LSI's Sean Morrison receives the McCullough and Till Award

October 31, 2007 - Sean Morrison, Director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Research Associate Professor at the Life Sciences Institute of the University of Michigan won the McCullough and Till Award, a prestigious honor acknowledging rising scientific stars in stem cell biology.

The award, "In recognition of exceptional scientific contributions to the field of hematology and stem cells," honors two leading scientists, Professor Ernest McCullough and Professor James Till.

The award, created by the International Society for Hematology and Stem Cells (ISEH), is given to young independent investigators that have made significant contributions to the experimental hematology field.

The fourth McCullough and Till Award was presented to Morrison in a ceremony in Hamburg, Germany during the annual ISEH meeting.

Morrison is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and the Henry Sewall Professor in Medicine at U-M. Earlier this year Morrison was named the Pfizer Young Michigan Biomedical Investigator of the Year.

The Morrison laboratory has published several important advances in stem cell biology in recent years. They have identified a number of new mechanisms by which stem cells undergo self-renewing divisions, the process by which stem cells perpetuate themselves throughout life. They have also shown that drugs targeting these mechanisms can effectively treat cancer because cancers hijack stem cell self-renewal mechanisms to divide out-of-control.

In a paper published last year the Morrison laboratory showed that changes in these self-renewal mechanisms within aging stem cells could at least partially explain why old tissues have less regenerative capacity than young tissues.

They have also discovered new markers that enhance the purification of blood-forming stem cells, an advance that could lead to safer and more effective bone marrow transplants.

Morrison was a Searle Scholar from 2000-2003. He has been named to Technology Review Magazine's list of 100 young innovators for 2002, received Wired Magazine's Rave Award for Science in 2003, and was given the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by George W. Bush in 2003.

For more information:
stemcell.umich.edu
www.iseh.org
www.hhmi.org