APEX International Post-Doctoral Fellow Grants 2026

APEX is pleased to announce the 2026 APEX International Post‑Doctoral Fellow Grant Recipients. A total of five $100,000 grants were awarded to support mentored post‑doctoral research on basic and translational heme biosynthesis and in studies addressing the pathogenesis or treatment of the porphyrias.

• From Chronic Heme Precursor Accumulation in Hepatic Porphyrias to Non‑Cirrhotic Primary Liver Cancer‍‍
  Cindy Ament, PhD (University of California, San Francisco)
  Mentor: Bruce Wang, MD (University of California, San Francisco)

• Defining Cutaneous Signaling Networks in Erythropoietic Protoporphyria (EPP)‍‍
  Lenore Yalom, PhD (Massachusetts General Hospital)
  Mentors: Amy Yeung, MD & Anna Mandinova, MD, PhD (Massachusetts General Hospital)

• EHR‑Based Mapping of Diagnostic Delay in Porphyria to Enable Earlier Recognition‍‍
  Rory Tinker, MD (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)
  Mentor: Manisha Balwani, MD (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)

• Generation and Characterization of a Human iPSC‑Based Hepatocyte Model for Acute Intermittent Porphyria‍‍
  Shahriar Sohel, MD (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)
  Mentor: Makiko Yasuda, MD, PhD (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)

• Applying Biochemical and Bioinformatics Tools for Understanding Porphyrias and Associated Diseases
  Sonali M. Vaidya, M.Sc. (University of Bonn, Germany)
  Mentor: Diana Imhof, PhD (University of Bonn, Germany)

For inquiries regarding this research prize, please contact APEX.