A smiling, outdoor headshot of Corina Amor Vegas, whose team is engineering immune cells to target damaged, aging cells in the body to better understand their role in neurodegeneration

A smiling headshot of Marissa Scavuzzo, who's investigating how enteric glia — key cells in the gut’s nervous system — help keep the body’s metabolism and inflammation in balance, and why this may break down in neurodegenerative diseases.

Congrats to #FreemanHrabowski Scholar Corina Amor Vegas & #HannaGray Fellow Marissa Scavuzzo, both among this year's MIND Prize winners! Recognizing early-to-mid-career scientists, the award honors those with innovative ideas that advance neurodegeneration research: bit.ly/46VrlMh.

Lab-grown pancreatic tissue with a mesh-like electronic network (red). Cells within the tissue produce insulin (green), the blood-sugar-lowering hormone lost in Type 1 diabetes. Courtesy of Juan Alvarez.

A new electronic implant system created by #FreemanHrabowski Scholar @juanalvarezdom.bsky.social & colleagues helps lab-grown pancreatic cells mature & function properly, providing a potential new pathway to replace pancreatic tissue damaged by diabetes: bit.ly/4b16OHn.

Chrysothemis Bown and Yoselin Paucar Iza

By uncovering the origins of a group of rare immune cells called Thetis cells, #GilliamFellow Yoselin Paucar Iza & #FreemanHrabowski Scholar @chrysothemisbrown.bsky.social are unlocking these cells' potential to help treat — or even prevent — food allergies & autoimmune diseases: bit.ly/4cnQpii.

🎶 Sound on! How does a young zebra finch's song connect to treating Parkinson's? #FreemanHrabowski Scholar Vikram Gadagkar & co have ID'd a dopamine-based neural signal in finches that could offer insights into motor learning in humans — esp. those w/conditions like Parkinson’s hhmi.news/4tndfNg

Thanks for these kind words @cladoni.bsky.social. I always have a great time visiting the community at UW. I was also inspired hearing about your latest in the hummingbird heart and seeing some recordings hot off the press. #FreemanHrabowski Scholars