James Ankrum, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and researcher at the UI Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center, has

been selected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as one of 16 finalists for Phase 1 of its Follow the Cell Challenge and one of five Follow that Cell prize winners.

James Ankrum's proposal is on "Self-destructing cellular barcode: A versatile tool for single cell analysis" 

The goal of the challenge is to stimulate the development of new tools and methods that will enable researchers to predict the behavior and function of a single cell in complex tissue over time. During Phase 1 of the challenge, innovators across a wide range of fields were encouraged to propose theoretical solutions for tracking and analyzing the behavior and function of individual cells over a period of minutes, hours, and even days.

Of the 16 finalists, five prize winners were selected to receive monetary prizes totaling $88,000 and will now advance—along with the additional 11 finalists—to the challenge’s second phase, which requires innovators to generate proof-of-concept data over the next 2 years to compete for a prize of $400,000.

Ankrum will be presented and recognized as part of the 3rd Annual Single Cell Analysis Investigators Meeting April 20-21, 2015, at the Natcher Conference Center on the NIH Campus in Bethesda, Maryland.