Berna Sozen is awarded the 2026 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for pioneering stem cell–based models that make the earliest stages of human development accessible. Her work has also revealed how metabolism actively guides embryonic cell fate decisions, and her leadership in building an inclusive research environment has helped support scientists from underrepresented backgrounds.

A developmental biologist, Sozen is an assistant professor in the department of genetics at Yale School of Medicine, where her lab investigates how the first few weeks of human life unfold. Her work spans molecular biology, metabolism, and stem cell engineering.

Sozen grew up in a family of modest means in Turkey. Financial constraints and limited access to higher education shaped her peers’ career choices, with most opting for professions like medicine. After completing an internship at an IVF clinic, Sozen became captivated by the question of how a tiny sphere of cells becomes a human being and chose to follow a different path of scientific inquiry.

Her graduate research at Akdeniz University in Turkey and the University of Cambridge was among the first to demonstrate that mammalian stem cells can self-organize to recapitulate early embryogenesis in a dish. Sozen’s independent lab at Yale has continued to push this frontier by developing a three-dimensional human embryo model that captures the short, weeks-long window after fertilization. This work, together with a growing community of researchers, helped establish “stem cell–based embryology” as a thriving field.

By showing how embryonic cells sense and respond to maternal nutrition, Sozen’s current research connects maternal health to developmental outcomes while opening pathways for regenerative medicine applications.

Awards and Accomplishments

Pew Biomedical Scholars Award (2025) 
American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Award (2024)
NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (2022)
Smith Foundation Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research (2022)