Neuroscientist Yichao Yu has been chosen to receive ELRIG’s Research & Innovation 2023 Early Career Professional Impact Award.
Yu is a neuroscientist at University College London’s Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging. He develops and utilises innovative technologies such as magnetomechanical stimulation (MMS) to remotely and precisely manipulate brain cells with magnets and magnetic materials.
He is particularly interested in realising the therapeutic potential of these developments, and as a strategy to ease clinical translation, his work seeks to transform magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems, which are commonly available in hospitals, into dual-purpose devices capable of both imaging and intervention.
His current research areas include astrocyte biology, mood disorders, and brain cancer.
Yu will present his work at the Research & innovation 2023 conference on March 29-30 in Cambridgeshire.
The Impact Award recognises an Early Career Professional’s scientific impact achieved through one of the following ways:
- Through the delivery of impactful science, contributing to early, pre-clinical drug discovery
- By their science or technology development work
- Through their leadership or facilitation of collaborations within the drug discovery space
- Through other philanthropic and volunteering contributions