Dr. Kuo is a faculty trainer in the CMB Program and an assistant professor in the Department of Neurological Surgury here at UW-Madison.  He has received The Young Clinician Investigator Award from the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons for 2008.  This award is designed to support young neurosurgeons pursuing careers as clinician investigators, the Young Clinician Investigator Award is open to junior faculty for a one-year grant of $40,000.

Dr. Kuo's lab is focused on studying cancer stem cell biology to develop novel brain tumor therapies, and this research uses stem cells to identify molecules that regulate blood-brain barrier. The normal blood brain barrier prevents many chemotherapies from reaching brain tumors, and abnormal regulation of this barrier is a feature of malignant brain tumors that may be exploited for better treatments.

This award will be announced at the April 26 - May 1 Annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons to beheld in Chicago. The AANS is the largest and oldest neurosurgery organization in the world.