Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE)
Fellows' Career Development
Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE)
Fellows' Career Development
FARE is the acronym for the Fellows Award for Research Excellence, begun in 1995 to recognize the outstanding scientific research performed by intramural postdoctoral fellows.
The award is sponsored by the NIH Fellows Committee, the Scientific Directors, and the NIH Office of Intramural Training & Education, and is funded by the Scientific Directors. Fellows submit an abstract of their research, which is peer reviewed in a blind study section competition.
- The authors of the 25% of abstracts that receive the highest scores are recognized as FARE winners.
- Winners of FARE awards will each receive a $1500 stipend to attend a scientific meeting at which they will present their abstract, either as a poster or an oral presentation.*
- FARE winners serve as judges for the following year's FARE competition.
*NHLBI Fellows do not receive a $1500 travel grant, as NHLBI policy is that fellows should attend all meetings that are necessary for their career development, and that meeting attendance should not depend upon winning a travel award
FARE applications are accepted every year in February and March. For more information on the application process, including eligibility criteria, please see the Rules and Regulations.
(Source: NIH Office of Intramural Training and Education)
NIEHS FARE Winners
FARE 2025 Winners
Marine Baptissart, Ph.D.
“Revealing RNA poly(A) tail dynamic during spermiogenesis and its function to support male fertility”
Mentor: Marcos Morgan, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology
Niketa Bhawsinghka, Ph.D.
“dGTP starvation in E. coli”
Mentor: Roel M. Schaaper, Ph.D.
Lab: Genome Integrity & Structural Biology
Dazhe Chen, Ph.D.
“Childhood and adolescent residential and farm pesticide exposures and inflammatory bowel disease incidence in a U.S. cohort of women”
Mentor: Dale P. Sandler, Ph.D.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch
Martin A. Estermann, Ph.D.
“Glucose metabolism as a driver for embryonic Sertoli cell differentiation”
Mentor: Humphrey Yao, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology
Jacob Gordon, B.S.
“The SUMO protease SENP3 is allosterically regulated by the rixosome complex”
Mentor: Robin E. Stanley, Ph.D.
Lab: Signal Transuction
Ji Cheng Li, Ph.D.
“Co-administration of D1 receptor PAM prevents L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia in parkinsonian mice”
Mentor: Guohong Cui, M.D., Ph.D.
Lab: Neurobiology
Wilfred Lopez Perez, Ph.D.
“Deletion of Epithelial Membrane Protein 2 Protects from Lung Fibrosis”
Mentor: Michael B. Fessler, M.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation, and Disease
Mahina Monsur, M.D., Ph.D.
“Whole Genome Study of Nucleotide Excision Repair and Translesion Synthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae”
Mentor: Thomas A. Kunkel, Ph.D.
Lab: Genome Integrity & Structural Biology
Krystal A Orlando, Ph.D.
“Cooperative binding of pioneer transcription factor and co-factors depends on the transactivation domain for remodeling the enhancer landscape”
Mentor: Paul Wade, Ph.D.
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology
Lenka Radonova, Ph.D.
“The power network: mitochondria-endoplasmic reticulum interactions in oocyte and egg”
Mentor: Carmen Williams, M.D., Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology
Puja Sohal, Ph.D.
“GLIS3 plays a critical role in the regulation of inflammation and fibrosis in cystic kidney disease”
Mentor: Anton Jetten, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation, and Disease
Danielle R Stevens, Ph.D.
“Gestational Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Fetal Liver Development: Findings from the HPP 3D Study”
Mentor: Kelly Ferguson, Ph.D.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch
Dimitrios Theofilatos, Ph.D.
“Exposure to high temperatures alters Glucocorticoid Receptor activity”
Mentor: Trevor K. Archer, Ph.D.
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology
Christina Wilkinson, Ph.D.
“CD301b+ lung dendritic cells confer tolerance to inhaled allergens”
Mentor: Don Cook, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation, and Disease
Xiaoyue Wu, Ph.D.
“Microbiota-dependent deamidated NAD biosynthesis is important for gut resiliency under stress”
Mentor: Xiaoling Li, Ph.D.
Lab: Signal Transuction
FARE 2024 Winners
Dazhe Chen, Ph.D.
“Ingested nitrate and nitrite and end-stage renal disease risk among licensed pesticide applicators and spouses in the Agricultural Health Study”
Mentor: Dale Sandler, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Epidemiology Branch
Yu-Ying Chen, Ph.D.
“Somatic cell fate specification and separation in the fetal ovary”
Mentor: Humphrey Yao, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology
Kathryn Dalton, Ph.D., V.M.D., M.P.H.
“Occupational Farm Exposures Associated with Indoor Home Microbiota”
Mentor: Stephanie London, M.D., Dr.P.H.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch
Jennifer Ish, Ph.D.
“Residential proximity to carcinogenic industrial air emissions and breast cancer incidence in a United States-wide prospective cohort”
Mentor: Alexandra J. White, Ph.D.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch
Laura Kammel, Ph.D.
