Schoggins receives Rita Allen Foundation support

Dr. John Schoggins
Dr. John Schoggins

By Deborah Wormser

Dr. John Schoggins, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, is one of seven biomedical scientists selected nationally for a 2015 Rita Allen Foundation award.

In addition to the grant of $110,000 annually for five years, Dr. Schoggins received another distinction: being selected as this year’s Milton E. Cassel Scholar, named in honor of the foundation’s longtime president who passed away in 2004.

“I am honored to be named a Rita Allen Foundation Scholar, and particularly grateful to be designated this year’s Milton E. Cassel Scholar,” said Dr. Schoggins. “This award will allow us to explore riskier experimental approaches that we hope will uncover new insights into antiviral immunity. I am thankful to my department chair, Dr. Michael Norgard, and to the UT Southwestern administration for supporting my nomination and continually encouraging the pursuit of groundbreaking science.”

Since 1976, more than 100 early-career investigators have been recognized as Rita Allen Foundation Scholars for their “innovative research with above-average risk and groundbreaking possibilities.” Previous scholars have gone on to win major awards, including the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the National Medal of Science, the Wolf Prize in Medicine, and the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.

Dr. Schoggins – lead author on two studies published in Nature in 2011 and 2013 – is a Nancy Cain and Jeffrey A. Marcus Scholar in Medical Research, in honor of Dr. Bill S. Vowell.

The Rita Allen grant will be used to study antiviral mechanisms with a focus on cellular metabolism and how changes in a cell’s metabolism can potentially affect viral infections. “We have uncovered a handful of interesting genes that both suppress viral infection and have been linked to cellular metabolism,” Dr. Schoggins said.

He uses advanced research techniques, including high-throughput studies that can screen 350 interferon-stimulated genes simultaneously in response to specific viruses, such as those that cause measles, hepatitis C, HIV-1, West Nile virus, dengue fever, and influenza A.

Dr. Norgard said, “The Rita Allen Foundation Scholars program is among the most competitive awards programs in the country; it funds junior scientists who are performing innovative, cutting-edge, and potentially transformative research in their given fields and who likely will become future scientific leaders.

“As such, this is a huge honor for Dr. Schoggins, not only for his selection, but also for his top billing nationally by being named the Rita Allen Foundation Milton E. Cassel Scholar for 2015. I, the Department of Microbiology, and the University leadership are all so very proud of Dr. Schoggins for his amazing accomplishment!”

Dr. Schoggins graduated from the University of Rochester, New York, then completed his graduate work in molecular cell biology at Cornell University Medical College in New York.

In 2014, the National Institutes of Health selected Dr. Schoggins for a New Innovator Award for research to understand why bats can harbor numerous viruses without becoming sick. That work, which began under UT Southwestern’s High Risk/High Impact grants program, could have implications for the deadly viruses that cause Ebola and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

His other recent awards include: the Seymour and Vivian Milstein Young Investigator Award (2013) and the Sidney & Joan Pestka Award for Excellence in Interferon Research (2011).

The Rita Allen Foundation invests in transformative ideas in their earliest stages to leverage their growth and promote breakthrough solutions to significant problems. It enables early-career biomedical scholars to do pioneering research, seeds innovative approaches to fostering informed civic engagement, and develops knowledge and networks to build the effectiveness of the philanthropic sector.

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