Honors and Grants

Linda Carpenter, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, received the esteemed President’s Award at the annual meeting of the Clinical Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Society in Boston. The award recognizes an individual in the organization who has distinguished themselves in carrying out the missions of CTMSS.  

Patrick Molluso MD’28 has received one of Bausch Health Companies Inc. 2026 Aspire Higher Scholarship Program. This year, six inspiring students will each receive up to $10,000 to support their undergraduate or graduate studies.

Ahmed S. Abdelfattah, Neuroscience, received $909,653 for “Far-red microscopy for deep voltage imaging of large neuronal populations” from Boston University: Prime is National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Peter A. Belenky, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, received $25,000 for “A Redox-Based Prophylactic Strategy for Preventing Antibiotic-Induced Dysbiosis” from University of Delaware: Prime is National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Valeria Brown and John Sedivy, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, received $40,000 for “Investigating the role of long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1) in age-related clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) driven by JAK2 (Janus kinase 2) V617F mutation” from the American Society of Hematology.

Elizabeth S. Chen, Center for Biomedical Informatics, received $46,619 for “Improving Opioid Use Disorder Management in the Rural Acute Care Setting” from MaineHealth: Prime is National Institute of Health.

Michelle R. Dawson, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, received $150,000 for “BRCA1/2 Mutations Promote PGCC‐Driven Tumor Progression in Breast and Ovarian Cancers: A Saudi Biobank–Integrated Study” from the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center.

Alyssa N. De Vito, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, received $935,294 for “Development and Validation of a Digital Phenotype of Affective Dysregulation in Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias” from the National Institute on Aging.

Sergej Djuranovic, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, received $2,918,850 for “Mechanisms of translational control” from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Nicolas L. Fawzi, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, received $3,108,236 for “Neurodegenerative disease aggregation of TAF15” from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Lauren Hodkinson and Erica Larschan, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, received $237,708 for “Contributions of transcription factor-RNA interactions to co-regulated geneexpression” from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Megha Jhanji, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, received $233,020 for “Chromatin-Based Mechanisms Linking Transcriptional Dysregulation to Genome Instability in Neurodevelopmental Disorders” from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Rich N. Jones, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, received $130,535 for “Chromatin-Based Mechanisms Linking Transcriptional Dysregulation to Genome Instability in Neurodevelopmental Disorders” from Regents of the University of Michigan: Prime is National Institute on Aging.

Stephanie R. Jones, Neuroscience, received $50,000 for “PyraSim Team: NSF National Innovation Corps Teams (NSF National I-Corps™ Teams) Program” from the National Science Foundation.

Jacob S. Kaiserman, graduate student, and Sofia Lizarraga, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, received $70,676 for “Microglial chromatin regulatory mechanisms control neuroinflammation and cerebrovascular development in autism” from the American Heart Association.

Anna R. Kimata, MD/PhD student, and Wael Asaad, Neurosurgery, received $227,725 for “Characterizing Central Thalamic Regulation of Altered States of Awareness in Humans” from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Sean Lawler, Elena Oancea, and Diana Horrigan, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, received $1,078,340 for “Interdisciplinary training in pharmacological sciences-Renewal” from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Sanghyun Lee, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, received $50,000 for “Translational Approaches for Pathogens of Human Significance - Pilot Project” from Rhode Island Hospital: Prime is National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Adam Levine, Center for Global Health Equity, received $19,440 for “Building Capacity in HIV/TB and Mental Health in Ukraine's Humanitarian Crisis Supplement” from the Fogarty International Center.

Nicola Neretti, Molecular, Cellular Biology Biochemistry, received $438,625 for “Dissecting Cell Cycle Arrest Phenotypes in Aging and Age-Associated Diseases” from the National Institute on Aging.

Jessica R. Peters, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, received $179,136 for “Adapting and Testing a Digital Single Session Intervention for Coping with Minority Stress for Use with Suicidal LGBTQIA+ Adolescents on Inpatient Units” from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

David M. Rand, Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, received $5,806,661 for “COBRE: Center for Computational Biology of Human Disease Phase 3” from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

John M. Sedivy, Jill Kreiling, and Arturo Andrade, Molecular, Cellular Biology Biochemistry, received $1,132,027 for “Repurposing Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors to Treat Aging” from University of Rochester: Prime is NIH Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.

Asghar Shah, medical student, received $3,000 for “Dermoscopy Training to Improve Early Melanoma Detection in Rural Maine” from the Melanoma Research Foundation.

Ria Talathi, Thrusha Puttaraju, and Daniela Ponce Cartagena, medical students, received $9,000 for “Trusted Voices, Preventive Choices: Increasing Breast Cancer Screening and Education through Community Partnerships” from Alpha Omega Alpha.

Martin S. Taylor, Pathology and Human Behavior, received $3,454,271 for “Mechanisms of LINE-1 Contributions to Inflammation” from the National Institute on Aging. Taylor also received $61,742 for “Early Detection of Interception of Diffuse and Intestinal Gastric Center,” a subaward through Massachusetts General Hospital from the Entertainment Industry Foundation.

Carina L. Terry, graduate student, and Jessica Tingle, Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, received $265,800 for “Evolution and biomechanical performance of differing morphologies in arboreal snake communities” from the Simons Foundation.

Rajan Thakur and Kate O'Connor-Giles, Neuroscience, received $220,000 for “Lipid transport proteins in Neurodevelopment and Autism spectrum disorder” from the Simons Foundation.

Audrey R. Tyrka and Laura Whiteley, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, received $1,075,420 for “Promoting Research Training During Psychiatry Residency -Continuation-Renewal” from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Lauren M. Weinstock, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, received $1,778,353 for “Postdoctoral Training in Suicide Research - Renewal - Year 6-10” from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Gary M. Wessel, Molecular, Cellular Biology Biochemistry, received $2,925,663 for “Mechanisms that drive germline success - renewal” from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.