The Department of Biochemistry of UTSWMC is supported by an endowment
named after the parents of the current Chairman, Steve McKnight. This
endowment, designated the Sara and Frank McKnight Fund for Biochemical
Research, provides financial support for outstanding graduate students
and postdoctoral fellows. Each year a selection committee composed of
Mike Rosen, Kristen Lynch, Rick Bruick and Joe Ready chooses one student
having completed his/her second year of graduate school for full stipend
funding to cover the remaining 2-3 years of PhD thesis training.
Applicants in the fields of synthetic chemistry, biophysics and
biochemistry/molecular biology are evaluated in an effort to choose the
single most deserving PhD student within the entire Department of
Biochemistry.

Current Sara and Frank McKnight pre-doctoral trainees include:

Han Dai (Jose Rizo-Rey Lab, PhD anticipated in 2007)
Feng Jiang (Qinghua Liu Lab, PhD anticipated in 2008)

Robb Deberg (Joe Ready Lab, PhD anticipated in 2009)

The Sara and Frank McKnight Fund for Biochemical Research further
supports particularly qualified postdoctoral fellows who choose to
perform independent postdoctoral training in the Department of
Biochemistry. Instead of conventional fellowship training under the
mentorship of a specific member of our faculty, Sara and Frank McKnight
fellows are given the opportunity to work on the topic of their
independent choice. Mentorship for these independent fellows comes not
from a single scientist, but by our department as a whole. These
fellows are provided sufficient funds to cover their own salary, the
salary of a technician, and funds required for the supplies and reagents
required of their scientific project (up to $100,000 per year). This
program is modeled after the Staff Associate fellowship program of the
Department of Embryology of the Carnegie Institution of Washington that
provided Steve McKnight with funds for independent research 30 years
ago. Four Sara and Frank McKnight fellows have been funded to date.
Jared Rutter completed his fellowship in 2004 and is now a tenure track
assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University
of Utah. Benjamin Tu is just completing his independent fellowship and
has accepted a tenure track assistant professorship here at UTSWMC.
Trey Fondon and Charles Dann remain as actively funded Sara and Frank
McKnight fellows.

Applicants for independent postdoctoral training in the Department of
Biochemistry funded by the Sara and Frank McKnight Fund for Biochemical
Research are encouraged to contact Steve McKnight by e-mail at
steven.mcknight@utsouthwestern.edu