Yukiko Yamashita named a Searle Scholar
Yukiko Yamashita, Life Sciences Institute Reseach Assistant Professor, member of the University of Michigan Center for Stem Cell Biology, and Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan Medical School, was named a Searle Scholar on regulation of asymmetric stem cell division during tissue homeostasis and aging.
Each year, the Searle Scholars Program recognizes and supports the independent research of fifteen outstanding individuals who are in the first or second year of their first academic appointment at select institutions. In choosing the Scholars, a Scientific Advisory Board of twelve distinguished scientists identifies individuals who have already done innovative research and have the potential for making pivotal contributions to biological research over an extended period of time. As a Searle Scholar, each scientist receives an award of $300,000 over three years designed to provide exceptionally creative and productive young scientists with sufficient funds to work on their best ideas. These prestigious awards remain among the top monetary awards in chemistry and the biomedical sciences.
“Yukiko has clearly emerged as a future star, learning to take risks and follow leads to answer questions of fundamental significance. According to her mentors at Kyoto University and Stanford, she is creative, extremely rigorous, technically fearless and a highly focused young scientist who applies creative approaches to her work and is making groundbreaking discoveries,” said Alan Saltiel, LSI Director.
Dr. Yamashita studies asymmetric stem cell division in the Drosophila male germ line. Her work at the interface between cell and developmental biology is focused on understanding the mechanisms that allow stem cells to attach to and orient toward their niche to ensure the asymmetric outcome of stem cell divisions.
Dr. Yamashita’s work has helped establish the male germ line of Drosophila as a premier system in which to study the cell biological mechanisms that regulate and mediate critical aspects of stem cell behavior, including attachment of stem cells to their support niche, orientation of stem cell divisions, and the cell cycle control and checkpoints that maintain stem cell integrity and function.
Dr. Yamashita has also held the JSPS fellowship and the Jose Carreras International Leukemia Foundation fellowship.
The Searle Scholars Program was established at The Chicago Community Trust in 1980. It is funded from the estates of Mr. and Mrs. John G. Searle. Mr. Searle was the grandson of the founder of the world-wide pharmaceutical company, G.D. Searle & Company. It was Mr. Searle's wish that certain funds be used to support ". . . research in medicine, chemistry and the biological science." Since the program began in 1981, 437 Searle Scholars have received awards totaling over $84 million.
For more information about the Searle Scholars Program, please visit their website: http://searlescholars.net
