Cedeño–Rosario and Kaweesa win research award
Luis Cedeño–Rosario of the University of Utah Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine and Elizabeth Kaweesa of the University of Illinois Chicago received the Dr. Eddie Méndez Scholar Award from the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. The award honors outstanding early-career scientists studying cancer, infectious disease and basic science and is named after Méndez, who was a physician–scientist at Fred Hutch.
Cedeño–Rosario is a postdoctoral researcher in the Jared Rutter lab at the University of Utah. His work explores how cancer cells alter their internal wiring to support unchecked growth and resist treatment, uncovering how shifts in metabolism can give tumors a survival advantage. In 2020, he won the Tony Quinn Inclusive Excellence Award, which honors a scientist who is committed to mentoring students and increasing the participation of underrepresented students in science. Cedeño–Rosario earned his Ph.D. at the University of Toledo.
Kaweesa is a postdoctoral research associate in the Joanna E. Burdette lab, where she is exploring how natural compounds might be used to treat high-grade serous ovarian cancer, an aggressive malignancy, often diagnosed in its later stages. Kaweesa was recently featured in an ASBMB Today article. She is a National Institutes of Health Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award recipient and previously received an NIH Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers award. Kaweesa earned her Ph.D. at the University of Florida.
"This year's recipients are continuing to make strides in innovative research," Christina Termini, co-director of the Fred Hutch program, said. "Like Dr. Méndez, their passion for science and discovery will continue to drive life-changing science."
Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?
Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition monthly.
Learn moreGet the latest from ASBMB Today
Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.
Latest in People
People highlights or most popular articles
Building better tools to decipher the lipidome
Chemical engineer–turned–biophysicist Matthew Mitsche uses curiosity, coding and creativity to tackle lipid biology, uncovering PNPLA3’s role in fatty liver disease and advancing mass spectrometry tools for studying complex lipid systems.
Summer research spotlight
The 2025 Undergraduate Research Award recipients share results and insights from their lab experiences.
Pappu wins Provost Research Excellence Award
He was recognized by Washington University for his exemplary research on intrinsically disordered proteins.
In memoriam: Rodney E. Harrington
He helped clarify how chromatin’s physical properties and DNA structure shift during interactions with proteins that control gene expression and was an ASBMB member for 43 years.
Redefining lipid biology from droplets to ferroptosis
James Olzmann will receive the ASBMB Avanti Award in Lipids at the ASBMB Annual Meeting, March 7–10, just outside of Washington, D.C.
Creating change in biochemistry education
Pamela Mertz will receive the ASBMB William C. Rose Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education at the ASBMB Annual Meeting, March 7-10 in Washington, D.C.