Skip to main content
Close
Vilcek Foundation
  • About
    • About

      The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation of the arts and sciences.

    • Our Mission
    • Board & Staff
    • Press Center
    • Contact
  • Prizes
    • Prizes

      The Vilcek Foundation Prizes are awarded to foreign-born individuals for extraordinary achievement in the arts and sciences.

    • About the Prizes

      Learn more about the Vilcek Foundation Prizes and the prizewinners.

    • Vilcek Prizes

      Awarded to immigrants with a legacy of major accomplishments.

    • Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise

      Awarded to young immigrant professionals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement early in their careers.

    • Vilcek Prize for Excellence

      Awarded to immigrants who have had a significant impact on American society, or to individuals who are dedicated champions of immigrant causes.

    • Prize Recipients
    • Grants for Organizations
  • Art
  • Events
  • News
Sign Up Search
Home > Prizes > Prize Recipients > Joanna Wysocka

Joanna Wysocka

2013 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

Location

Stanford, CA

Title

Associate professor of chemical and systems biology and of developmental biology, Stanford University School of Medicine

Area(s) of Research

Genetics; DNA; human evolution

Education

The Rockefeller University (postdoc);
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Long Island (PhD);
University of Warsaw (BS, MS)

Country of Birth

Poland

Links to learn more about Joanna Wysocka's work
  • stanford.edu

Tags
biomedical science cancer research cell biology cell function dna embryonic development genetics poland Stanford University
Share this page
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
A photo of Joanna Wysocka in her office.
Photo courtesy of Christopher Vaughan

The day the Berlin Wall came down, the world opened up for Joanna Wysocka. With “wide-eyed with excitement” on her first visit to the United States a few years later, as a representative of Poland at the 1992 International Chemistry Olympiad, she says the the world seemed full of possibilities she “never dared dream about as a child.”

While an undergraduate at the University of Warsaw, the Lodz native spent a summer volunteering at the renowned Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Long Island, and was invited to return for her PhD studies. She quickly began making a name for herself thanks to contributions to the “great puzzle” of chromatin functionality (DNA packaging), which started “new chapters in chromatin biology, with clear implications for cancer biology,” said Dr. C. David Allis, her advisor at Rockefeller.

In 2006, following a highly successful three-year postdoctoral fellowship, Wysocka established her independent laboratory at Stanford University’s Departments of Chemical and Systems Biology and Developmental Biology.

She decided to apply her expertise in chromatin biology to stem cell biology. Wysocka’s own scientific ideas are many and varied, and together with her interdisciplinary group, her research has already led to the discovery of novel and crucial insights into cell fate and lineage. Going forward, she plans to address the question of human diversity. Her approach will be, quite literally, head-on, as she intends to use as a model the human face. “The face is at the center of our identity … yet we know next to nothing about the genetic basis of human facial variation.” The associate professor is also working on CHARGEsyndrome, a devastating childhood developmental disorder.

To her growing list of accomplishments, Wysocka hopes to one day “know I have inspired and encouraged young people to dream big and do their very best.”

 

Awards and Accomplishments

  • Harland Winfield Mossman Award in Developmental Biology, American Association of Anatomists (2013)
  • California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Basic Biology Awards (2011)
  • Outstanding Young Investigator Award (2010), the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)
  • W. M. Keck Distinguished Young Scholar in Medical Research Award (2008–2013)
  • California Institute for Regenerative Medicine New Faculty Award (2008–2013)
  • Searle Scholar Award (2007–2010)
  • Baxter Foundation Award (2007)
Tags
biomedical science cancer research cell biology cell function dna embryonic development genetics poland Stanford University

Jury Members

2013 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

Heran Darwin

Associate Professor of Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine

Laurie Dempsey

Senior Editor, Nature Immunology

Peter Palese

Professor and Chair, Microbiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Jan Vilcek

Professor of Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine

Leslie Vosshall

Robin Chemers Neustein Professor, The Rockefeller University

Nicholas Wade

Science Department, The New York Times

Jedd Wolchok

Director of Immunotherapy, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Share this page
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Related Prize Recipients

Kivanç Birsoy

Kıvanç Birsoy receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for developing cutting-edge tools to unravel the altered metabolism of cancer cells and uncovering molecular targets for treatment.
Portrait of Kivanc Birsoy

Houra Merrikh

Houra Merrikh receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for demonstrating how conflicts between life-sustaining cellular machines involved in genome duplication and gene expression can accelerate evolution.
Portrait of Houra Merrikh

Antonio Giraldez

Antonio Giraldez receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for uncovering molecular mechanisms underlying embryonic development, which unfolds after fertilization of egg cells, and unveiling the dynamic role of tiny snippets of RNA called microRNAs in this process.
Antonio Giraldez

You may also be interested in

March 19, 2020

Kivanç Birsoy: “I feel like I contribute—at least—to the understanding of this disease”

Kivanç Birsoy’s research at The Rockefeller University focuses on cancer cell metabolism and its therapeutic applications.
Kivanc Birsoy is the head of Birsoy lab at Rockefeller University
February 8, 2019

Mutations and Multiplication: Angelika Amon Unravels Cell Division

“We showed how the cell cycle is interconnected,” Angelika says, “and how one cell cycle phase sets up the next one.”
A photo of Angelika Amon
September 29, 2021

Biophysicist Ibrahim Cissé receives prestigious MacArthur Fellowship

Vilcek Foundation Prizewinner Ibrahim Cissé (b. Republic of Niger) is the recipient of a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation.
Ibrahim Cissé wearing a black blazer and shirt, smiles standing on a rooftop.

Join our mailing list

Sign Up
Vilcek Foundation
21 East 70th Street
New York, New York 10021

Phone: 212.472.2500

Email: info@vilcek.org

  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Board and Staff
    • Press Center
    • Contact
  • Prizes
    • Vilcek Prizes
    • Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise
    • Vilcek Prize for Excellence
    • Prize Recipients
    • Grants for Organizations
  • Art
  • Events
  • News
  • Careers
Connect with us
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Vimeo
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility Statement
© 2022   Vilcek Foundation