The scientists Heritage has backed.

Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Merkin Institute Fellows and recipients of the Richard Merkin Foundation for Stem Cell Research.

• David R. Liu — Richard Merkin Professor and Director of the Merkin Institute. Invented base editing and prime editing for precise genome correction.
• Feng Zhang — Core institute member. Pioneered CRISPR-Cas9 and Cas13 genome-editing tools for turning genes on and off.
• Aviv Regev — Single-cell genomics; mapping how molecular networks function and evolve (Human Cell Atlas).
• John Rinn — RNA-based tools to silence cancer-causing genes; co-discoverer of large intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs).
• Mitchell Guttman — Discovered lincRNAs and how non-coding RNA regulates the genome (also Caltech, below).
• Sangeeta Bhatia — Tissue engineering; created “microlivers” to study drug metabolism and disease.
• Jesse Boehm — Cancer cell-culture models that let physicians test therapies before treating patients.
• John Doench — CRISPR genetic screens; leads the Genetic Perturbation Platform.
• Angela Koehler — Chemical biology; small-molecule probes targeting transcription.
• Paola Arlotta — Neuroscience; brain organoids and neuronal development.
• Kevin Eggan — Stem-cell biology and motor-neuron disease (ALS).
• Cigall Kadoch — Chromatin-remodeling complexes and their role in cancer.
• Beth Stevens — Microglia and synaptic pruning; seminal discoveries in the biology of schizophrenia.
• Anne Carpenter — Image-based profiling of cells (Cell Painting); 2018–19 Merkin Institute Fellow.
• Fei Chen — Spatial genomics and tissue mapping; 2021 Merkin Institute Fellow.
• Martin Aryee — Computational genomics and epigenomics; Merkin Institute Fellow.

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigators / Heritage Principal Investigators.

• Andre Hoelz — Chemistry; structure of the nuclear pore complex.
• Sarkis Mazmanian — Microbiology; the gut microbiome’s control of the immune system and links to autism.
• Mikhail Shapiro — Chemical engineering; biomolecular imaging and ultrasound-controlled cells.
• Viviana Gradinaru — Neuroscience; co-developed CLARITY whole-tissue clearing.
• Sarah Reisman — Synthetic organic chemistry / total synthesis.
• Azita Emami — Biomedical integrated circuits and implantable sensors.
• Hyuck Choo — Micro/nano-optics for biomedical imaging and sensing.
• Yuki Oka — Neuroscience of thirst and internal body-state regulation.
• Brian Stoltz — Synthetic organic chemistry.
• Chiara Daraio — Materials science and mechanical engineering.
• Ibrahim Cissé — Biological physics; super-resolution imaging of gene expression.
• Changhuei Yang — Computational imaging integrating algorithms and sensors.
• Katherine L. Bouman — Computational imaging; led the algorithm behind the first image of a black hole.
• David Van Valen — Bioimaging with deep learning.
• Lu Wei — Chemical imaging and spectroscopy.
• Wei Gao — Medical engineering; wearable biosensors.
• Matt Thomson — Computational biology.
• Rebecca Voorhees — Cell biology of membrane-protein assembly.
• François Tissot — Isotope geochemistry and analytical instrumentation.

Caltech — Merkin Institute for Translational Research

The Institute’s leadership, professors, and fellows (it also runs Innovation Seed, Spark, Bridge, and Translational Research grant programs, and joint initiatives with City of Hope and Cedars-Sinai). Director: Viviana Gradinaru.

• Jennifer Treweek — Scientific Director; molecular tools and tissue engineering.
• Pamela Bjorkman — Merkin Institute Professor; structural immunology and vaccine design.
• Linda Hsieh-Wilson — Merkin Institute Professor; chemical neurobiology.
• Rustem Ismagilov — Merkin Institute Professor; molecular diagnostics and microfluidics.
• Stephen Mayo — Merkin Institute Professor; computational protein design.
• Dianne Newman — Merkin Institute Professor; microbiology and geobiology of infection.
• Axel Scherer — Merkin Institute Professor; nanofabrication and implantable devices.
• Barbara Wold — Merkin Institute Professor; genomics (past Institute director).
• Anima Anandkumar — Executive Committee; AI / machine learning for science.
• Morteza (Mory) Gharib — Executive Committee; medical engineering and devices.
• Dean Mobbs — Executive Committee; cognitive neuroscience and brain imaging.
• Niles Pierce — Executive Committee; applied mathematics and molecular programming.
• Lihong Wang — Executive Committee; photoacoustic and biomedical imaging.
• Andrew McMahon — Merkin Institute Research Professor; stem-cell and regenerative biology (also USC Keck).
• Ron Diskin — Merkin Institute Co-sponsored (Moore) Fellow; structural biology.

