Florida post-docs honored with NIH ‘Pathway to Independence’ award


Published:
October 9, 2019

Author:
Office of Communications



Yuchen Wang and Matthew Gardner

Two Scripps Research, Florida postdoctoral scientists, Matthew Gardner, PhD, and Yuchen Wang, PhD, have won prestigious Pathway to Independence awards from the National Institutes of Health. The award funding, which spans up to five years, is intended to take early-career scientists from trainee to principal investigator. The awards will allow Gardner and Wang to expand on significant discoveries they have made in their recent research.

“It was a really good day,” Gardner says about the moment he learned of his award. “It’s almost a guaranteed stepping stone to finding a position and starting your own lab.”

Gardner joined Scripps Research after travelling from Harvard University with his graduate school advisor, Michael Farzan, PhD, who is now Immunology and Microbiology Department co-chair at Scripps Research. The lab is developing a gene therapy strategy to “vaccinate” against HIV infection by stimulating production of an inhibitor protein, eCD4-ig. With his award, Gardner says he will continue improving this strategy to block infection long-term and minimize immune reaction to the viral vector. He is also investigating whether the eCD4-ig inhibitor could be used as an HIV therapy with, or in place of, antiretroviral medicines.

Wang, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Neuroscience Department Co-Chair Kirill Martemyanov, PhD, will also build upon his work with his mentor. Wang received his doctorate at Purdue University before joining Martemyanov’s lab to study how neurons in the central nervous system establish connections for precise information transfer. The group’s research revealed that a calcium channel subunit, α2δ4, serves as a bridge, linking photoreceptor cells and retinal bipolar cells together, to transmit signals. Defects in α2δ4 have been previously found in both mice and humans with night blindness, where signal transmission between photoreceptors and bipolar cells is affected. Wang will follow up on these discoveries to explore the detailed molecular mechanism of how α2δ4 contributes to effective communication among retinal neurons.

“It’s a huge affirmation from experts in your field,” Wang says of winning the award. “It’s one of the most exciting moments in my life so far.”