Dr. Mohammad Arifuzzaman, a postdoctoral associate in the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, part of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a 2024 Tri-Institutional Breakout Award for Junior Investigators.
Weill Cornell Medicine, The Rockefeller University and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center present the awards annually, recognizing exceptional investigators for their remarkable research achievements, impactful findings and high potential for success as independent investigators. The winners, at least one from each institution, receive a $25,000 unrestricted prize.
“I’m honored by this recognition of my research and thankful for the recommendation and support from my supervisor and mentor, Dr. David Artis,” said Dr. Arifuzzaman, who also works in the Friedman Center for Nutrition and Inflammation. “This award, and those who established it, inspire the whole postdoctoral community to do their best.”
Dr. Arifuzzaman’s research focuses on how nutrition and gut microbiota affect immunity. Specifically, he investigates interactions between dietary fiber, small molecules produced by microbiota—known as microbial metabolites—and immune cells, and how these interactions affect inflammatory responses in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), allergy and parasitic infection.
Dr. Arifuzzaman with Dr. David Artis.
“I am thrilled that Dr Arifuzzaman is being honored with the Tri-I Breakout Prize this year,” said Dr. David Artis, director of the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in IBD and the Friedman Center for Nutrition and Inflammation. “This achievement is the product of his innovative thinking and scientific approaches to unraveling the molecular mechanisms that control host-microbiota interactions in human health and disease. The impact of his work has far-reaching implications for our understanding of immunity to infection, chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer.”
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