(From left) Dean Ken Marians, faculty member Lorenz Studer, JMNMF President Greg Safko, and JMNMF Board of Directors and RSA Committee Member Susan Bancroft with grant winner Yvonne Gruber (center)
Yvonne Gruber, a fourth-year student in Lorenz Studer’s lab in the Developmental Biology Program, was awarded a $10,000 melanoma research grant by the Joanna M. Nicolay Melanoma Foundation (JMNMF). One of seven nationally competitive Research Scholar Awards, the grants support exceptional graduate students and provide recognition to their lab directors, principal investigators, schools, and the cancer research institutions at which they study.
The 2011 award applicant pool and cancer research centers represented grew to include 26 of the nation’s most promising young melanoma researchers and 16 prominent NCI-designated cancer centers or members of the American Cancer Institutes.
“Our Research Scholar Awards are invaluable at the grassroots level to specifically grow interest in melanoma research at qualified centers across the country,” says Robert E. Nicolay, JMNMF Chairman. “If we can attract the brightest minds that are considering, or already within the nation’s cancer research pipelines, to pursue careers in melanoma research, we’re that much closer to better understanding the disease, identifying the means for effective treatments and, most importantly, finding a cure for this deadly and very prevalent disease.”