Â鶹´«Ã½

The Competitive Medical Research Fund (CMRF) awarded grants to 11 Â鶹´«Ã½ biomedical researchers. Supported by UPMC, CMRF primarily provides funding for junior independent scientists at Pitt to develop preliminary data, hypotheses and methods for competitive national grant applications.

Over the past five years, the success rate for applications has averaged more than 35%. Standard CMRF awards are $30,000, with potential funding up to $50,000.

Here are the 2024 award recipients:

• Ãœmit Akbey, assistant professor of structural biology in the Â鶹´«Ã½ of Medicine
• Yomna Badawi, research assistant professor of neuroscience in the Kenneth P. Dietrich Â鶹´«Ã½ of Arts and Sciences
• Yu-Chih Chen, assistant professor of computational and systems biology in the Â鶹´«Ã½ of Medicine
• Joseph Church, assistant professor of surgery in the Â鶹´«Ã½ of Medicine
• Peng Gao, assistant professor of environmental and occupational health in the Â鶹´«Ã½ of Public Health
• Marcus Malek, assistant professor of surgery in the Â鶹´«Ã½ of Medicine
• Maya Ragavan, assistant professor of pediatrics in the Â鶹´«Ã½ of Medicine
• Deepika Vasudevan, assistant professor of cell biology in the Â鶹´«Ã½ of Medicine
• Hua Zhang, assistant professor of hematology and oncology in the Â鶹´«Ã½ of Medicine
• Haodi Wu, assistant professor in Pitt Med’s Vascular Medicine Institute
• Hamza Yazdani, research assistant professor of surgery in the Â鶹´«Ã½ of Medicine

The experience of applying and receiving feedback from CMRF is valuable regardless of funding outcomes. The deadline to is Friday, Jan. 12; funding will be granted July 1.