I was so happy to learn that Stanford stem cell researcher Marius Wernig, MD, (here describing his research as part of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's recent Elevator Pitch competition) has been selected by the International Society for Stem Cell Research to receive its Outstanding Young Investigator of the year at the organization's annual meeting in June in Boston.
My colleagues at CIRM beat me to the punch yesterday (Wernig is a CIRM grant recipient) with a nice blog post about the award.
I've written several times (here and elsewhere) about Wernig's research as part of Stanford's Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Essentially, he's shown that it's possible to directly convert adult, terminally differentiated cells directly into other types of cells like neurons, without first having to force the cells through a stage called induced pluripotency. It's exciting stuff.
Wernig, who was in a former life a composer of classical music, joins Stanford researcher Joanna Wysocka, PhD, in the ISSCR hall of fame. She won the award in 2010.
Previously: Stanford scientists turn human skin cells directly into neurons, skipping iPS stage, The end of iPS? Stanford scientists directly convert mouse skin cells to neural precursors and Stanford researcher wins Outstanding Young Investigator Award from international stem cell society.
Video courtesy of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
