Researcher Sean Morrison received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and engineers during a recent ceremony at the White House.

The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.

“It’s nice to get recognition and encouragement, especially from such a competitive award,” says Morrison, associate professor of internal medicine in the Medical School and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He received the award Sept. 9.

The Presidential Award was established by President Clinton in 1996 to support the achievements of young professionals at the beginning of their independent science and technology research careers. Eight federal agencies participate in the program and nominate researchers for the awards, which are given out annually.

Morrison was nominated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), through which he has a grant to study the role of stem cells in peripheral nervous system development. The award was presented in recognition of this work and extends his grant funding for five more years.

Morrison joined the faculty in 2000. His lab focuses on two types of stem cells: neural crest stem cells, which develop into the peripheral nervous system, connective tissue and other types of cells; and hematopoietic stem cells, which form the blood and immune system cells.

In research published recently, Morrison and his colleagues identified a gene that controls the ability of adult stem cells to self-renew, or make new copies of themselves, throughout life. Since cancer cells share the secret of self-renewal with adult stem cells, this research raises the possibility that over-expression of this gene in stem cells could lead to uncontrolled growth and cancer.

Other research from Morrison’s lab identified defective stem cells as the key to a serious, sometimes life-threatening, intestinal disorder called Hirschsprung’s disease, which affects one in 5,000 newborn infants. Babies with the disease are born without specialized nerve cells in the large intestine.

Morrison’s research found the basic problem is that certain mutations prevent neural crest stem cells, which give rise to nerves in the embryonic digestive system, from reaching the lower part of the developing gut.

“Stem cell biology has tremendous potential to yield insights into fundamental scientific questions as well as treatments for currently incurable diseases. It is gratifying to have the contributions of my laboratory recognized in this way,” Morrison says.

The Presidential Award was designed to embody the high priority placed by the United States on maintaining the country’s leadership position in science. The awards are conferred by the White House and administered by the National Science and Technology Council, the agency that coordinates science, space, and technology research and development on behalf of the White House.

Morrison was one of 57 people honored with the award at a ceremony presided over by John Marburger III, science adviser to the president and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

In addition to the NIH, agencies that nominated people for the Presidential Award are the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy and Veterans Affairs.