Postdocs Awarded Research Support

Two Yale postdoctoral scientists, Oscar R. Colegio and Kristina M. Herbert, were among 13 designated as Dam Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Fellows.

The foundation provides funds to the nation’s most promising young cancer researchers so they can pursue innovative projects.

Colegio is studying the role of immune cells called macrophages in tumor progression and metastasis. His three-year grant of $174,000 will allow him to study molecular pathways critical to spread of tumors in lung, breast and skin cancers. Colegio is sponsored by Ruslan M. Medzhitov, the David W. Wallace Professor of Immunobiology and investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

Herbert is studying the mechanism by which small RNAs called micro-RNAs are produced, and the regulation of this process within the cell. Her three-

year $140,000 grant will help her investigate why certain micro-RNAs are expressed at low levels in cancers. Herbert is sponsored by Joan A. Steitz, Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and an HHMI investigator.

Only 10% of applicants for a Runyon Fellowship are funded, and 11 Runyon alumnis have won Nobel Prizes. The foundation has committed more than $200 million to support cancer researchers.