The winner of the 2017 Journal of Cell Science (JCS) Prize is Seth Zimmerman for his paper entitled ‘Cells lay their own tracks – optogenetic Cdc42 activation stimulates fibronectin deposition supporting directed migration’ (Zimmerman et al., 2017).
Seth received his PhD in 2017. He was a joint student in Kuhlman lab and the Bear lab in the Cell Biology department. For his project, he developed and applied novel protein switches that could be turned on and off with light. These switches allowed him to activate Rho-family GTPases in specific regions of a cell using a blue laser, which allowed him study critical steps in cell migration.
The JCS prize, $1000, is awarded annually to the first author of the paper that is judged by the Editors and Editorial Board to be the best eligible paper published in the Journal of Cell Science that year. To be considered for the prize, the first author must be a student or a postdoc of no more than five years standing.