Blavatnik Family Foundation

Following the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists ceremony earlier this month, held in partnership with The New York Academy of Sciences, we are highlighting the outstanding research carried out by this year’s honorees. This week, we’re focussing on the National Awards finalists in Chemical Sciences: 💡 Joseph A. Cotruvo, Jr. (Penn State University), recognized for discovering and engineering biomolecules to sustainably harvest and purify rare metals ♻️ Garret Miyake (Colorado State University), recognized for groundbreaking advances across polymer and organic chemistry, including novel plastics that are chemically recyclable 🧪 David Nagib (The Ohio State University), recognized for harnessing reaction intermediates to discover faster, more effective, and previously unknown chemical mechanisms for synthesizing pharmaceuticals ⛽ Yogesh Surendranath (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), recognized for developing a molecular-level understanding of new chemical reactions to decarbonize fuel production and chemical synthesis ⚡ Wei Xiong (University of San Diego), recognized for establishing the experimental foundations of polariton chemistry and engineering photonic cavities Blavatnik Awards scholars are driving economic growth by embarking on new scientific trajectories to pursue high-risk, high-reward scientific research. Below, you can find out what it means to each scientist to receive the award 👇

The US-Israel Blavatnik Scientific Forum was created in January 2019 to establish scientific relationships, promote collaboration, and stimulate cooperation between the countries. The focus of this year’s symposium was on leading research into the need to alleviate water scarcity by desalination and water reuse, a topic of essential and existential importance. Over the years, the Foundation has provided over $1 billion to academic and scientific institutions to promote innovation, discovery, and creativity, and is proud to have worked with National Academy of Sciences and the The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities to support this forum. We want to extend our thanks to the Forums co-chairs, Menachem Elimelech, Yale University and Avner Adin of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in addition to the outstanding scientists who shared their research. To watch their thought-provoking keynotes and panel discussions, click here: https://lnkd.in/eZNnUdKi

🎨'Running through December 10th at the Royal Academy of Arts, the Foundation is supporting a 60-year career retrospective of Sir Michael Craig-Martin, one of the most influential artists and teachers of his generation. Craig-Martin will transform the Royal Academy’s Main Galleries with work spanning his early experimental sculpture and his landmark conceptual work "An Oak Tree", alongside large-scale, vivid colour paintings of everyday objects – from corkscrews and umbrellas to laptops and smartphones. To purchase tickets and visit the exhibition, click here: https://lnkd.in/e2cSYHia

Brown University has announced the second cohort of students to receive the Blavatnik Family Graduate Fellowship in Biology and Medicine, made possible through a multi-year donation from the Foundation.   These seven Blavatnik Family Fellows were selected based on outstanding academic achievement and demonstrated potential for producing original research that advances scientific knowledge and understanding in basic and clinical life sciences. Congratulations to this year’s recipients:   🦠 Breanna Demestichas, for her work on molecular biology, cellular biology and biochemistry: characterization of the transcriptomic profiles of chemotherapy resistant breast cancer tumors. 🐁 Alice Lim, for contributions to neuroscience: the relationship between neural metabolism and neural activity using animals models of a rare genetic disorder known as SLC13A5 epilepsy. 🧠 Noe M., for research into pathobiology: examining the role of human cytomegalovirus in brain cancer malignancy and progression to develop novel targeted therapeutic approaches. 🔬 Kimberly S. Meza, for advances in pathobiology: elucidating the oncogenic and therapeutic resistance mechanisms of PIM in renal cell carcinoma. 🐦 Nicole M., for the study of ecology, evolution and organismal biology: understanding the evolution and neurobiology of complex social interactions, focusing specifically on territorial interactions in free-living woodpeckers. 🧬 David Peede, driving new understanding of ecology, evolution and organismal biology: impact of genetic admixture (exchange of genes between populations) in human evolution. 💉 Erin Skeens, for his innovations in molecular biology, cellular biology and biochemistry: investigating the allosteric mechanisms and regulation of CRISPR-Cas9 and MIF, respectively, to improve therapeutic options.   #Fellowship #LifeSciences #Achievement #NextGeneration

The Blavatnik Family Foundation has supported a new documentary from Jonathan Silvers, ‘After October 7: A Personal Journey to Kfar Aza’ which will premiere on PBS throughout October. Exploring the aftermath of the Hamas attack on a single Kibbutz in a region of Israel known as “the Gaza envelope”, the film is a journey to the limits of communal and individual endurance. At its center are the experiences of ordinary individuals who confronted the extraordinary events of that day – events that continue to transform them, their country, and the Middle East. “As a filmmaker and journalist, I cannot overstate the importance of The Blavatnik Foundation’s support for my PBS documentary ‘After October 7’” said Jonathan: “Time and again, the Blavatnik Foundation has sustained in-depth reporting, which faces myriad challenges in a rapidly changing media landscape.” ‘After October 7’ premiered publicly on PBS on the 27th September and show throughout October. To discover more about the film and when it is showing near you, click here: https://lnkd.in/ef5r_XBW

