Boyer/Parvin Postdoctoral Awards

In 1999, Nobel Laureate and founding MBI Director Paul D. Boyer donated a portion of his Nobel Prize to recognize outstanding research contributions by postdoctoral scholars through the MBI Postdoctoral Awards. Generous donations were also received from Dr. and Mrs. James B. Peter, Mrs. Phyllis Parvin on behalf of the Parvin Foundation, and Amgen, Inc. Since that time, the awards have been given to nearly 100 postdoctoral scholars who have experiences tremendous success, with almost 50% holding faculty positions and many others becoming directors and leading research scientists at top institutions.

Nominations are solicited annually from the MBI and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. An expert panel of faculty selects the final awardees.

Dr Boyer’s wish was that the funds to support these awards would be used in his lifetime. After 17 years, and many applications from exceptional young researchers, this has now been accomplished. However, we are excited about the possibility of continuing Dr Boyer’s legacy with new gifts from friends and supporters who share his vision; to recognize and reward the best and brightest scientists at this critical point in their career. To be part of the Boyer legacy, click here.

Information for Potential Applicants

Eligibility

  • Current UCLA postdoctoral fellows/project scientists in the laboratory of an MBI Faculty member.

Applications Include

  • Curriculum Vitae, including list of publications
  • Concise (3 page max.) summary of current research and any contributions to teaching, mentoring, diversity in the lab.
  • PI’s letter of nomination
  • Letter of recommendation from a second faculty member, describing the impact of the nominee’s research and their role in driving the research.

Application Materials Checklist (with links)

Boyer-Parvin Awardees

2024: Roger Castells-Graells (Yeates), Yun-Tao Liu (Zhou), Joshua Kochanowsky (Johnson)
2023: Baocheng Liu (Feigon), Justin Langerman (Plath), Daniel Gray (De Biase)
2022: Yolanda Markaki (Plath), Beibei Wu (Gwack), Xian Xia (Zhou)
2021: Lauren Goins (Banerjee), Astra Bryant (Hallem), Yao He (Feigon)
2020: Erica Pandolfi (Clark), Steve Halaby (Gonen), Lucia Fernandez del Rio (Clarke) 
2019: Shiheng Liu (Zhou), Yuan Yang (Feigon), Koushik Roy (Hoffmann)
2018: Frances Mercer (Johnson), Marcus Seldin (Lusis), Michael Hicks (Pyle)

Boyer-Peter Awardees 2010-2015

2015: Crysten Blaby (Merchant lab)
2014: Peng Ge (Zhou lab)
2013: Elizabeth Wilson (Brooks lab)
2012: Ajay Vashisht (Wohlschlegel lab)
2011: Tina Mukherjee (Banerjee lab)
2010: Sonal Srikanth (Gwack lab)

Parvin Awardees 2010-2015

2015: Jose Rodriguez (Eisenberg lab)
2014: Matt Pecot (Zipursky lab)
2013: J. Jiang and E. Miracco (Feigon lab)
2012: Toh Hean Ch’ng (Martin lab)
2011: Katharina Schlacher (Wu lab)
2010: Ohtan Wang (Martin lab)

Amgen Awardees 2010-2015

2015: Maher El-Kady (Kaner lab)
2014: Gonzalo Jimenez-Oses (Houk lab)
2013: James Frederich (Harran lab)
2012: David Mulholland (Wu lab)
2011: Rupa Sridharan (Plath lab)
2010: Arthur Bragg (Schwartz lab)

Research Excellence Awardees 2010-2015

2015: Luz Orozco (Pellegrini), Vincent Pasque (Plath), Silvia Senese (Torres)
2014: Lin Jiang (Eisenberg), Tyler Kormin (Bowie), Justin Drake (Witte), Crysten Blaby (Merchant)
2013: Michael Oberholzer (Hill), Michael Rera (Walker), Jiwon Shim (Banerjee), Jin Zhang (Alexandrova)
2012: Pao-Yang Chen (Pellegrini), Peng Liu (Houk), Mahavir Singh (Feigon), Sika Zheng (Black)
2011: Shelley Claridge (Weiss), Heedeok Hong (Bowie), Meytal Landau (Eisenberg), Geng Wang (Koehler), Qi Zhang (Feigon).
2010: Mark Chin (Plath), Gustavo Miranda-Carboni (Lane), Steven Wheeler (Houk), Dongwon Yoo (Jung).

2023 Reviewers

Sonal Srikanth, Ph.D., Assistant Adjunct Professor, Physiology
Slavica Tudzarova, Ph.D., Adjunct Associate Professor, Medicine-Endocrinology
Hong Zhou, Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics