The winners of the 2014 Spring Research Festival, held May 7 and 8, were recognized on July 2, and included 20 NCI at Frederick researchers: Matthew Anderson, Victor Ayala, Matt Bess, Cristina Bergamaschi, Charlotte Choi, Rami Doueiri, Laura Guasch Pamies, Diana Haines, Saadia Iftikhar, Maria Kaltcheva, Wojciech Kasprzak, Balamurugan Kuppusamy, James Lautenberger, George Lountos, Megan Mounts, Uma Mudunuri, Martha Sklavos, Gloriana Shelton, Alex Sorum, and Shea Wright.

Start-up companies are instrumental in bringing the fruits of scientific research to market. Recognizing an opportunity to bring entrepreneurial minds to bear on the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, the Avon Foundation for Women partnered with NCI and the Center for Advancing Innovation to launch the Breast Cancer Startup Challenge.

Earlier this year, Alan Rein, Ph.D., and Zhi-Ming (Thomas) Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., were elected to fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology, the honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology. They were among 88 microbiologists who were elected to the academy “through a highly selective, peer-review process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology,” according to the society’s website.

Ten teams of business, legal, medical/scientific, engineering, and computer science students and seasoned entrepreneurs won the Business Plan Phase of the Breast Cancer Start-up Challenge. Selected from an original field of 200 teams, these winners, plus two teams of finalists, will push forward to commercialize breast cancer–related inventions developed by inventors at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and at an Avon Foundation–funded lab at Clemson University.

More than 60 NCI at Frederick government and contractor employees were recognized at the NCI Director’s Awards Ceremony on Nov. 14, held on the main NIH campus in Bethesda.