Los Angeles, CA, July 30, 2007: The W.M. Keck Foundation, a leading supporter of high-impact medical research, science and engineering, today announced the 2007 class of grant recipients under its Distinguished Young Scholars in Medical Research Program.

Robert A. Day, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said: Now in its ninth year, our Young Scholars program is designed to give the nations most promising young scientists the resources they need to pursue potentially breakthrough research projects in biomedicine. We are very pleased to support this group of Young Scholars who clearly exhibit extraordinary promise for future research and academic leadership.

Under the program, each grant recipients sponsoring institution receives an award of up to $1 million to support the scientists research activities for a period of up to five years, as well as to enable the institution to purchase necessary equipment and resources to facilitate the scientists ongoing study. It is hoped that the investment in the Keck Scholars will greatly benefit society for generations to come with continued advances in understanding and combating the fundamental mechanisms of human disease.

The Young Scholars Program was initiated in 1999 and has awarded grants totalling nearly $45 million to date. Each grant applicant must be nominated by his or her research institution and then evaluated by the Foundations Medical Research Board and a Scientific Advisory Committee and unanimously approved by the Foundations Board of Directors. Nominations are accepted on an invitation-only basis.

The 2007 class of Distinguished Young Scholars is:

• Job Dekker, Ph.D., Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School Dr. Dekker has developed a system to study the complex way in which chromosomes are regulated. By comparing cancer and normal cells, the research has the potential to uncover defects in chromosome regulation tha
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