Debra Silver, PhD, professor of molecular genetics and microbiology, cell biology and neurobiology at Duke University School of Medicine, has been awarded a 2024 Javits Award by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).
The award recognizes her groundbreaking work on how the brain’s cerebral cortex develops—a critical area responsible for thinking, perception, and movement.
Silver’s research focuses on radial glia cells (RCGs), which are neural stem cells essential for creating neurons during brain development. Her project aims to uncover how these RCGs signal and organize the surrounding cells, a process vital for healthy brain formation. Understanding these mechanisms could provide new insights into neurological disorders like intellectual disability, microcephaly, and autism.
The Javits Award is a seven-year grant given to scientists with a proven track record of exceptional talent and productivity. The award offers long-term support, starting with an initial four-year grant, with the potential for an additional three years following administrative review.
Work in the Silver Lab not only advances understanding of brain development but also holds promise for new approaches to treating neurological disorders that arise when cerebral cortex development goes awry.
Since joining Duke in 2010, Silver has become co-director of the Duke Regeneration Center and director of the Developmental and Stem Cell Biology PhD program. She earned her PhD from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completed postdoctoral research at the National Human Genome Research Institute.
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