Ethan Garner, an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, is a recipient of the 2014 National Institute of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award. Established in 2007, the New Innovator Award Initiative supports exceptionally creative early career investigators pursing pioneering, potentially high-impact research ideas in biomedical and behavioral science. The NIH awards recipients up to $300,000 annually over five years and covers indirect research costs as well.
“I am very excited to be a recipient of the NIH Innovator Award,” said Garner. His lab studies the mechanics of bacterial cell growth and division one molecule at a time, using a variety of methods including sub-diffraction imaging and high-resolution microscopy. Garner’s NIH grant-funded research will focus on mapping the proteins that control bacterial growth. “By mapping how, when, and where the enzymes that build bacterial cell walls are active, and then watching how this map changes when cells are exposed to stress and antibiotics, we hope to identify new weak points in bacterial growth we can target for drug development,” he said. Finding new targets for antibiotics has become increasingly important as antibiotic resistance grows.
Garner earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Washington in 1999, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 2008. During his post-doctoral tenure at Harvard Medical School, he worked with Tim Mitchison and David Rudner studying eukaryotic cell biology and bacterial genetics, respectively. He then began studying single-molecule biology and bioimaging in Xiaowei Zhaung’s lab at Harvard University. Garner joined MCB as an assistant professor of molecular and cellular biology in 2012.
“We recruited Ethan to MCB for his exceptional creativity and innovative spirit,” said Department Chair Alex Schier. “I am delighted that NIH agrees with us and supports him with an Innovator Award.”
ETHAN GARNER RECEIVES NIH NEW INNOVATOR AWARD
