Three current and former researchers in HWNI labs have been named 2026 Jane Coffin Childs Fellows by the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research (JCC Fund): Adam Lowet, a current postdoctoral researcher in lab of HWNI member Michael Yartsev; Francesco (Frank) Lanfranchi, a former graduate student in the lab of HWNI member Doris Tsao; and Jordan Ngo, a former graduate student in the lab of HWNI member Randy Schekman.
The JCC Fund supports fundamental scientific research that advances our understanding of the causes, treatments, and cures for human disease. The fellowships are given to outstanding postdoctoral fellows based on their prior research accomplishments, research plans, and proposed scientific environment and mentors.
In the Yartsev lab, Lowet will investigate the computational and biological mechanisms underlying social decision-making using an unorthodox model system: the Egyptian fruit bat, a highly social animal.
In Tirin Moore’s lab at Stanford University, Lanfranchi will study neural circuits that facilitate how internal goals are maintained and translated into action — one of the fundamental functions that neurological diseases disrupt.
In Rebecca Voorhees’ lab at Caltech, Ngo will continue to study organelle biogenesis, investigating how peroxisomes, membrane-bound organelles that play essential roles in human physiology, form.