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The Milstein Young Investigator Awards

The Milstein Young Investigator Awards are bestowed upon individuals who have made an impact on interferon and cytokine research early in their careers. This year’s Milstein Awards were presented on Sept. 29, 2013 at the annual ICIS meeting in San Francisco, CA.


International Cytokine and Interferon Society  (ICIS) members who attend the Annual Meeting of the ICIS and who have received a Ph.D. or M.D. within the previous 8 years are eligible. Every year up to five awards are granted to individuals who have made notable contributions to interferon and cytokine research, either in a basic or applied field. This award is provided by a generous gift of the Milstein Family.


ICIS members may apply themselves or nominate other members for Milstein Young Investigator Awards.  Senior laboratory advisers are encouraged to have their associates apply. A curriculum vitae and letter of recommendation should accompany the application.


This year The Milstein Young Investigator Awards will be presented on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014 at the Annual Meeting of the ICIS in Melbourne, Australia.

The 2014 Young Investigators Award Winners:

2014 Milstein Young InvestigatorDr Dominic De Nardo

Institute of Innate Immunity

University Hospital

University of Bonn


2014 Milstein Young InvestigatorStacy Horner

Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

Duke University Medical Center

Durham, NC


2014 Milstein Young InvestigatorMaria Liaskos

Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases

MIMR-PHI Institute of Medical Research

Melbourne, Australia


2014 Milstein Young InvestigatorSeth Masters

Inflammation Division

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute

Victoria, Australia


2014 Milstein Young InvestigatorKate Schroder

Institute for Molecular Bioscience

The University of Queensland

Brisbane, Australia


Previous Young Investigators Award Winners

2013 Milstein Young Investigator Award Winners


2013 Milstein Young Investigator | David LanglaisDavid Langlais

Dept. of Biochemistry

McGill University

Montreal, Canada

2013 Milstein Young Investigator | Hilario RamosHilario J Ramos

Department of Immunology

University of Washington

Seattle, WA/Gilead Corp.

2013 Milstein Young Investigator | John SchogginsJohn W Schoggins

Department of Microbiology

UT Southwestern Medical Center

Dallas, TX

2012 Milstein Young Investigator Award Winners


Taylor Cohen, Ph.D.

Columbia University

New York, USA

Babal Kant Jha, Ph.D.

Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland, Ohio USA

Clare Slaney, Ph.D.

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

East Melbourne, Australia

2011 Milstein Young Investigator Award Winners


Volker Fensterl, Ph.D.

Senior Fellow

Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute

Cleveland, Ohio  USA

Ole Jensen Hamming, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics

University of Aarhus

Aarhus, Denmark

Yueh-Ming (Ming) Loo, Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor

Department of Immunology

University of Washington

Seattle, Washington  USA

Mehul Suthar, Ph.D.

Senior Fellow

Department of Immunology

University of Washington

Seattle, Washington  USA

Gijs A. Versteeg, Ph.D.

Research Fellow

Department of Microbiology

Mount Sinai School of Medicine

New York, New York  USA

2010 Milstein Young Investigator Award Winners


Saurabh Chattopadhyay, Ph.D.

Research Associate

Department of Molecular Genetics

Lerner Research Institute

Cleveland, Ohio  USA

Yeonseok Chung, Ph.D.

Institute of Molecular Medicine

University of Texas Medical School at Houston

Houston, Texas  USA

Michael P. Gantier, Ph.D.

Research Fellow

Centre for Cancer Research

Monash Institute of Medical Research

Melbourne, Australia

Ram Savan, Ph.D.

Senior Fellow

Laboratory of Experimental Immunology

National Cancer Institute-Frederick

Frederick, Maryland  USA

Estanislao Nistal Villán, Ph.D.

Research Associate

Center for Applied Medicine (CIMA)

Universidad de Navarra

Pamplona, Spain

2009 Milstein Young Investigator Award Winners


Niamh Mangan, Ph.D.

Centre for Innate Immunity

Monash University

Clayton, Victoria, Australia

Hiroki Ishikawa, Ph.D.

Cancer Center

University of Miami | Miami, Florida, USA

Ramtin Rahbar, Ph.D.

Department of Immunology

University of Toronto | Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Xiao-Ling Li, Ph.D.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology

University of Maryland | Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Benjamin tenOever, Ph.D.

Department of Microbiology

Mount Sinai School of Medicine

New York, New York, USA

Young Investigators to Watch in 2014

Here are some of the emerging scientists in the field of interferon and cytokine research:


Dr Dominic De Nardo, Ph.D.

Dr Dominic De Nardo | Young Investigator Award Winner from Milstein-Award.org

Dr Dominic De Nardo received his PhD in 2009 from the University of Melbourne, Australia


Stacy Horner, Ph.D.

Stacy Horner | Young Investigator Award Winner from Milstein-Award.org

Dr. Stacy Horner is an Assistant Professor in the Molecular Genetics & Microbiology & Medicine departments at Duke University Medical Center


Maria Liaskos, Ph.D.

Maria Liaskos |


Young Investigator Award Winner from Milstein-Award.org

Dr Maria Kaparakis-Liaskos obtained her Ph.D from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne in 2005.


Seth Masters, Ph.D.

Seth Masters |


Young Investigator Award Winner from Milstein-Award.org

Dr Masters completed his PhD at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), which resulted in the first structure of the SPRY/B30.2 domain.


Kate Schroder, Ph.D.

Kate Schroder |


Young Investigator Award Winner from Milstein-Award.org

Kate Schroder's research focuses on the interactions between host and pathogen during the initial stages of infection and the development of inflammation.