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Five outstanding biomedical researchers at the University of Colorado are part of the Boettcher Foundation’s 2025 class of Boettcher Investigators, recipients of grant funding through the Boettcher Foundation’s Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards Program.


CU's 2025 Boettcher Investigators, from left, Erin K. Englund, Anna Helena Jonsson, Yunsik Kang, Alexandra Nguyen and Jennifer H. Hill.

CU’s new Boettcher Investigators and their research topics are:

CU Anschutz Medical Campus

Erin K. Englund, PhD, Department of Radiology, University of Colorado School of Medicine – Structural and functional evaluation of skeletal muscle in type 2 diabetes with advanced, quantitative MRI.

Anna Helena Jonsson, MD, PhD, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine – Determining the pathogenic roles of granzyme K + CD8 T cells unexpectedly expanded in rheumatoid arthritis synovium and other diseased tissues.

Yunsik Kang, PhD, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology – Mechanisms of tweek-mediated lipid transfer during astrocyte phagocytosis.

Alexandra Nguyen, PhD, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology – Uncovering the molecular mechanisms of Cohesin regulation in DNA repair and disease.

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER

Jennifer H. Hill, PhD, Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, BioFrontiers Institute – Microbiota Shaping of Human Islets.

The Boettcher Foundation Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards Program supports early career investigators whose research has a direct impact on human health. The biomedical research supported pursuant to this grant program will be designed to find ways to prevent disease and improve human health through basic and applied biomedical research. The intent of the program is to fund meritorious research that has the potential for new discoveries or advances a discovery to the proof of its potential value as an application to improve human health. This research will improve the understanding, treatment, and prevention of human disease. Awardees will carry the prestigious title of Boettcher Investigator.

CU’s seventy-five Boettcher Investigators have been awarded a total of $17,630,000 since the program was initiated in 2010. See all CU Boettcher Investigators.

CAMPUS-SPECIFIC DEADLINES

 Eligibility criteria and application deadlines for the 2026 Awards will be announced in late 2025.