2004 Laureates - Fellowship Winners

Dr. Raj Duggavathi - INSERM, Strasbourg, France

Dr. Duggavathi received his degree in Veterinary Medicine (BVSc) and Master’s degree in Veterinary Physiology from University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India in 1997 and 1999, respectively. He joined the Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Canada in 2000 to pursue his PhD under the supervision of Dr. NC Rawlings. His research for the past four years has been on the regulation of ovarian antral follicular waves in sheep, which is expected to earn him a PhD by December 2004. Following his PhD, Raj is joining the laboratories of Dr. BD Murphy at Universite de Montreal, St. Hyacinthe, Canada and Dr. J Auwerx at Universite Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France. The project, is entitled “Orphan nuclear receptors and the regulation of ovarian cell proliferation and differentiation” and addresses the role of orphan nuclear receptors with emphasis on liver receptor homolog 1 (LRH-1) on ovarian function.

Nicholas Salmon - UCSF, Center for Reproductive Sciences

Nicholas received a BSc in Genetics from the University of Leeds, UK, in 2001, where he remained to study for a PhD under the supervision of Dr. Ieuan Joyce and Professor Alan Handyside. His PhD studies investigated signalling between the oocyte and granulosa cells during ovarian follicle development, which led to the discovery of stage-specific oocyte regulation of granulosa cell Amh mRNA expression. He will soon begin post-doctoral work at UCSF, Center for Reproductive Sciences in Dr. Eugene Y. Xu's laboratory under the co-supervision of Professor Renee A Reijo Pera. The Serono Foundation funded project is entitled "The Roles of Conserved Germline Stem Cell Factors, in Mouse Ovarian Development", which aims to further understanding of the factors that maintain germline stem cells and consider the medical implications of germline stem cell depletion.

Jayne Sierens BSc (Hons) PhD - Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia

Dr. Jayne Sierens obtained her PhD at the MRC Human Reproductive Sciences Unit, Edinburgh, UK under the supervision of Dr. Philippa Saunders. Her work analysed the expression of the oestrogen receptors in the reproductive tract of humans, and Old and New World primates. She investigated the effects of different oestrogenic ligands on the mechanisms of transcriptional modulation of gene expression by oestrogen receptor isoforms (ERa and ERb) alone and in co-expression studies. In March 2004 she joined Evan Simpson’s laboratory at the Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research where she is pursuing her interest in the regulation of oestrogens in the male reproductive tract. Jayne Sierens’ project is entitled “Functions of the Liver Receptor Homologue-1 (LRH-1) in Male Germ Cells” and she aims to determine the role of LRH-1 and it’s co-regulatory proteins in local testicular oestrogen synthesis and male germ cell development.

2003 Laureates - Cancer Biology Fellowships

Alexandra Eichten - UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, USA

Dr. Alexandra Eichten received her Masters degree in Molecular Biology from the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany in 1999, where she studied the role of the transcription factor NF-B in cell cycle control. She subsequently conducted 3 years of graduate studies on the functional interactions between the human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 E7 oncoprotein and the tumor suppressor p53 at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA under the supervision of Dr. Karl Münger and received her PhD from the University of Hannover, Germany in 2002. After a brief postdoctoral training in the Münger laboratory, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Lisa M. Coussens at the University of California, San Francisco, USA in May, 2003. The Coussens laboratory uses transgenic mouse models of epithelial carcinogenesis to study the role of the tumor microenvironment, particularly the extracellular matrix, inflammatory cells and cells forming the vasculature, as a critical parameter of cancer development. Dr. Eichten’s project is entitled “Microenvironmental Regulation of Tumor Progression and Metastasis” and addresses the role of perivascular stromal components in regulating tumor development and metastasis.

Ian Frew - Institute of Cell Biology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Dr. Frew obtained his PhD under the supervision of Dr. David Bowtell at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute in Melbourne, Australia. His work utilised knockout mice to investigate the physiological functions of the Siah family of ubiquitin ligase enzymes. In June 2003 he joined the laboratory of Dr. Wilhelm Krek at the Institute of Cell Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, in Zürich, where he continues to pursue his research interests in ubiquitination and cancer. His current research project is entitled “Identification and characterisation of novel functions of the pVHL tumour suppressor”, which aims to further our understanding of the impact of low oxygen and low nutrient conditions on tumourigenesis.

Jin Kuk Yang - Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, USA

Dr. Yang received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Korea. His Ph.D. studies in the structural biology laboratory of Dr. Se Won Suh focused on the structure determination of hypothetical proteins from Mycobacterium tuberculosis using the X-ray crystallography. He determined the structure of Rv2002 protein and performed functional characterization. He was awarded his Ph.D. degree in February 2003. He joined the laboratory of Dr. Hao Wu at Weill Medical School of Cornell University in August 2003. His current research interest is the mechanism and structural basis of apotosome and DISC (death-inducing signaling complex) assembly by using biophysical methods and X-ray crystallography. Understanding mechanistic and structural aspects of the apoptosis initiation may provide therapeutic handles for treatment of cancer and degenerative diseases. His project supported by the Serono Foundation is entitled “Mechanism and regulation of apoptosis initiation”.

2002 Laureates - Immunology Fellowships

Ailin Bai - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dr. Bai received his medical degree in 1990 from Beijing Medical University, China. He subsequently conducted 3 years of graduate research on allogeneic transplantation tolerance in the same University under the supervision of Dr. Shusheng Xie, and earned a Masters degree in Immunology in 1993. In 1994, he joined the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. His dissertation research in the laboratory of Dr. James Forman focused on antigen processing for presentation by MHC class I-B molecules. He was awarded his Ph.D. degree in 2000. After a brief postdoctoral training in signal transduction with Dr. Benjamin Neel at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, he joined Dr. Jianzhu Chen’s laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2002. His current research interest is the development and maintenance of T cell memory, his current research project is entitled ''Role of Proliferation in the Development, Survival, and Function of Memory T Cells".

Helmut Butzkueven - Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne Australia

Dr. Helmut Butzkueven completed his medical and neurology training through the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Hospital and was granted membership of the Royal Australian College of Physicians (Neurology) in 1999. His PhD studies were undertaken in the Neurobiology Group of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research under the supervision of Drs. Perry Bartlett and Trevor Kilpatrick, focusing on the role of LIF receptor signaling in the survival response of oligodendrocytes. The postdoctoral work supported by the Serono Foundation Fellowship will continue in the same laboratory. It is entitled "Role of LIF signaling in modulation of oligodendrocyte survival and the severity of inflammatory demyelination: optimising potential therapeutic benefits".

2001 Laureates - Reproductive Endocrinology Fellowships

2000 Laureates - Neurology Fellowships

1999 Laureates - Oncology Fellowships

1998 Laureates - Reproductive Endocrinology Fellowships

1997 Laureates - Immunology Fellowships

The institute and address stated is of the fellowship host center and not the permanent
or current address of the scientist awarded the fellowship.