Elias Aizenman, professor of neurobiology, School of Medicine, has been selected for the 2024 International Society for Zinc Biology (ISZB) /Frederickson Prize.
It honors not only his pioneering research into zinc’s unique role in neurotoxic cell signaling pathways but also his creation of the “MetalZoom!” online seminar series for zinc and other metal researchers around the world during the COVID lockdown.
The prize committee commended Aizenman’s “educational and outreach efforts to engage young zinc scientists, and his enthusiasm, openness, and generosity in the form of mentorship to many early career researchers,” announced ISZB President Samantha Pitt, of the University of St. Andrew’s College in Scotland.
“I am deeply honored by this very meaningful recognition from my colleagues in zinc research,” Aizenman said. “I have made wonderful friends from around the world through this crossdisciplinary group and am proud of what we have accomplished as a relatively young scientific society.”
Aizenman, a past president of ISZB, will receive a medal and honorarium and will deliver a talk at the upcoming ISZB meeting in Merida, Mexico, in Dec. His current research interests include novel approaches to stroke therapeutics.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in biology from Boston University, Aizenman completed a doctorate in toxicology at Johns Hopkins University and postdoctoral training in neuroscience at Harvard Medical School. He was an assistant professor at Harvard before joining the Pitt faculty in 1989 and became a professor at Pitt in 2001. He is also an adjunct professor at Ben Gurion University in Israel.