Regeneron Announces First Recipients of Annual "Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation"

TARRYTOWN, N.Y., June 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) today announced the first recipients of the Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation, a new initiative designed to acknowledge, reward, and foster talented early-career scientists.   

"We are excited to offer the Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation to scientists who are beginning their research careers and show great promise," said George Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., Founding Scientist, President, Regeneron Laboratories, and Chief Scientific Officer, who designed the program as a way to identify and track developing scientific talent.  "We believe this program demonstrates the Company's commitment to supporting science education and research excellence."

Regeneron is awarding two prizes for outstanding research this year. 

• The Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation by a Postdoctoral Fellow has been awarded to Chuan Wu, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University.
• The Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation by a Graduate Student has been awarded to Cody Gilleland, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Additionally, this year Regeneron is recognizing two graduate student researchers with Honorable Mentions: Daria Zamolodchikov, Rockefeller University and Lukasz Bugaj, University of California at Berkeley. 

Requests for applicants were distributed to key academic institutions around the nation in February.  Each institution was asked to nominate two graduate students and two postdoctoral fellows.

A key component of each application was a proposal, drafted by the nominee, explaining a "dream" project in biomedical research.  This proposal gave the review committee at Regeneron insights into the nominee's creativity and ability to think independently as a scientist.  Each nominee also included a curriculum vitae and list of publications; the trainee's productivity in his or her current laboratory also factored into the review committee's decision.

"We're looking for productive, creative, and innovative young scientists who are not afraid to think outside the box," said Susan Croll, Ph.D., a Regeneron scientist who directs the postdoctoral program at Regeneron.  "The results of their research proposal should have the potential to drive biomedicine forward."

Ten finalists were invited to Regeneron in April to meet with scientists, give presentations about their proposals, and tour the Company's facilities.  The two winning trainees will each receive $50,000, and the institutions nominating the two winners will each receive a $5,000 donation to support their seminar series.  The remaining finalists will each be awarded $5,000, except for the two recipients of "Honorable Mentions," who will each receive $10,000.

"Regeneron is proud to support and encourage early career scientists as they forge their futures in biomedicine.  To build the pipeline of promising new treatments for unmet medical needs, we must also develop the pipeline of talented new medical researchers," concluded Dr. Croll.

About Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
Regeneron is a leading science-based biopharmaceutical company based in Tarrytown, New York, that discovers, invents, develops, manufactures, and commercializes medicines for the treatment of serious medical conditions.  Regeneron markets medicines for eye diseases, colorectal cancer, and a rare inflammatory condition and has product candidates in development in other areas of high unmet medical need, including hypercholesterolemia, oncology, rheumatoid arthritis, allergic asthma, and atopic dermatitis.  The Company was ranked by Science magazine as the top employer in the global biopharmaceutical industry in 2012.  For additional information about the company, please visit www.regeneron.com.

Contact Information:   
Peter Dworkin
Corporate Communications  
914.847.7640  
[email protected]

SOURCE Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.