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BD Biosciences, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), announced today the winners of this year’s BD Biosciences Research Grant Program who will receive individual grants of research reagents valued at a total of $100,000 to conduct innovative research.

"We established the BD Biosciences Research Program to support promising biomedical research in institutions and laboratories across the United States," said Robert Balderas, Vice President of Biological Sciences, BD Biosciences. "Promoting research in this way has taken on greater importance in these tough economic times when important projects can be shelved due to scarce resources."

An independent panel of distinguished scientists selected the winners. Each grant recipient will receive a $25,000 grant of research reagents to help carry out their research.

"Selecting this year’s grant winners among the large pool of high-quality applicants was a difficult, but extremely rewarding process," said Frederic Preffer, Ph.D., member of the BD Biosciences Research Grant Program judging panel and Associate Professor of Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital. "This year’s winners are poised to make great contributions to science, and we look forward to the outcomes of their research."

The winners of the annual BD Biosciences Research Grant Program are:

Li Chai, M.D., an assistant professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Chai will utilize her mouse model to study myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a pre-cancer condition, to determine if a specific pathogenic processing or mechanism is responsible for disease progression. She hopes to ultimately use this knowledge for cancer diagnosis and to identify which genes are responsible for the development of MDS to cancer. Dr. Chai’s abstract is titled, "A Novel Predictor for MDS."


Rebekah L. Gundry, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow at The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Gundry will focus her research on the proteins located on cell surfaces and tracking how embryonic stem cells differentiate towards heart muscle cells. Her hope is to better define and understand this process, so researchers can develop better pipelines for generating therapeutically viable cell types for treating heart disease. Dr. Gundry’s abstract is titled, "Surface Proteins in Stem Cells."


Cigall Kadoch, a pre-medical student and research associate at the University of California, San Francisco, Division of Hematology/Oncology. Ms. Kadoch’s research will concentrate on understanding the role of the tumor microenvironment. She is specifically interested in tumor-associated macrophages in patients with a particular type of brain tumor known as central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma. The ultimate goal is to develop therapeutic strategies that will enhance macrophage dependent anti-tumor immune response. Ms. Kadoch’s abstract is titled, "Tumor Macrophage Polarization."


Joseph Larkin, III, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of Florida. Dr. Larkin is researching regulatory T cells to determine their ability to regulate autoimmune diseases and cancers. He hopes that his technique of modulating regulatory T cells will ultimately lead to the treatment of type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Dr. Larkin’s abstract is titled, "Role of Suppressors of Cytokine Signaling (SOCS) in Regulatory T Cells (Treg) Function."

Additional information on the winning submissions, including the full abstracts, is available at: http://www.bdbiosciences.com/grant/past_winners/2008.php

BD Biosciences’ Research Grant Program aims to reward and enable important research by providing vital funding for scientists pursuing innovative experiments to advance the scientific understanding of disease. The grant submissions are judged by a distinguished research panel of non-affiliated scientists. Through its grant program, BD Biosciences supports innovation in research and development as well as help enable the next generation of scientific breakthroughs.

BD is a leading global medical technology company that develops, manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems and reagents. The Company is dedicated to improving people's health throughout the world. BD is focused on improving drug delivery, enhancing the quality and speed of diagnosing infectious diseases and cancers, and advancing research, discovery and production of new drugs and vaccines. BD's capabilities are instrumental in combating many of the world's most pressing diseases. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, BD employs approximately 28,000 people in approximately 50 countries throughout the world. The Company serves healthcare institutions, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, the pharmaceutical industry and the general public. For more information, please visit http://www.bd.com.