The Michigan State University Office of Research and Innovation has selected 15 faculty members to receive support through the inaugural MSU Research Foundation Postdoctoral Scholars Program. The program supports health-related research while providing postdoctoral scholars with mentorship and training opportunities to advance their development as independent investigators.
Each award provides support for a two-year postdoctoral appointment, helping faculty expand research capacity and strengthen their competitiveness for federal funding. The program focuses on research aligned with the priorities of agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including the National Institutes of Health and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.
The following faculty members and research projects were selected for support:
Award Recipients
- Robert Abramovitch | Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology
- Resistance-Informed Design of Durable MmpL3-targeting Therapeutics for TB and NTM Disease
- Craig Carpenter | Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics
- Rural Health Economics, Access, and Policy (RHEAP) Initiative
- Sean Crosson | Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology
- How Intracellular Bacterial Pathogens Evade Immunity and Disseminate: a Brucella-Alveolar Macrophage Model Linking Bacterial Genetics and Host Inflammatory Control
- Alex Dickson | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Accessible, Automated Free-Energy Methods for Molecular Design: Toward an MSU Center for Computational Molecular Discovery
- Matt Harkey | Kinesiology
- Building an Early Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis Detection Platform Across MSU and Henry Ford Health
- Nicholas Kanaan | Translational Neuroscience
- Spatial Transcriptomic Discovery of Early Tau-Mediated Neurodegenerative Pathways in the Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
- Geoffroy Laumet | Physiology
- Building a Translational Neuroimmune Research Program to Prevent Chronic Pain
- Kin Sing Stephen Lee | Pharmacology and Toxicology
- Targeting Lipid Metabolism for Treating Neurological Diseases
- Claire Margerison | Epidemiology and Biostatistics
- Postdoctoral Scholar in Maternal Health
- Jade Mitchell | Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering
- From Environmental Signals to Health Protection: Integrated Risk Science for Preventing Infectious and Chemical Hazards
- Kristin Parent | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Bacteriophage Interactions with Enteric Pathogens - The Essential Role of Inner Membrane Protein YajC
- Dohun Pyeon | Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology
- The Tumor Microenvironment and Metastatic Progression in Head and Neck Cancer
- Jens Schmidt | IQ, OBGYN
- Single Molecule Analysis of Homologous Recombination in Living Cells
- Dana Spence | Biomedical Engineering
- Post-Doc Scholar in the Spence Group in IQ/BME
- Chris Waters | Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology
- Studying Bacteriophages for Therapeutic Applications
Through dedicated postdoctoral training and faculty mentorship, the program aims to strengthen MSU's research enterprise, support competitive federal research proposals, and advance research addressing challenges in human health.
Learn more about the MSU Research Foundation Postdoctoral Scholars Program, including program objectives and award details.