Recent Merkin Institute grant awardees and Bridge Fellows (2024–2026 rounds; many grants are collaborative with USC, Cedars-Sinai, City of Hope, and UC partners):

• Richard Andersen — Functional ultrasound for minimally invasive brain–machine interfaces (Seed, 2024).
• Judith Campbell — DNA2 inhibitors as combination therapy for colorectal cancer (Seed, 2024).
• Marianne Bronner — Dynamic RNA therapeutic platform targeting diseased cells (Seed, 2025).
• Shu-ou Shan — Molecular chaperones targeting alpha-synucleinopathy / Parkinson’s (Seed, 2025).
• Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz — Targeting aneuploid-cell clearance to improve IVF success (Seed, 2025).
• Lydia Varesio — Merkin Bridge Fellow (2026); new treatment for chronic skin infections.
• Qianying Wu — Merkin Bridge Fellow (2026); webcam eye-tracking + AI for autism screening.
• Mikel Lipschitz — Merkin Bridge Fellow (2026); self-renewing therapeutic for Parkinson’s disease.

Richard N. Merkin Center for Pure and Applied Mathematics (Caltech)

Launched 2022, with the Richard N. Merkin Distinguished Professorships of Mathematics.

• Sergei Gukov — Director of the Merkin Center; mathematical physics, string theory, and quantum field theory.
• Elena Mantovan — Center adviser; arithmetic geometry and number theory.
• Jaksa Cvitanic — Richard N. Merkin Professor of Mathematical Finance.
• Nikolai Makarov — Richard Merkin Distinguished Professor; complex analysis and dynamics.
• Danny Calegari — Richard N. Merkin Distinguished Professor; geometry and topology of three-dimensional manifolds.
• Chris Shannon — Richard N. Merkin Distinguished Professor; mathematical economics and market design.

City of Hope

CAR T-cell and gene-therapy research, supported by HPN/HMRI professorships.

• Christine Brown — The Heritage Provider Network Professor in Immunotherapy; CAR T-cell therapy for brain tumors.
• Behnam Badie — Chief of Neurosurgery; CAR T-cell therapy for malignant brain tumors.
• Stephen J. Forman — Hematologic malignancies and stem-cell transplantation.
• Yuman Fong — Surgery and oncolytic virotherapy (HPN Professorship in Gene Therapy).
• Nanhai Chen — Gene therapy and oncolytic viruses.

Focused Ultrasound Foundation

Merkin Fellows advancing focused-ultrasound therapeutics.

• Frederic Padilla — Focused-ultrasound science (Merkin Fellow, 2017).
• Francesco Prada — Neurosurgery and intraoperative ultrasound (Merkin Fellow, 2017).
• Dong-Guk Paeng — Biomedical ultrasound and acoustics.
• Cyril Lafon — Therapeutic ultrasound.
• Tim Bullock — Immunology; focused ultrasound combined with immunotherapy.
• Richard Price — Biomedical engineering; focused ultrasound and the brain.

Johns Hopkins University — Merkin Peripheral Neuropathy and Nerve Regeneration (PNNR) Center

Plus the Richard Merkin Initiative at the Hopkins Brain Sciences Institute. The PNNR Center funds seed grants and microgrants in nerve injury, regeneration, and neuropathy.

• Ahmet Hoke — Director of the Center; Professor of Neurology & Neuroscience; peripheral-nerve regeneration.
• Mohamed H. Farah — Nerve regeneration and neuroprotection; clinical-trial design and biomarkers.
• Nicholas J. Maragakis — Neuromuscular disease and clinical translation.

