January 25, 2016—Ludwig Oxford researcher Sarah De Val has won the 2017 Werner Risau Early Career Investigator Award in Vascular Biology. The award was established in honor of Dr. Werner Risau, an investigator who formulated key concepts for the regulation of angiogenesis, challenged prevailing dogmas about angiogenic factors and proposed the now accepted hypothesis that several growth factors act sequentially to mediate vasculogenesis, angiogenesis, and vascular remodeling.
Her paper “An Intronic Flk1 Enhancer Directs Arterial-Specific Expression via RBPJ-Mediated Venous Repression” was selected as the most outstanding paper published during 2016 in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, in the area of vascular biology. The study demonstrates a novel mechanism of arterial-venous identity acquisition, and shows a direct link between the Notch and VEGF signaling pathways. Sarah will receive this award from the ATVB Council on May 5, 2017 in Minneapolis, MN, USA. Congratulations to Sarah!