Kansas City, Mo. (May 16, 2008) – The M.R. and Evelyn Hudson Foundation has named C. Ron Yu, Ph.D., Assistant Investigator, the 2008 Hudson Prize recipient. The prize was announced at a luncheon today at the Stowers Institute.

     The Hudson Prize carries a grant of $75,000 to be used by the recipient to conduct innovative research and accelerate the pace of laboratory experimentation. It was created by the Texas-based Hudson Foundation to recognize and encourage excellence in basic biomedical research at the Stowers Institute.

      “Dr. Yu has established an impressive research program at the Stowers Institute,” said William B. Neaves, President and CEO of the Stowers Institute. “The Hudson Prize will allow him to hasten the pace of his important work in developmental neuroscience.”

     Dr. Yu joined the Stowers Institute in 2005 from the lab of Dr. Richard Axel at Columbia University where he held a National Institutes of Health Mentored Research Scientist Award from the National Institute of Mental Health.

     Dr. Yu holds a Ph.D. in cellular, molecular, and biophysical studies from Columbia University and B.Sc. degrees in biological sciences and biotechnology and in solid state physics from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

     Since joining the Stowers Institute, Dr. Yu has published important papers in peer-reviewed journals, including a notable report in the April 25, 2008 issue of Science showing how social signals are represented in the sensory system and how animals identify each other.

      In addition to his primary appointment at the Stowers Institute, Dr. Yu holds an academic appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at The University of Kansas School of Medicine.

About the Hudson Foundation

     The Hudson Foundation was established in 1991 to further the Hudsons’ lifelong interest in supporting education, medical research, children’s issues, and the arts. M.R. Hudson was the founder of Hudson Oil Co. and later Fisca Oil Co.

About the Stowers Institute
     Housed in a 600,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility on a 10-acre campus in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research conducts basic research on fundamental processes of cellular life. Through its commitment to collaborative research and the use of cutting-edge technology, the Institute seeks more effective means of preventing and curing disease. The Institute was founded by Jim and Virginia Stowers, two cancer survivors who have created combined endowments of $2 billion in support of basic research of the highest quality.