Pediatrics professor receives Shaw award

A university scientist who is breaking new ground in understanding cancer has been selected for the Milwaukee Foundation’s 2000 Shaw Scientist Award.

Anna Huttenlocher, assistant professor in the departments of pediatrics and pharmacology, is one of two Wisconsin scientists selected from a field of eight finalists. Chaoyang Zeng, assistant professor in the UW-Milwaukee Department of Biological Sciences, also received the honor this year.

Each will receive a $200,000 grant that may be used for any research-related purpose.

Huttenlocher is studying how certain proteins — tiny components that regulate cell movement – increase or decrease cell migration. She has identified a protein that inhibits the movement of certain cells and stops them from attaching. Because cancers spread through cell movement, her research could point the way to new medical procedures that would slow or halt cancer’s spread.

The Shaw Award is one of the few major U.S. research grants that gives recipients complete leeway in deciding how it is to be spent. It is designed to give promising young scientists free rein to conduct pure research in biology, biochemistry and cancer-related research fields, said Douglas M. Jansson, executive director of the Milwaukee Foundation.

The Foundation created the Shaw Scientist Award in 1982 to carry out the terms of a bequest from Dorothy Shaw, widow of James D. Shaw, a prominent Milwaukee attorney. Through her will she endowed a $4.2 million fund within the foundation and directed that it be used to advance research in the fields of biochemistry, biological science and cancer research at UW–Madison and UW-Milwaukee.

In the 18 years since its start, the Shaw Award has since provided nearly $8 million in awards to 38 scientists at the two universities.