The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a Pioneer Award to Viviana Gradinaru, professor of neuroscience and biological engineering, Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator and director of the Center for Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience of the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech.
The award is part of the NIH’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program and supports “scientists with outstanding records of creativity.” Gradinaru will use the funds to engineer efficient methods of drug and gene delivery into brain cells.