Jonathan Kelber (Photo by Tauran Woo)

Jonathan Kelber, associate professor of biology in CSUN’s College of Science and Mathematics, received the 2021 California State University Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology (CSUPERB) Faculty Research Award in December, becoming the first CSUN faculty member to receive this honor.

Along with the systemwide recognition, Kelber will receive a monetary prize and give a special scientific presentation at the virtual 33rd Annual CSU Biotechnology Symposium, scheduled for 12 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 9.

The competitive Faculty Research Award honors a faculty member within the CSU who has made a significant impact through their research and creation of a biotechnology-related research program.

CSUPERB provides grants, opportunities and awards to CSU biotechnology programs, faculty and students to pursue its mission to help develop a strong professional workforce in the field of biotechnology.

Kelber has led groundbreaking cancer research as the director of his National Institutes of Health (NIH) Developmental Oncogene Laboratory within CSUN’s Department of Biology. There, he has trained over 40 undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who have developed and or published new methods and strategies to study, diagnose and treat cancer. He was the 2017 recipient of the CSUN CS&M Early Career Research Award, the 2017 American Society for Cell Biology Minority Affairs Committee Visiting Professorship to the Harvard Medical School Ludwig Center and the 2019-20 Fulbright Cancer Research UK Scholarship to the University of Manchester Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research in Manchester, England.

“The CSUPERB program has been instrumental in supporting groundbreaking biotechnology scholarship by faculty and students across the CSU system. External funding of my own lab began with New Investigator and Joint-Venture Grants, and CSUPERB has supplied pivotal support to my students with travel awards, the Howell Scholarship and the President’s Commission Scholarship,” Kelber said. “I am thrilled and honored to receive this special award and am very thankful to my former and current trainees for their diligent and enthusiastic efforts.”

College of Science and Mathematics, CSUPERB, Department of Biology, Developmental Oncogene Laboratory, Faculty Research Award, Fulbright Scholars, Jonathan Kelber, Kelber Lab