Two scientists have each received a $250,000 Johnson & Johnson / IMHRO Rising Star Translational Research Award for 2011: Jun Li, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Human Genetics at University of Michigan, and Ming-Hu Han, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

These awards are jointly funded by One Mind and Johnson & Johnson’s Corporate Office of Science and Technology, and are given to scientists whose proposals show the most promise for the development of usable new therapies for brain disorders in the near term. Dr. Han received his grant to investigate the activity of three compounds on a specific ion channel in the brain’s reward system as potential prototypes for an entirely new “active” class of antidepressant therapies. Dr. Li proposes a powerful new approach to finding high-impact candidate genes for bipolar disorder, and to revealing commonalities in how they malfunction.  A better understanding of these genes may lead to new targeted therapies for this life-wrenching disease.