NEWS
July 13, 2012
Press Contact: press@ashg.org
University of Washington Associate Professor will be honored for a decade of research advances at ASHG annual meeting in San Francisco
BETHESDA, MD – July 13, 2012 – The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) has named Jay Shendure, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington as the 2012 recipient of the Curt Stern Award, which will be presented on Nov. 10, during the ASHG annual meeting at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
This award, named in honor of the pioneering geneticist Curt Stern, Ph.D., is presented annually to recognize outstanding scientific achievements occurring in the last decade.
“Dr. Shendure was selected for his outstanding contributions below. This work has had a truly revolutionary effect on human genetics.” said ASHG Executive Vice President Joann Boughman, Ph.D.
This work has been – and will continue to be – of great impact to human genetics research and the discovery of genes contributing to the development of high-throughput sequencing and its application to exomes and functional studies of non-coding DNA disease. “Importantly, Dr. Shendure’s achievements have permitted individual, particularly small, clinical and laboratory groups to make important contributions to our understanding of disease,” Dr. Boughman added.
Dr. Shendure’s latest accomplishment was using a blood sample from a pregnant woman and saliva from the father to determine the genetic makeup of her fetus. Using cell-free DNA methods, he and his colleagues laid the groundwork for comprehensive pre-natal diagnostic testing that will be less invasive than current methods. “Dr. Shendure is one of the most notable young scientists in our genetics community,” said Dr. Boughman. “He will certainly continue to lead the way in developing techniques that will have great impact on patients. Dr. Shendure is the quintessential physician-scientist.”
“It’s just not possible to express how honored I am to receive this award and in particular to join the company of the others who have received the Curt Stern Award,” Dr. Shendure said. “I look forward to accepting the award at the ASHG meeting in San Francisco.”
About ASHG
The American Society of Human Genetics is the primary professional membership organization for nearly 8,000 human genetics specialists worldwide. The ASHG Annual Meeting is the world’s largest gathering of human genetics professionals and a forum for renowned experts in the field. This year, ASHG will host the 62nd annual meeting in San Francisco, CA from Nov. 6-20, 2012.
For additional information, please contact our office at press@ashg.org.