The Winners of the $5K, $3K, $1K Kaluza Prizes Are…

Eleanor (Josie) Clowney , a postdoc at Rockefeller University who did her graduate work at the University of California, San Francisco, has been named the winner of the 2014 $5,000 ASCB Kaluza Prize for outstanding research by a graduate student. The Kaluza Prizes are supported by Beckman Coulter. Clowney won for her breakthrough work on olfactory neurons performed in Stavros Lomvardas’ lab. Her work provides a new perspective on how acute transcriptional specificity can be achieved through epigenetic mechanisms.

This year two additional winners will receive $3,000 and $1,000. Eunyong Park, now a postdoc at Rockefeller University, won $3,000 for the insights into the mechanism of SecY/Sec61-mediated translocation that he achieved as a graduate student at Harvard University. Jiaxi Wu, a graduate student at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, is the winner of the $1,000 prize for his work on the mechanisms by which DNA triggers innate immune responses, including the discovery that DNA sensing involves a second messenger in eukaryotes and the discovery of the cyclic guanosine monophosphate–adenosine monophosphate synthase cGAS.

The selection committee said Clowney’s, Park’s, and Wu’s research has broad implications for cell biology, and identified the three as future leaders in the field. Seven additional Kaluza finalists were named ASCB Beckman Coulter Distinguished Graduate Student Achievement Prize winners and will receive travel awards and free meeting registration to attend the 2014 ASCB/IFCB Meeting in Philadelphia. All 10 winners and finalists will be recognized at a special presentation just before the Keith R. Porter Lecture on Sunday, December 7 at 6:45 pm. Each will also be invited to give a talk at a new Kaluza Minisymposium on Monday, December 8 from 4:00 pm–6:25 pm.

ASCB Beckman Coulter Distinguished Graduate Student Achievement Prize winners:

  • Lilian Kabeche for uncovering new mechanisms for the regulation of microtubule to kinetochore attachments, including the discovery that cyclin A acts to ensure the proper segregation of chromosomes. Her work was done at Dartmouth College.
  • Amy Shyer for discovering the mechanical mechanism by which villi emerge in the gut during development. She did this work at Harvard Medical School.
  • Vuong Tran for discovering that stem cells retain epigenetic signatures that define their identities and for beginning to elucidate the mechanisms that maintain these epigenetic changes. He did this work at Johns Hopkins University.
  • Tslil Ast for discovering new mechanisms by which proteins translocate into the ER without the standard machinery and discovering an unknown monitoring mechanism for these proteins. She did this work at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
  • Yali Zhang for showing how genes and the environment control food-preferences by discovering how gustatory receptor neurons in fruit flies are affected by a food additive and salt. He did this work at John Hopkins University School of Medicine.
  • James Kraemer for solving the structure of a bacteriophage tubulin, PhuZ, which helped him understand the novel architecture and function of this protein that was previously unknown in viruses. His work was done at University of California, San Francisco.
  • Olga Afonso for showing that chromosome separation during the anaphase-telophase transition is actively monitored by an Aurora B phosphorylation gradient. Her work was done at the Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology, Portugal.
  • Eleanor (Josie) Clowney, a postdoc at Rockefeller University who did her graduate work at the University of California, San Francisco, has been named the winner of the 2014 $5,000 ASCB Kaluza Prize for outstanding research by a graduate student. The Kaluza Prizes are supported by Beckman Coulter. Clowney won for her breakthrough work on olfactory neurons performed in Stavros Lomvardas’ lab. Her work provides a new perspective on how acute transcriptional specificity can be achieved through epigenetic mechanisms.This year two additional winners will receive $3,000 and $1,000. Eunyong Park, now a postdoc at Rockefeller University, won $3,000 for the insights into the mechanism of SecY/Sec61-mediated translocation that he achieved as a graduate student at Harvard University.

    Jiaxi Wu, a graduate student at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, is the winner of the $1,000 prize for his work on the mechanisms by which DNA triggers innate immune responses, including the discovery that DNA sensing involves a second messenger in eukaryotes and the discovery of the cyclic guanosine monophosphate­adenosine monophosphate synthase cGAS.

    The selection committee said Clowney’s, Park’s, and Wu’s research has broad implications for cell biology, and identified the three as future leaders in the field. Seven additional Kaluza finalists were named ASCB Beckman Coulter Distinguished Graduate Student Achievement Prize winners and will receive travel awards and free meeting registration to attend the 2014 ASCB/IFCB Meeting in Philadelphia. All 10 winners and finalists will be recognized at a special presentation just before the Keith R. Porter Lecture on Sunday, December 7 at 6:45 pm. Each will also be invited to give a talk at a new Kaluza Minisymposium on Monday, December 8 from 4:00 pm­6:25 pm.

    $5,000 Winner
    Eleanor (Josie) Clowney,

    for work done at University of California, San Francisco

    $3,000 Winner
    Eunyong Park,

    for work done at Harvard University

    $1,000 Winner
    Jiaxi Wu,
    for work done at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (photo by David Gresham, UTSW)

    ASCB Beckman Coulter Distinguished Graduate
    Student Achievement Prize Winners

    Lilian Kabeche,
    for uncovering new mechanisms for the regulation of microtubule to kinetochore attachments, including the discovery that cyclin A acts to ensure the proper segregation of chromosomes. Her work was done at Dartmouth College.

    Amy Shyer,
    for discovering the mechanical mechanism by which villi emerge in the gut during development. She did this work at Harvard Medical School.

    Vuong Tran,
    for discovering that stem cells retain epigenetic signatures that define their identities and for beginning to elucidate the mechanisms that maintain these epigenetic changes. He did this work at Johns Hopkins University.

    Tslil Ast,
    for discovering new mechanisms by which proteins translocate into the ER without the standard machinery and discovering an unknown monitoring mechanism for these proteins. She did this work at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

    Yali Zhang,
    for showing how genes and the environment control food-preferences by discovering how gustatory receptor neurons in fruit flies are affected by a food additive and salt. He did this work at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

    James Kraemer,
    for solving the structure of a bacteriophage tubulin, PhuZ, which helped him understand the novel architecture and function of this protein that was previously unknown in viruses. His work was done at University of California, San Francisco.

    Olga Afonso,
    for showing that chromosome separation during the anaphase-telophase transition is actively monitored by an Aurora B phosphorylation gradient. Her work was done at the Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology, Portugal.

About the Author:


Christina Szalinski is a science writer with a PhD in Cell Biology from the University of Pittsburgh.