Kansas City, Mo. (April 25, 2006) – Stowers Institute Assistant Investigator Kausik Si, Ph.D., has been named a Searle Scholar. The distinction carries an award of $240,000 over three years and is bestowed on just 15 early-career scientists each year.

     Dr. Si joined the Institute in June 2005 from the Columbia University Center for Neurobiology and Behavior where he conducted postdoctoral research since 1999 with Dr. Eric Kandel, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Dr. Si’s laboratory concentrates on how information is acquired via learning and stored over time as memories in the brain. He devotes special attention to the role of synapses in memory.

     “Competition for Searle Scholar Awards attracts the most promising young scientists in the country,” said William B. Neaves, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Stowers Institute. “Kausik Si’s success in winning this prestigious award testifies to his qualifications as an emerging research leader, and he will surely do great things with the additional funding provided by the Searle Scholars Program.”

     “Kausik Si’s selection in the national competition brings the Stowers Institute its first Searle Scholars Award,” said Robb Krumlauf, Ph.D., Scientific Director. “This is well-deserved recognition of Dr. Si’s potential as an outstanding laboratory scientist and a source of pride to all of his colleagues here in Kansas City.”

     Dr. Si previously was awarded a Jane Coffin Childs Fellowship in 2000 and a Francis Goelet Fellowship in Neuroscience in 2002. He earned a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in science from the University of Calcutta.

About the Stowers Institute
     Housed in a 600,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility on a 10-acre campus in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research conducts basic research on fundamental processes of cellular life. Through its commitment to collaborative research and the use of cutting-edge technology, the Institute seeks more effective means of preventing and curing disease. The Institute was founded by Jim and Virginia Stowers, two cancer survivors who have created combined endowments of $2 billion in support of basic research of the highest quality.