Richard Smith, PhD, assistant professor of Pharmacology and of Pediatrics, has received the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award. The award supports early-career scientists conducting high-risk and innovative research in the biomedical, behavioral or social sciences.
Smith’s research aims to develop novel therapeutics that target the brain in children with severe epilepsy sooner and more effectively than current personalized treatments.
“Receiving the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award is a tremendous privilege, and I view it as an opportunity to serve the American public who make this research possible through their investment in science. It is not just recognition of our lab’s work, but also a commitment to pursuing bold, high-risk ideas that can truly change the lives of children, halting brain damage that would otherwise result in a lifetime of disability,” Smith said.
The NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, established in 2007, supports early-career investigators who propose high-risk or high-impact research. The award will support Smith’s laboratory in identifying a broader set of signaling pathways implicated in excitatory/inhibitory neuronal balance during early brain development using high-throughput biology, advanced tissue modeling using cerebral organoids, and innovative RNA-based technologies.
The NIH Director’s New Innovator Award is supported by the NIH Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward program, which supports scientists pursuing highly innovative research with the potential for broad impact in biomedical, behavioral, or social sciences within the NIH mission.
“Today, personalized genetic treatments take years to develop, time that these children simply cannot afford as every seizure presents the risk of irreversible brain damage. Our goal is to create faster, broadly effective RNA-based therapies that can stabilize brain activity and buy critical time while precision treatments are designed,” Smith said. “We hope to not only transform early epilepsy treatment but also provide a new mechanistic understanding for other early-onset brain disorders.”
“Dr. Smith is a rising star in our department and in the field of neonatal brain development. The NIH New Innovator Award recognizes his pioneering work that will lead to disease-modifying therapies for neurodevelopmental disorders in children. We are lucky to have him as a faculty member in our department at Feinberg,” said Al George, Jr., MD, chair and the Alfred Newton Richards Professor of Pharmacology.
“We are thrilled that Dr. Smith has received the prestigious NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, a recognition of his bold and visionary approach to advancing RNA therapeutics. This award will accelerate his pioneering work with 3D brain models to protect infants from lifelong disabilities, and it powerfully advances the mission of the Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment to transform cutting-edge science into urgently needed treatments,” said Peter Penzes, PhD, the Ruth and Evelyn Dunbar Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and director of the Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment.
