Huda Akil, Ph.D., wins National Medal of Science Award

October 24, 2023, The White House: In a formal ceremony presided over by President Biden, Huda Akil, Ph.D., was honored with the National Medal of Science Award, the nation’s highest scientific honor.

A Center for RNA Biomedicine Faculty Member, Dr. Akil’s research focuses on understanding the neurobiology of emotions, including pain, anxiety, depression and substance abuse, and is passionate about developing ways to potentially thwart symptom onset.

Identifying genetic and cell differences that could lead to a predisposition to substance abuse, for example, is at the heart of her research – a first step in developing a therapeutic medicine, such as that manufactured from RNA, to regulate expression of those identified markers and help minimize risk.

A true University of Michigan Pioneer!

Watch the live stream recording of the October 24 ceremony below. Dr. Akil is introduced ~10 minutes into the video.

Watch the live ceremony recording. Courtesy of The White House video https://www.youtube.com/@WhiteHouse.

Read the full News Release from Michigan Medicine, “U-M neuroscientist Huda Akil, Ph.D., wins National Medal of Science.”

Similar Posts

RNA Faculty Spotlight – Geoffrey Siwo, Internal Medicine

Geoffrey H. Siwo, Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine Research Associate, Center for Global Health Equity Website: siworesearch.com Twitter:  @gsiwo   What are your research interests?  My research interests are in accelerating biomedical discoveries and advances in clinical medicine by combining fundamental biology with a broad range of exponentially growing technologies such as artificial intelligence…

March 27, 2020 U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine 5th Annual Symposium

Initially scheduled for March 27, 2020, our 5th Annual Symposium “From RNA Biology to Medicine” is rescheduled for March 26, 2021 University of Michigan, Biomedical Research Science Building, 109 Zina Pitcher TOGETHER, WE SOLVE … Morning Welcome and Introduction, Mark Schlissel (President, University of Michigan) Afternoon Welcome and Introduction, Srijan Sen (Associate Vice President for…

Martina Jerant, Manager of the Center for RNA Biomedicine, receives the University of Michigan Staff Impact Award from among 75 nominees

“Martina Jerant is brimming with energy, big ideas and “outside the box” thinking, which has been instrumental in achieving the Center for RNA Biomedicine’s mission to build bridges across our large campus through a broad range of activities that Martina handles essentially on her own, with little input from us, and all extraordinarily competently,” wrote…

Thank you to our postdocs!

On the occasion of the National Postdoc Appreciation Week, September 21st–25th, the University of Michigan (U-M) Center for RNA Biomedicine’s community warmly thanks UM’s postdocs for their tremendous contributions to the field of RNA research and to the life of our scientific community. According to the U-M Postdoctoral Association (UMPDA), an estimated 1,400 to 1,600…

Translating from dissertation to dream job: a nascent RNA career

Only a couple of weeks after defending her Ph.D. thesis in November, Sarah Owen, a graduate student in Chemical Engineering in Dr. Sunitha Nagrath’s lab, landed her dream job. “It all went very fast,” she explained, “I had a seven-hour zoom interview on Thursday, and they offered me the job the following Monday!” In January…