Michael Bollong and Stefano Forli named winners of 2020 Baxter Foundation Young Investigator Award
July 1, 2020
LA JOLLA, CA — Scripps Research chemist Michael Bollong, PhD, and computational chemist Stefano Forli, PhD, have both been named as recipients of the 2020 Young Investigator Award from the Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation.
The program is designed to help prepare and assist promising new investigators at the Assistant Professor level as they begin their careers. These early stages of career development are a critical period, requiring a level of support that will advance a research program to the point where the faculty member can effectively compete for other sources of external funding.
“We are extremely grateful to the Baxter Foundation for their continued support of our newer members of faculty,” said Benjamin Cravatt, PhD, Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology for the Department of Chemistry and Chair of the Fellowship Selection Committee. “Michael and Stefano are two exceptional scientists who have exciting careers ahead of them.”
Bollong has undertaken a major drug discovery effort to develop molecules that could activate tissue regeneration. Forli’s research centers on computational methods that could screen vast libraries of chemical compounds to identify useful biological probes or new potential therapies for a variety of diseases.
The Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation was established to advance charitable, scientific, and educational purposes, primarily at medical and scientific schools of higher learning in California. Delia Baxter established the Donald E. Baxter Foundation in 1959 in memory of her husband, Donald, a distinguished physician, engineer, and scientist. The Foundation was renamed upon Delia Baxter’s death in 1982 to the Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation, in honor of her memory.
The award selections were announced following a site assessment by the Baxter Foundation Board in April, where both candidates presented their latest research findings.
New regenerative lung therapy begins phase 1 trials | CMR316 & IPF treatment
The Calibr-Skaggs Institute for Innovative Medicines, part of Scripps Research, has begun testing a new regenerative lung therapy called CMR316. This inhaled treatment could change the way we treat lung diseases like idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and potentially even chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by stimulating stem cells to restore damaged lung tissue. In this phase 1 clinical trial, they're checking the safety and effects of this once-weekly drug in both healthy volunteers and IPF patients.
Regenerating tissues to treat disease
Regenerative medicine involves harnessing the body’s own capacity to repair tissues and organs. In this Front Row lecture, Associate Professor Michael Bollong shared how he's identifying and targeting the pathways controlling regeneration. By combining traditional drug discovery tools with modern biological techniques, Bollong and his lab are developing novel medicines that can intervene in the processes that cause a spectrum of human diseases and medical conditions, including heart disease, inflammatory disease and fibrosis.
