An associate professor at the University of Colorado Denver’s School of Medicine is being nationally recognized and rewarded for his scientific research on ribonucleic acid.
Jeffrey S. Kieft is among 50 scientists in the nation who won this year’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Scientist Awards . The award recognizes the most promising young scientists in the country.
All award recipients win a $1.5 million in research budget, salary and benefits over the next six years .
Kieft , who is an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at CU-Denver’s Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, focuses his research on the ribonucleic acid (RNA) found in viruses including hepatitis C, HIV-1 and poliovirus. He hopes to use the research to eventually treat the deseases.
The reward money that comes with the Howard Hughes honor is particularly valuable to young scientists, said a release by the CU-Denver.
“Kieft is included in a group of scientists at a stage in their careers that many consider to be a scientist’s most productive – and most vulnerable – given the constraints of today’s research funding environment,” the release said.
