Five MCB seniors have been recognized for their outstanding work on their theses.
Richard Ng’s thesis garnered the 2018 Lawrence J. Henderson Prize, an annual award given out by the Board of Tutors in Biochemical Sciences. Its namesake is the pioneering biochemist and Harvard professor Lawrence J. Henderson (1878–1942). Each year, the Board of Tutors reviews all theses marked “Outstanding” by both thesis readers and selects one or two Henderson Prize recipients.
Ng conducted his thesis research in the Weissleder Lab at the HMS/MGH Department of Systems Biology, and his thesis title was “Discovery and Modulation of the IRF3-dependent Type I Interferon Response to Myocardial Infarction”.
He will receive a framed certificate, $500, and a copy of Lawrence J. Henderson’s 1913 book Fitness of the Environment,
Four graduating MCB ‘18 concentrators have also been recognized for their outstanding thesis work and will receive the Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize. Faculty nominate students for this university-wide honor.
The MCB Hoopes Prize recipients and their thesis titles are:
- Eric Li: “Characterizing the transcriptional effects of knocking out schizophrenia-associated genes tcf4 and znf804a” (Schier Lab, MCB)
- Alan Gao: “Mechanisms of DNA-Protein Crosslink Proteolysis During DNA Replication” (Walter Lab, HMS Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology)
- Emilia Gonzalez: “Exercise Induces the Birth of New Cardiomyocytes in the Adult Mammalian Heart” (Lee Lab, SCRB)
- Anna Lachenauer: “Development of field-deployable diagnostic tools for improved detection of Lassa virus in endemic regions” (Sabeti Lab, OEB)
Hoopes Prize awardees receive $5,000 in prize money, and their copies of their winning theses are bound and kept at the Lamont Library for two years.
Congratulations to all these students!
by Diana Crow
