ROCKVILLE, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Nancy Carrasco, MD, of Vanderbilt University, has been named the recipient of the 2024 BPS Award for the Biophysics of Health and Disease. Carrasco will be honored at the Society’s 68th Annual Meeting, being held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from February 10-14, 2024.

Carrasco is being recognized for her seminal and elegant work using biophysical approaches to define and characterize the Sodium/Iodide transporter that is essential for synthesizing thyroid hormone and then translating these findings into important medical applications.

“The ultimate goal of biomedical research, no matter how fundamental, is to eventually have an impact on human health,” said BPS President Taekjip Ha of Harvard Medical School. “Nancy relentlessly pursued the transporter responsible for iodide uptake into the thyroid, which she successfully cloned and named NIS, for more than a decade. She has since taken that research further so that it can be used for the detection and possibly treatment of diseases such as breast cancer. Nancy exemplifies the fundamental goals that the Award for the Biophysics of Health and Disease aspires to.”

About the Award – The Biophysics of Health and Disease Award, established by the Biophysical Society, honors significant contribution to understanding the fundamental cause or pathogenesis of disease, or to enabling the treatment or prevention.

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The Biophysical Society, founded in 1958, is a professional, scientific society established to lead an innovative global community working at the interface of the physical and life sciences, across all levels of complexity, and to foster the dissemination of that knowledge. The Society promotes growth in this expanding field through its Annual Meeting, publications, and outreach activities. Its 7,500 members are located throughout the world, where they teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, laboratories, government agencies, and industry.