Merkin PNNR Center seed-grant recipients:

• Gabriela Aparicio — Schwann-cell biology and in-vitro models of nerve degeneration (Univ. of Kentucky).
• Jason Chua — Disease modeling and precision medicine for CMT4B3 (Johns Hopkins).
• Aysel Fisgin — Therapeutic targets to prevent chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (Hoke Lab, Johns Hopkins).
• Timothy Hines — ATF4 as a therapeutic target in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (The Jackson Laboratory).
• Maaz Khan — Gene-expression changes after peripheral nerve injury via single-nucleus RNA sequencing (Johns Hopkins).
• Raniki Kumari — Satellite glial cells in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (Johns Hopkins).
• Jing Liu — MrgprB2/X2 receptors in chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain (Johns Hopkins).
• Mehmet Can Sari — m6A RNA methylation in peripheral nerve regeneration (Hoke Lab, Johns Hopkins).
• Sana Sarkar — microRNAs in monocarboxylate-transporter-mediated nerve regeneration (Johns Hopkins).
• Ligia Schmitd — Schwann-cell Sonic Hedgehog signaling in nerve injury and repair (Univ. of Michigan).
• Lauren S. Vaughn — Axonal stress granules and translation in peripheral neuropathy (Univ. of South Carolina).

Keck School of Medicine of USC

Richard N. Merkin Scholars at the Eli & Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, and the Richard Merkin Distinguished Fellowship in Emergency and Tropical Medicine.

• Justin Ichida — Richard N. Merkin Assistant Professor; stem-cell models of ALS.
• Rong Lu — Richard N. Merkin Assistant Professor; blood stem cells and hematopoiesis.
• Min Yu — Richard N. Merkin Assistant Professor; circulating tumor cells and metastasis.
• Andy McMahon — Chair of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.
• Michael T. Longaker — Regenerative medicine (Stanford–USC collaboration).
• Charles K.F. Chan — Skeletal stem-cell biology (HMRI gift).
• Nico Forget, Monica Kumar, and Elissa Schecter — Merkin Distinguished Fellows in Emergency and Tropical Medicine.

Prostate Cancer Foundation

HMRI–PCF Young Investigators.

• Paul Nguyen — Radiation oncology; prostate cancer (Dana-Farber / Harvard; 2012 HMRI–PCF Young Investigator).
• Hannelore Heemers — Androgen signaling and prostate-cancer biology.
• Jennifer Schutzman — Prostate development and tumorigenesis.

Innovative Genomics Institute (UC Berkeley)

Merkin Family Foundation / HMRI support for CRISPR-based therapy and delivery (sickle-cell disease).

• Jennifer Doudna — Founder of the Innovative Genomics Institute and Nobel laureate (CRISPR-Cas9); current HMRI Principal Investigator for CRISPR delivery systems.
• Jacob Corn — Genome editing for sickle-cell disease.
• Niren Murthy — Biomaterials and CRISPR delivery.
• Ross Wilson — Targeted CRISPR delivery.

Brigham & Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School

• Francisco J. Quintana — Neuroimmunology; multiple sclerosis (Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases).

Brookings Institution — Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform

The Richard Merkin Initiative on Payment Reform and Clinical Leadership (est. 2011) endows scholars studying the move from fee-for-service to value-based payment.

• Darshak Sanghavi — Merkin Fellow for Payment Reform and Clinical Leadership; pediatric cardiologist and health-policy leader.

The Richard N. Merkin Prize in Biomedical Technology

Awarded annually at the Broad Institute for transformative biomedical technologies. (Established 2022; first awarded 2023.)

• Marvin Caruthers (2023) — Automated DNA synthesis, foundational to modern genomics.
• F. William Studier (2024) — The T7 protein- and RNA-production platform used to make COVID-19 vaccines.
• Carl June, Bruce Levine, Isabelle Rivière, and Michel Sadelain (2025) — CAR T-cell therapy, now given to more than 45,000 cancer patients.
• Graeme Clark, Erwin Hochmair, Ingeborg Hochmair, Michael Merzenich, and Blake Wilson (2026) — The modern cochlear implant, used by more than a million people worldwide to access sound and spoken language. (Honored at the Broad Institute, September 2026.)

* Funding for the scholars and programs above is provided primarily through the Heritage Medical Research Institute (HMRI) and the Merkin Family Foundation, with additional support through Heritage Provider Network endowments and gifts to the named institutions.