At Keystone Symposia we engage researchers from around the world in our global research conferences, but we are also intimately connected with our local scientific community.  With a plethora of academic and industry powerhouses located just down the hill on the front range, Colorado offers an expansive biomedical and biotechnology landscape.  Founded on the frontiers of the West, Colorado is now pioneering the frontiers of science and medicine.

Here we highlight one of our local Denver-based organizations, The Boettcher Foundation, with whom we share the common goal of integrating academic and industry science to drive biomedical advances with clinical impacts.

Colorado can only be a leader in scientific innovation if its most dynamic scientific minds are supported at early stages in their work.

The Boettcher Foundation’s biomedical research grants program aims to support scientific innovation in Colorado by providing biomedical research funding for early-career investigators at the state’s research institutions.

At Boettcher we believe in the promise of Colorado and the potential of Coloradans.

~ Curtis Esquibel

...says Curtis Esquibel, Director of Communications & Community Engagement. "Boettcher Investigators are some of our state’s most promising leaders in research, health, and scientific innovation. Investing in them at this critical juncture in their careers will see significant returns in the short and long-term future.”

Recipients of Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards, or “Boettcher Investigators,” are awarded research grants of $235,000, covering up to three years of biomedical research. The grants help Boettcher Investigators establish themselves and their research. As a result, they become competitive for major awards from federal agencies and private sources.

By funding researchers at this critical juncture, the Boettcher Foundation seeks to keep promising research on track and ensure that Colorado’s best scientific minds aren’t compelled to leave the state in search of funding.

To date:

• • • 68 Boettcher Investigators have received funding through the Webb-Waring program since 2010.
    • Boettcher Investigators have gone on to earn a collective $80 million in independent research funding.
    • 94% of award recipients remain at Colorado research institutions, advancing the foundation’s mission of keeping Colorado’s top scientific minds in the state.

Boettcher Investigator Highlights

Through our Virtual Keystone Symposia (VKS) platform, which leverages digital media technologies to extend the reach and impact of biomedical research around the world, we share the work of these select Boettcher Investigators with global audiences. Thanks to the Boettcher Foundation for their collaboration in this project, and hosting us in their offices in Denver to meet with and record these rising stars!

Jean Mulcahy Levy, MD

Dr. Mulcahy Levy is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Morgan Adams Foundation Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She completed a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Children’s Hospital Colorado, and a residency in Pediatric Medicine at the University of Arizona. Dr. Mulcahy Levy earned her M.D. at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon.

Analysis of Paired BRAFv600e Mutant Glioma Samples Identifies Novel Resistance Mechanisms to Targeted BRAF Inhibition

Matthew Taliaferro, PhD

Dr. Taliaferro is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He completed postdoctoral work in Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley.

FMRP Promotes RNA Localization Through Interactions Between its RGG Domain and G-Quadruplex RNA Sequences

Elena Hsieh, MD

Dr. Elena Hsieh is an Assistant Professor of Immunology & Microbiology and Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and earned her MD degree from University of California San Francisco (UCSF) in 2008. She completed a residency in pediatrics at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2011, and a fellowship in Allergy and Immunology at Stanford University in 2014. In 2015, Dr. Hsieh joined the faculty at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, jointly affiliated with the Children’s Hospital of Colorado.

Toward Precision Medicine:

From Clinical Enigma to Molecular Target

Melanie Cree-Green, MD, PhD

Unraveling Metabolic Disease in Adolescents with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

See More SciTalks, ePanels and Virtual Content by Global Research Leaders on VKS HERE