Xiaochang Zhang, PhD, an assistant professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago, has received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award for 2019. Established in 2007, the New Innovators Award supports unusually innovative research from early career investigators who are within 10 years of their final degree or clinical residency and have not yet received a research project grant or equivalent NIH grant.
Zhang, who is also a member of the Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior, conducts research on neocortex development. His lab seeks to understand how brain cell types are specified over time, and how they change under different neurological conditions.
The National Institutes of Health awarded 93 grants overall through its High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program that will fund highly innovative biomedical or behavioral research proposed by extraordinarily creative scientists. Other examples of supported research include exploring how the brain maximizes storage capacity, developing a new approach to treating bacterial infections without the use of antibiotics, understanding the genetic rules that allow one cell type to convert to another, and uncovering a novel potent method for treating adolescent depression. The 93 awards total approximately $267 million over five years, pending available funds.
Learn more about his award and research at the Forefront.