This week BME Assistant Professor Wesley Legant was selected as one of the 2019 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award recipients. Dr. Legant will receive $2.2 million to support innovative biomedical research. The National Institutes of Health announced 93 awards totaling approximately $267 million over the next five years through its High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program.
Earlier this year, Legant was honored as a Searle Scholar and a Beckman Young Investigator. A member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dr. Legant will develop cutting edge microscopy and microfluidic devices and techniques to monitor single molecule dynamics over time in differentiating cells. His lab’s research could establish a foundation of knowledge for how gene expression is regulated in both normal and disease settings.
The High-Risk, High-Reward Research program supports exceptionally creative scientists pursuing highly innovative research with the potential for broad impact in biomedical, behavioral, or social sciences within the NIH mission. Congratulations to Legant for this extraordinary award! To read the full announcement, visit UNC Health website here.
