LSI's Sean Morrison receives the American Association of Anatomists 2008 Harland Winfield Mossman Award
December, 2007 - Sean Morrison, Director of the University of Michigan Center for Stem Cell Biology won the 2008 Harland Winfield Mossman Award in recognition of remarkable discoveries in stem cell biology.
At the AAA Annual Meeting in San Diego on April 8, Dr. Morrison, 39, will be recognized for his research on hematopoietic and neural stem cells, including the discovery of genes that regulate their function, the role of protooncogenes in stem cell biology, and the discovery of new markers for hematopoietic stem cells. Morrison’s lab has identified a number of new mechanisms by which stem cells regulate self-renewing divisions, the process by which stem cells perpetuate themselves throughout life. His research has shown that drugs targeting these mechanisms can be effective in the treatment of cancer, because cancers hijack normal self-renewal mechanisms and use them to proliferate out of control.
Stanford University Professor Dr. Irving Weisman nominated Morrison noting that his discoveries are "…amazing, consistent, and always at the center of where the field is or should be going." Morrison is also Research Associate Professor at the Life Sciences Institute, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and the Henry Sewall Professor in Medicine at U-M.
This American Association of Anatomists (AAA) 2008 Harland Winfield Mossman Award is an annual honor presented to young investigators who have made important contributions in the field of developmental biology and have demonstrated remarkable promise of future accomplishments. Morrison will deliver the Mossman address during the AAA Annual Meeting in San Diego in April, 2008, during which he will discuss "The Regulation of Stem Cell Self-Renewal."
Morrison has been the recipient of numerous other awards, including the prestigious McCullough and Till Award (2007) from the International Society of Hematology and Stem Cells, Pfizer’s Young Michigan Biomedical Investigator of the Year (2007), Wired Magazine’s Rave Award for Science (2004), and a Presidential Early Career Award from the White House (2003). He made the list of MIT Technology Review Magazine’s top 100 innovators (2002), and has received numerous other accolades, scholarships, and fellowships.