On Tuesday night, The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists took place at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The Foundation, in partnership with the The New York Academy of Sciences, celebrated some of America’s most promising faculty-level scientific researchers.   For the second time in the history of the awards, three women have been selected as national Laureates and will each receive $250,000, the largest unrestricted scientific prize offered to America’s early career scientists. Congratulations to the three Laureates in their respective fields of life sciences, chemical sciences, and physical sciences: Cigall Kadoch, Markita Landry, and Britney Schmidt.   Congratulations are also in order for the three laureates and six finalists of the Blavatnik Regional Awards, Shira Weingarten-Gabbay, Raghavendra Pradyumna Pothukuchi, Arnaud Vanden Broeck, Nicole Lake, Amy Strom, Aavishkar Patel, Chiara Trovatello, Juan Jimenez, Arthur Neuberger.   “On behalf of the Blavatnik Family Foundation, I congratulate this year’s outstanding Laureates and Finalists for their exceptional research. They are among the preeminent leaders of the next generation of scientific innovation and discovery,” said Len Blavatnik, founder of Access Industries and the Blavatnik Family Foundation and a member of the President’s Council of The New York Academy of Sciences.

🌐 Congratulations to the recipients of the Blavatnik Acceleration Fund who are pushing the boundaries in medicine and engineering! This year, the Blavatnik Acceleration Fund will be supporting four teams at Columbia Engineering who are researching bladder cancer, embryonic brain development, spontaneous preterm birth, and the basis of common language disorders. This year’s winners include: 💉 Santiago Correa & Nicholas Arpaia: Engineering tumor painting nanoparticles to promote immunotherapy responsiveness in bladder cancer 🗨️ David A. Knowles & David Sulzer: The genomic and synaptic basis of learned sound association and language disorder 🦠 Kristin Myers, Tal Korem, & Mirella Mourad: A multi-omic investigation of the vaginal ecosystem and cervical biomechanical properties in pregnancy 🧠 Nandan Nerurkar & Maria Antonietta Tosches: Mechanobiology of early embryonic brain development You can explore their work in greater depth here: https://lnkd.in/eC8NEn6P Columbia University #Immunotherapy #LanguageDisorder #Biomechanics #Mechanobiology #BrainDevelopment #Accelerator

We are pleased to announce, in partnership with The New York Academy of Sciences, the three Laureates and six Finalists of the 2024 US Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists. These outstanding postdoctoral scientists come from leading academic research institutions across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and will be honored in a gala ceremony tonight, on October 1st. The Laureates’ cutting-edge research explores: 🦠 Arnaud Vanden Broeck (The Rockefeller University): The study of the human ribosome to combat cancer 🧠 Raghavendra Pradyumna Pothukuchi (Yale University): Interfacing machines with the human brain to better understand neurological characteristics 🧬 Shira Weingarten-Gabbay (The Rockefeller University): Decoding the “dark matter” of viral genomes to mitigate viral threats Congratulations also to the six talented Finalists: Juan Jimenez and Arthur Neuberger (Chemical Science), Aavishkar Patel and Chiara Trovatello (Physical Sciences and Engineering), and Nicole Lake and Amy Strom (Life Sciences). Read more about their discoveries here: https://lnkd.in/eGDzSZyC #BlavatnikAwards #Science #Postdoc

📚The longlist for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction has been announced! The prize aims to recognise and reward the best of non-fiction and is open to authors of any nationality. Spanning current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography, and the arts, the winning author will receive £50,000 with the other shortlisted authors each receiving £5,000. 📖 The 12 longlisted books were chosen by this year’s judging panel of Isabel Hilton OBE, Heather Brooke, Alison Flood, Peter Hoskin, Chitra Ramaswamy, and Tomiwa Owolade. 🧾 Their selection was made from 349 books published between 1 November 2023 and 31 October 2024. The winner will be announced at an award ceremony on Tuesday 19 November at an award ceremony supported by the Blavatnik Familly Foundation. To discover the titles on the longlist click here: https://lnkd.in/e2zdstPc #BGPrize2024 #nonfiction #books

Applications for the 2024-2025 Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale University is now open! The Fund focuses on the commercialization of applied research and technology in the life sciences, supporting faculty-led projects and their teams. Since its inception in 2017, the Fund has supported more than 80 projects with over $20 million awarded, 28 new ventures launched raising $310M in external funding, 5 IND’s accepted with 2 positive early clinical trial readouts, and 2 revenue generating digital health ventures The deadline for applications is October 31 2024: https://lnkd.in/dCgu_58Y Yale Ventures #accelerator #lifescience