National Institutes of Health Pioneer Awards 2009

The National Institutes of Health announced the recipients of the 2009 Pioneer awards on September 24th. These prestigious awards are described by the NIH as " designed to support individual scientists of exceptional creativity who propose pioneering – and possibly transforming approaches – to major challenges in biomedical and behavioral research. "

Among the eighteen recipients of this award is Hilde Cheroutre, Ph.D, whose focus of research is autoimmune disease and whose grant amount is $4.7 million.

Hilde Cheroutre, Ph.D.
La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology

Hilde Cheroutre, Ph.D., is a full member of the Division of Developmental Immunology at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology. She received a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the State University of Ghent, Belgium, in 1984. Cheroutre’s research focuses on the mucosal immune system and includes the development of immune cells, immune regulation, and mucosal immune memory. She is using her Pioneer Award to identify genetic mutations and defects in the early development and differentiation of immune cells, which may be the basic underlying cause of autoimmunity. Being able to detect such defects early in life could allow the prevention or treatment of autoimmunity before it escalates to a point where medical intervention is no longer an option. Cheroutre will also design medical intervention strategies to compensate for the defects and potentially prevent or treat autoimmune diseases.

You can read more about Dr. Cheroutre and her work here.