Kansas City, Mo. (June 1, 2007) – The M.R. and Evelyn Hudson Foundation has named Jennifer Gerton, Ph.D., Assistant Investigator, the 2007 Hudson Prize recipient. The prize was announced at a luncheon today at the Stowers Institute.

     The Hudson Prize carries a grant of $75,000 to be used by the recipient to conduct innovative research and accelerate the pace of laboratory experimentation. It was created by the Texas-based Hudson Foundation to recognize and encourage excellence in basic biomedical research at the Stowers Institute.

     “The Hudson Prize recognizes an early-career scientist whose work shows great promise,” said William B. Neaves, President and CEO of the Stowers Institute. “Gifted researchers like Dr. Gerton benefit from the Hudson Foundation’s additional funding to move vital research forward at an even faster pace.”

     Dr. Gerton joined the Stowers Institute in 2002 from a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Joseph DeRisi, Ph.D., at the University of California at San Francisco. She holds a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from Stanford University.

     Her research is focused on genomic and biochemical approaches aimed at understanding the mechanisms that ensure fidelity of chromosome distribution to the daughters of dividing cells. The survival of all living organisms depends on the pair of cells produced from the division of a single cell having the proper number of chromosomes. If this process fails, the resulting daughter cells contain either too few or too many chromosomes, and severe abnormality or death ensues.

     Since joining the Stowers Institute, Dr. Gerton has published important papers in peer-reviewed journals and has been awarded a Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Research Award from the March of Dimes.

      In addition to her primary appointment at the Stowers Institute, Dr. Gerton holds an academic appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at The University of Kansas School of Medicine.

About the Hudson Foundation
     The Hudson Foundation was established in 1991 to further the Hudsons’ lifelong interest in supporting education, medical research, children’s issues, and the arts. M.R. Hudson was the founder of Hudson Oil Co. and later Fisca Oil Co.

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.