Each day at 6 a.m. the lights pop on inside 18 buildings on the NCI at Frederick campus, illuminating the residential quarters for thousands of research mice. For the mice, it’s the end of their nocturnal day. For their caretakers, however, the day has just begun.

Nineteen staff members affiliated with NCI at Frederick or the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR) were recognized at the 2014 NCI Director’s Award Ceremony for their outstanding contributions to advancing cancer research. The ceremony, held Dec. 1, took place at the NIH Natcher Conference Center, on the main campus in Bethesda.

Two NCI scientists received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement. The award was announced by President Obama in October. The honorees, John Schiller, Ph.D., Laboratory of Cellular Oncology (LCO), Center for Cancer Research, NCI, and Douglas Lowy, M.D., also from LCO and NCI deputy director, received their medals at a White House ceremony on Nov. 20.

Robert Wiltrout, Ph.D., director, NCI Center for Cancer Research (CCR), recently announced the appointment of Mikhail Kashlev, Ph.D., to deputy chief of the Gene Regulation and Chromosome Biology Laboratory (GRCBL). The first deputy chief to be named in the GRCBL, Kashlev joins Jeff Strathern, Ph.D., GRCBL chief, in leading the laboratory.

Robert Wiltrout, Ph.D., director, NCI Center for Cancer Research (CCR), recently announced the appointment of Eric Freed, Ph.D., as deputy director of the HIV Drug Resistance Program (HIV DRP). Freed will join Stephen Hughes, Ph.D., director of HIV DRP, in leading this CCR program that focuses on understanding HIV replication and pathogenesis, with the goal of developing more effective strategies for treating HIV infections, and also builds on the existing strength of HIV and retrovirus research within NCI.