“Circadian disruption induces breast cancer-permissive estrogen receptor transcriptional program in hormone sensitive mammary epithelium”
Mentor: Joseph Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology Laboratory
Suneet Kaur, Ph.D.
“Unraveling the AKAP79-Orai1 Interaction: Implications for Immune Response Regulation”
Mentor: Anant Parekh, Ph.D.
Lab: Signal Transduction
Ryan M Marquardt, Ph.D.
“The Serum Response Factor-Myocardin Pathway is Essential for Female Reproductive Function”
Mentor: Francesco DeMayo, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology
Sookjin Moon, Ph.D.
“Flotillin-2 ablation in T cells enhances antigen sensitivity and functionality”
Mentor: Michael Fessler, M.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation, and Disease
Sukanya Saha, Ph.D.
“Bioenergetic stress triggers Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis-like symptoms in mice”
Mentor: Guohong Cui, M.D., Ph.D.
Lab: Neurobiology
Ziyue Wang, Ph.D.
“Shotgun metagenomics sequencing reveals novel insights of indoor dust microbiota compared with 16S rRNA technology”
Mentor: Alison Motsinger-Reif, Ph.D.
Lab: Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch
Pelin Yasar, Ph.D.
“Establishing Estrogen Receptor α Enriched Mouse Mammary Organoids to Investigate Transcriptional Dynamics and Heterogeneity”
Mentor: Joseph Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology Laboratory
FARE 2023 Winners
Dana Al-Hasan, Ph.D.
“Racial and Economic Residential Segregation and Dementia Incidence”
Mentor: Chandra Jackson, Ph.D., M.S.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch
Adriana Alexander, Ph.D.
“Sex-specific Regulatory Networks Prime Primordial Germ Cell Fate Commitment”
Mentor: Humphrey Yao, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology
Ru Pin Chi, Ph.D.
“WNK1 Is Indispensable for Spermatogenesis and Male Fertility via Regulating Translation”
Mentor: Marcos Morgan, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology
Justin Collier, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
“PKM2 Is a Major Contributing Factor in Glis3ko-induced Polycystic Kidney Metabolic Reprogramming”
Mentor: Anton Jetten, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease
Symielle Gaston Harrison, Ph.D., M.P.H.
“Racial/Ethnic Differences in Associations of Traumatic Childhood Experiences with Both Metabolic Syndrome Prevalence and Type 2 Diabetes Risk”
Mentor: Chandra Jackson, Ph.D., M.S.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch
Mandy Goldberg, Ph.D., M.P.H.
“Beauty Product Use During Puberty and Breast Cancer Risk in U.S. Women”
Mentor: Dale Sandler, Ph.D., M.S.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch
Jacob Gordon, B.S.
“Cryo-EM Structure of the Human PELP1-WDR18 Complex Reveals Insights into the ER-PELP1 Signaling Axis”
Mentor: Robin Stanley, Ph.D.
Lab: Signal Transduction
Ankit Gupta, Ph.D.
“TUT4 and TUT7 Uridylate the Rna of the Mouse Coronavirus Mhv and Facilitate Its Replication”
Mentor: Marcos Morgan, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology
Anand Jaguva Vasudevan, Ph.D.
“Biochemical and Structural Analysis of ZATT/ZNF451”
Mentor: Scott Williams, Ph.D.
Lab: Genomic Integrity & Structural Biology
Laura Kammel, Ph.D.
“Whole Organ Immuno-smfish Enables Spatial Gene Expression Analysis in Single Cells Within a Complex 3D Environment”
Mentor: Joseph Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology
Christine Langton, Ph.D.
“Soy-based Infant Formula Feeding and Uterine Fibroid Development in a Prospective Ultrasound Study of African-american Women”
Mentor: Donna Baird, Ph.D.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch
Wan-Ning Li, Ph.D.
“The Role of Serum Response Factor in Regulating Hormonal Responsiveness in Female Reproduction”
Mentor: Francesco DeMayo, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology
Dillon Lloyd, B.S.
“Type 2 Diabetes Risk Prediction in a Multi-ethnic Cohort Supports the Potential of Polyexposure Risk Scores”
Mentor: Alison Motsinger-Reif, M.D.
Lab: Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch
Jasmine Mack, M.S., M.P.H.
“A Multi-ethnic Genome-wide Association Study Identifies Novel Candidate Loci near the RARB and LRP1B Genes Associated with Gestational Hypertension in the Personalized Environment and Genes (PEGS) Cohort”
Mentor: Alison Motsinger-Reif, M.D.
Lab: Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch
Tanushree Mukherjee, Ph.D.
“Glis3 Protects Against Deregulated Osteogenesis”
Mentor: Anton Jetten, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease
Amanda Riccio, Ph.D.
“Structural Insight and Characterization of Human Twinkle Helicase in Mitochondrial Disease”
Mentor: William Copeland, Ph.D.
Lab: Genomic Integrity & Structural Biology
Virginia Savy, Ph.D.
“The Butterfly Effect: Abnormal Calcium Signaling at Fertilization Has a Long-term Impact on Offspring Weight”
Mentor: Carmen Williams, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology
Chitrangda Srivastava, Ph.D.
