April 11, 2006

The Machiah Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund, announced today the names of recipients of four fellowships it has awarded to support advanced life science research training for Israeli post-doctoral scientists to study at leading U.S. educational institutions.  The Foundation initiated this program in response to the decreased opportunities available to Israeli post-doctoral scientists at European institutions of higher learning in the last five years. (Learn more) Fellowship recipients, selected by a distinguished group of senior U.S. scientists, will each receive $100,000 of stipend support awarded over a two-year period.

The 2006 recipients, university affiliations, research project titles, and host institutions are:

• Ronny Alcalai, Hadassah — Hebrew University Medical Center
  Harvard Medical School — Development of Cardiac Conduction System Abnormalities
• Neri Minsky, Weizmann Institute of Science
  Rockefeller University — The Role of PGC-1a Arginine Methylation in its Transcriptional Functions
• Ariel Munitz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  University of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital — Innate Mechanisms Regulating Mucosal Immunity in Health and Disease
• Ronen Zaidel-Bar, Weizmann Institute of Science
  University of Wisconsin, Madison — Regulation of Epithelial Morphogenesis by Formins

Machiah Fellows are citizen residents of the state of Israel and have agreed to return to and reside in, the state of Israel for no less than three years after the fellowship award period has concluded. Additionally, applicants must have not previously studied in the United States or Canada for a period of six or more months.

In June 2005, the Machiah Foundation board approved a grant to begin this fellowship program. Subsequently, additional donors have provided funds through the Jewish Community Endowment Fund to expand the number of fellowship awards.  Some of the 2006 recipients will receive research training funds from the Koret Foundation, and from the Kanbar, Lorry Lokey, and Alexander M. and June L. Maisin Supporting Foundations of the JCEF.

Machiah Foundation board president Dr. Stanley N. Cohen, Professor of Genetics at Stanford University, stated that, “I hope these fellowship awards will help to advance the progress of science — not only in Israel — but also more generally, as the global scientific community and individual fields of study will benefit from increased interactions with top Israeli researchers, and the state of Israel’s scientific and research fields will be strengthened as Fellows return to live and work in Israel.”

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