ASCB member Sue Biggins of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle has been awarded the Novitski Prize by the Genetics Society of America (GSA) for her work on chromosome segregation, in particular her successful isolation of the kinetochore in yeast. The Novitski Prize singles out work that exhibits “the beauty of intellectual ingenuity in providing scientific understanding.” In addition to her GSA membership, Biggins has belonged to ASCB since 1996 and just concluded a three-year term on ASCB Council last December.
In his “NIH Director’s Blog,” Francis Collins has singled out for praise the molecular animations of ASCB member and University of Utah faculty member Janet Iwasa under the headline “Cool Videos: HIV in Action.” Collins cited Iwasa’s unusual resume, which includes her PhD with ASCB member Dyche Mullins at UCSF followed by a course at the Gnomon School of Visual Artists in Los Angeles where she was the only scientist (and only woman) among a class of would-be video game designers and movie FX artists. Iwasa’s animation of “Clathrin-Mediated Endocytosis” won first place in ASCB’s Celldance Cell Biology Video Contest in 2008.
About the Author:
John Fleischman was the ASCB Senior Science Writer from 2000 to 2016. Best unpaid perk of the job? Working with new grad students and Nobel Prize winners.