“Loss of JAZF1 Mdulates High-Fat Diet-Induced Gut Microbial Dysbiosis and Protect Against Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease”
Mentor: Anton Jetten, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease
Danielle Stevens, Ph.D.
“Early Pregnancy Phthalate and Phthalate Alternative Metabolites in Relation to Fetal Cardiac Development”
Mentor: Kelly Ferguson, Ph.D.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch
Xiukun Wang, Ph.D.
“The Histone H3.3 Chaperone Hira Facilitates the Recruitment of the Nurd Complex to Promote the Exit From the Pluripotent State in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells”
Mentor: Guang Hu, Ph.D.
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology
Ziyue Wang, Ph.D.
“A Novel Normalization Method for Microbiome Sequencing Count Data”
Mentor: Alison Motsinger-Reif, M.D.
Lab: Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch
MyeongJin Yi, Ph.D.
“Vitamin D Regulates Uterine Stromal Cell Differentiation in Vitro and in Vivo”
Mentor: Francesco DeMayo, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology
FARE 2022 Winners
Dana Al-Hasan, Ph.D.
“Using INLA-SPDE Spatial Modeling to Examine Associations Between Neighborhood Characteristics and Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia”
Mentor: Chandra Jackson, Ph.D., M.S.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch
Ciro Amato, Ph.D.
“Our Differences Make Us Complete: The Identification of Novel Cell Populations in Penis Development and their Involvement in Hypospadias”
Mentor: Humphrey Yao, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology Branch
Komlan Atitey, Ph.D.
“Performance Metrics of High Dimensional Reduction Methods for Better Visualization and Interpretability of Separable Biological Data”
Mentor: Benedict Anchang, Ph.D.
Lab: Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch
Yichang Chen, M.D., Ph.D.
“A Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Based High-Throughput Platform with Artificial Intelligence Technology to Screen for Developmental Toxicants”
Mentor: Erik Tokar, Ph.D.
Lab: Mechanistic Toxicology Branch
Justin Collier, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
“GLIS3-Deficiency Leads to Impaired Renal Mitochondrial Metabolism and Polycystic Kidneys”
Mentor: Anton Jetten, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease
David Diaz Jimenez, Ph.D.
“Glucocorticoids Rewire Macrophage Metabolism and Inflammation through Transcriptional Reprogramming of the IRG-1 and SUCNR1 expression”
Mentor: John Cidlowski, Ph.D.
Lab: Signal Transduction
Alexander C. Foo, Ph.D.
“Vicilin Buried Peptides (VBP)'s Mediate Cross-Reactivity Between Evolutionary-Distant Species”
Mentor: Geoff Mueller, Ph.D.
Lab: Genomic Integrity & Structural Biology
Meredith Frazier, Ph.D.
“Searching for U: Cryo-EM Structures of the SARS-CoV-2 Endoribonuclease Nsp15 Reveal Insight into Nuclease Specificity and Dynamics”
Mentor: John Cidlowski, Ph.D.
Lab: Signal Transduction
Matias Grodzielski, Ph.D.
“Glucocorticoids Regulate Gene Expression and Stimulate Proplatelet Formation in Murine Megakaryocytes”
Mentor: Robin Stanley, M.D.
Lab: Signal Transduction
Jicheng Li, Ph.D.
“DBS-based Chemogenetic Gene-Therapy Rescues Motor Deficits in Mice with Advanced Parkinson's Disease”
Mentor: Guohong Cui, M.D., Ph.D.
Lab: Neurobiology
Tapas Pradhan, Ph.D.
“GLIS3 Plays a Critical Role in Astrocyte Differentiation and Function”
Mentor: Anton Jetten, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease
Yun-Gil Roh, Ph.D.
“Loss of GLIS2 Initiates Nephronophthisis Through Macrophage Infiltration by Direct Regulation of Fibrosis/ECM and Immune/Inflammation Gene Expression”
Mentor: Anton Jetten, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease
Sukanya Saha, Ph.D.
“Pathophysiological Study of Fungicide Benomyl in Parkinson's Disease”
Mentor: Guohong Cui, M.D., Ph.D.
Lab: Neurobiology
Yosuke Sakamachi, Ph.D.
“Toll-Like-Receptor 5 Protects Against Pulmonary Fibrosis by Reducing Lung Dysbiosis”
Mentor: Stavros Garantziotis, M.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease
Jennifer Woo, Ph.D., M.P.H.
“Early Life Trauma and Incident Breast Cancer”
Mentor: Dale Sandler, Ph.D.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch
Xian Wu, Ph.D.
“Mechanisms of Cadmium-Induced Aberrant Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells to Cardiomyocytes and Cardiac Organoid Formation Mimicking Heart Development”
Mentor: Erik Tokar, Ph.D.
Lab: Mechanistic Toxicology Branch
Guangning Zong, Ph.D.
“Dopamine neuron challenges test for early detection of Parkinson's disease”
Mentor: Stephen Shears, Ph.D.
Lab: Signal Transduction
