‘High-risk’ research of two scientists receives a boost

Two Yale scientists have been honored with National Institutes of Health (NIH) “High-Risk, High-Reward” Research Awards. Amy F.T. Arnsten, Ph.D., professor of neurobiology and psychology, received one of 12 NIH Pioneer Awards. The five-year, $2.5 million grant supports Arnsten’s research on the molecular vulnerabilities for disease in the brain’s highly evolved association cortex. Jason M. Crawford, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry and microbial pathogenesis, received the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award—also a five-year, $2.5 million grant, awarded to early-career scientists pursuing highly promising lines of inquiry. The grant enables Crawford’s research on gut-dwelling bacteria that play a role in the development of colorectal cancer. The 2013 “High-Risk, High-Reward” grants total about $123 million and support more than 78 scientists.