University of Colorado at Boulder doctoral student Jennifer Kugel is one of 13 students from around the nation selected to receive the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award in 2001.
Sponsored by the Basic Sciences Division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, the award is given to top students at or near the completion of their studies in the biological sciences.
Nominations for the award were solicited internationally, and the winners were selected on the basis of the quality, originality and significance of their work, according to Hutchinson Cancer Research Center spokeswoman Kristen Woodward. The awards will be given May 4 and May 5 at the Hutchinson Center. The winners each will make scientific presentations at that time.
Kugel, of the chemistry and biochemistry department, is working on better understanding how the expression of genes is regulated in humans. She is studying RNA synthesis, or transcription, in detail, including how it occurs and is controlled.
"A comprehensive understanding of transcription will enable us to understand normal human growth and development, as well as the developmental aberrations caused by many cancers and diseases," said Kugel, who is a Boulder native.
Kugel successfully defended her thesis in January and will graduate in May. Her adviser is chemistry and biochemistry Assistant Professor James Goodrich.
The Weintraub Award was created in 2000 to honor the late Harold Weintraub, an international leader in the field of microbiology who identified a number of genes responsible for instructing cells to differentiate into specific tissues such as muscle and bone. Weintraub died from brain cancer in 1995 at age 49.
Kugel and each of the 12 other recipients for 2001 will receive a certificate, travel expenses to Seattle and an honorarium.