investigators and their research topics are:

CU Anschutz Medical Campus

• Kathleen M. Gavin, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine – Cellular composition of adipose tissue
• Jean M. Mulcahy Levy, M.D., assistant professor, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders – New therapy development for pediatric brain tumors
• Matthew Taliaferro, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics – Regulation of subcellular RNA localization
• Eszter K. Vladar, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and cell and developmental biology – Airway epithelial development, homeostasis and dysfunction

CU Boulder

• Edward Chuong, Ph.D., assistant professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology – Evolution of gene regulatory networks
• David H. Root, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience – Neurobiology of drug addiction

Also named to the 2018 class of Boettcher Investigators: Jesse W. Wilson, Ph.D., of Colorado State University.

The Boettcher Foundation Board of Trustees formally announced its annual class of Boettcher Investigators on June 7. The year’s total funding from the Boettcher Foundation’s Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards program is $1.41 million.

With the addition of the ninth class, there are 39 Boettcher Investigators at CU receiving over $9 million in biomedical research support.

See all CU Boettcher Investigators.

In its ninth year, the Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards honor the commitments that the Webb and Waring families made to scientific research. Including the class of 2018, 61 Boettcher Investigators have received funding through the Webb-Waring program.

Since 2010, Boettcher Investigators have gone on to earn a collective $34 million in subsequent independent research funding. Some 95 percent of award recipients still reside at Colorado research institutions, advancing the foundation’s mission of keeping Colorado’s top scientific minds in the state.

“We are continually impressed by the caliber of the community of Boettcher Investigators and the promise of their research to build better lives” said April Giles, president and CEO of the Colorado BioScience Association. “The research supported by the Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards undoubtedly improves the health of the bioscience industry and the residents of Colorado.”