Michael J. Higley and David A. Spiegel

Four Yale scientists, including two in biomedical sciences, were among 118 named in February as 2011 Sloan Research Fellows by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The two-year fellowships are awarded annually to researchers in science, mathematics, computer science, and economics from the United States and Canada, and include $50,000 in research funding. The Fellows in the biomedical sciences are: Michael J. Higley, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology, and David A. Spiegel, M.D. ’04, Ph.D. ’04, assistant professor of chemistry. Higley’s lab seeks to understand how synaptic connections among brain cells support the processing, storage, and retrieval of information in healthy individuals and how these connections are disrupted during the cognitive decline associated with neuropsychiatric disease. Spiegel’s lab develops novel chemical strategies for modifying the human immune system that can be used to treat such diseases as cancer, HIV infection, and diabetes.