Furth Fund

The Valerie and Frank Furth Fund provides awards to help foster the development of promising scientists in the natural and biological sciences.

The Fund was created to provide early career scientists with up to $12,500 in research funds. These funds are used to promote the research activities of the faculty member, which may include the purchase of new equipment or support for graduate students or postdocs. The Furth Fund may not be used as a source of salary support for the faculty member.

Learn more about the fund below, including eligibility and how to submit a nomination. You can also explore a list of past Furth Fund winners.

Eligibility

Nominees should be tenure-track junior faculty appointed in natural and biological science or engineering departments within the School of Arts, Sciences & Engineering, the School of Medicine and Dentistry, and the School of Nursing who have been hired within the past three academic years. Preference will be given to nominees who wish to use the award to support the active engagement of graduate students or postdocs in their research.

Nominations for tenure-track candidates being actively recruited for positions, but not yet hired, will also be accepted. Departments must have made an offer to the candidate before the nomination will be considered. The nomination materials should note the status of recruitment efforts and the anticipated date of the candidate’s decision.

Submitting a nomination

The VP for research will solicit nominations from the deans. All nominations must include the nominee’s curriculum vitae and a short (1-2 page) letter from the departmental chair describing the nominee’s research activities and proposed use of the funds, along with and an endorsement from the dean of the school. There is no limit to the number of nominations per school.

Past winners

Our 2024 Furth Fund award recipients are detailed below. You can also explore a full list of previous recipients.

Ning Wang, PhD

Dr. Ning Wang is a tenure track Assistant Professor faculty member in the Department of Biology who started at UR in January 2024. Although she is a basic scientist by training, her work has translational possibilities. In particular, her work on erythropoiesis (i.e., the creation of red blood cells) and autophagy (i.e., organelle mediated removal of elements inside the cell) can provide insights on innovative treatments for anemia and other blood diseases. The major criterion distinguishing eukaryotes from prokaryotes is the presence of organelles in the former. Eukaryotic cells can rapidly adjust the abundance, size, and shape of their organelles according to physiological needs. This remarkable capacity for adaptation enables cells to maintain homeostasis during stress, differentiation, and disease. The Wang lab studies organelle homeostasis with a focus on autophagic degradation of membrane-bound organelles. Autophagy is a conserved process in eukaryotes that targets various intracellular elements for degradation. Most forms of autophagy involve the formation of the spherical double-membraned structure called autophagosomes to engulf destined cellular elements and deliver them to lysosomes for degradation. Additionally, the selective form of autophagy can recognize and degrade specific targets, such as damaged organelles, and plays important role in cellular quality control. The lab currently has multiple model systems in use to tackle different questions related to organelle homeostasis. For example, they are taking advantage of the simplicity of the genome and easiness of genetic manipulation of fission yeast to identify autophagy receptors that can recognize specific organelles for degradation upon nutritional stress. They also employ mammalian cell cultures to study organelle morphological changes to antagonize ER stress due to the bigger size of the cells (hence easier for imaging) as well as the more straightforward connections with human diseases.

Lauren Ghazal, PhD

Dr. Lauren Ghazal Dr. Ghazal is currently in her first year as tenure track Assistant Professor at the School of Nursing (SON) and is an exceptional leader in oncology nursing and the nurse workforce.

Dr. Ghazal arrived at UR with the full support of our colleagues not only at SON, but at the Wilmot Cancer Institute (WCI), including Dr. Jonathan Friedberg, where she was awarded an Associate Membership appointment in Cancer Prevention and Control. She has a strong track record in leading independent research efforts. Starting with her highly-novel dissertation study at New York University (NYU) that examined quality of life among AYA cancer survivors. During her PhD studies, she secured several extramural peer-review grants to support her dissertation research, and she was awarded the University-wide Outstanding Dissertation Award and honored as PhD Valedictorian at NYU. She has clearly helped to establish “financial toxicity” as a symptom that patients and their caregivers experience acutely across the cancer continuum.