Nicholas Wu, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry, is among the newest cohort of Vallee Scholars named Friday by the Vallee Foundation. The award recognizes outstanding junior faculty members conducting innovative biomedical research and provides four years of unrestricted funding. Since 2013, the foundation has provided more than $18 million to support over 50 exceptional scientists. Twenty-four international institutions were invited to nominate a candidate for the 2024 application cycle, culminating in a six-member cohort.

Wu investigates virus evolution, antibody specificity, and vaccine design in the context of influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2. His research utilizes a combination of high-throughput screening, structural biology, and machine learning approaches. He received his PhD in Molecular Biology from UCLA in 2015 and completed his postdoctoral training as a Croucher Fellow at the Scripps Research Institute.

“I am humbly honored to receive this prestigious award and to become part of the Vallee community,” Wu said. “The funds provided by this award will be critical to my pursuit of high risk, high reward research.”

Congratulations, Dr. Wu!