Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine Announces 2014 Project Awards in reproductive medicine research and a new $200,000 Research Grant opportunity

NORFOLK, Va., May 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its mission to support leading research and scientific talent in the field of reproductive medicine, the Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine today announced that it has made three Project Awards to young investigators in the United States, and an additional award to fund research dedicated to identifying the pregnancy potential of the fertilized egg.

The Jones Foundation also announced a new grant offering that will be available for application in July, 2014.

Howard P. Milstein has been Chairman of the Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine for the last decade, and a member of the Board of Directors for nearly 25 years.

"I feel very fortunate to have had a front row seat to the development of medical techniques that have so successfully and profoundly served humankind," Mr. Milstein said. "Over these years, I have been continually amazed at the breadth of Dr. Howard Jones' knowledge and by his willingness and ability to share the unmatched professional wisdom he has gained. It has been my privilege to support the noble purpose of the Jones Foundation, its unwavering standards of excellence and its relentless dedication to helping create families."

Project Award Recipients

The Foundation has awarded its Research Grant in Reproductive Medicine to Sergio Oehninger, M.D., Ph.D. of the Jones Institute at Eastern Virginia Medical School, for a project entitled Identification of biomarkers of human embryo developmental potential in IVF: A novel Non-invasive metabolics approach.

Winners of the Young Investigators Achievement Award are: Bo Yu, M.D., M.S., Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women's Health at Albert Einstein School of Medicine for a project entitled DNA methylation changes in human oocyte aging and Shawn L. Chavez, Ph.D., Assistant Scientist and Professor in the Division of Reproductive and Developmental Sciences of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Oregon Health & Science University for a project entitled Elucidating Clinically-Relevant Mechanisms of Aneuploidy Generation and Resolution in IVF Embryos.

Additional Research Award

The Abby and Howard  Milstein Reproductive Medicine Research Award was given to David E. Reichman, M.D., Fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at The Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, for a project entitled Isolation and enrichment of primordial germ cell-like cells from human ES cells.

New Grant Announced

The Foundation invites submission of applications for the Abby and Howard Milstein Innovation Award in Reproductive Medicine in an amount not to exceed $200,000 a year to support an innovative research project dedicated to attempting to identify the human fertilized egg that has pregnancy potential.  The research funds must be used for a translational research project, new or ongoing, with demonstrated potential for immediate impact on improving the in vitro fertilization technique.  A second and third year of funding may be requested upon receipt and review of a report and reapplication at the end of each term.

About the Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine (Jones Foundation)

The Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine is a not-for-profit organization that solicits funds from the general public to support scientific and medical research in the field of reproductive medicine.  In additional to providing research grants to deserving scientific investigators, the Foundation Board of Directors is prepared to serve in an advisory capacity to the agencies it supports. The Foundation may also sponsor seminars which would be designed to evaluate public policy issues related to reproductive medicine in order to educate the general public and attempt to improve the human condition.

The Jones Foundation works in close collaboration with other organizations of medical excellence , including the American Skin Association, the Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation (MMAAPF Foundation), the Milstein Melanoma Research Program at the Rockefeller University, the New York Blood Center (NYBC), and the Program for Translational Chemical biology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical center. For more information, please visit the Jones Foundation website at www.jonesfound.org.

SOURCE Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine