Two faculty receive Shaw Scientist Awards

Two UW–Madison School of Medicine professors have been chosen to receive $200,000 Shaw Scientist Awards by the Milwaukee Foundation.

Winners for 1999 are Tomas Prolla, an assistant professor in the department of genetics; and Michael Sheets, an assistant professor of biomolecular chemistry. Each will receive unrestricted grants of $40,000 per year over five years to further research.

Prolla is studying how cancers can develop from various genetic defects in DNA repair pathways. The work is seeking a better explanation of the molecular mechanisms that cause cancers to grow and may also shed new light on the aging process.

Sheets is studying a complex group of cells called “the organizer signaling center,” which guides early embryo development. Using the frog embryo as a model, Sheets is determining how these cells use messenger proteins to control the development of different tissues.

The Shaw Awards, which began in 1982, are designed to encourage young scientists from UW–Madison and UW-Milwaukee to conduct innovative research in biology, chemistry and cancer-related fields. The researchers are allowed to decide how the money should be spent.

The awards carry out a bequest from Dorothy Shaw, widow of the late James D. Shaw, a prominent Milwaukee attorney. In the past 17 years, more than $7 million in Shaw awards have been provided to 36 scientists at the two universities.

The Milwaukee Foundation provides nearly $11 million in grants each year to a wide array of charitable efforts. For more information, contact foundation spokesman Frank Miller at (414) 272-5805.