Dr. Rebekah Charney (imaged below), a postdoc in the Division of Biomedical Sciences, has been awarded a Pathway to Independence grant from NIH's National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. This award will support Dr. Charney for a two-year mentored postdoc in the lab of Dr. Martin Garcia-Castro, followed by three years of support for her to establish her own independent research group.

Dr. Charney’s research makes use of human pluripotent stem cells to study the formation of human neural crest - an important embryonic cell population that contributes to a large number of cell types in the body. Dr. Charney’s research has uncovered the crucial role of a number of genes during early human neural crest cell development, and through this award, she will expand her studies to explore neural crest cell-related birth defects. 

For more information, visit the UCR Press Release: "School of Medicine postdoc receives NIH Pathway to Independence grant"