To honor the memory of Stowers Predoctoral Researchers Camila Behrensen and Pablo Guzmán Palma, the annual Behrensen – Guzmán Palma Graduate Student Award recognizes the most outstanding research paper by a predoctoral researcher in the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. The Stowers Scientific Advisory Board selects the award winner based on the highest standards of scientific excellence, experimental creativity, and/ or technical innovation.

The inaugural recipient of the 2024 award was Kaelan Brennan from the lab of Julia Zeitlinger, Ph.D., for his 2023 Developmental Cell publication describing novel DNA-sequence rules for gene regulation during early embryogenesis through the integration of artificial intelligence and experimental data.

Investigator and Graduate School President Matt Gibson, Ph.D., presented the award to Brennan while recognizing his incredible work, scholarship, and commitment to the Stowers community.