2025 Young Investigator Prize winners

Tessa Arends, PhD, and Katy de Valle, PhD, were awarded this year’s Young Investigator Prize, announced at the 32nd Annual International Research Congress (IRC) on FSHD in Amsterdam earlier this month. The award recognizes outstanding junior researchers who are making significant contributions to FSHD research.

Arends, a postdoctoral fellow at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington, has done groundbreaking research on the biological functions of DUX4–the gene implicated in FSHD. She is investigating epigenetic and DNA repair pathways activated by DUX4.

De Valle, a research physiotherapist at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia, has blazed trails in the study of FSHD in children, investigating outcome measures and MRI to understand how FSHD develops in pediatric patients. She is a key member of the international MOVE Pediatric natural history study.

The winners are selected through an open nomination process, with the final selection by the IRC program committee. The committee comprises clinical and scientific leaders in the field. This year they included: Lucienne Ronco, PhD, organizing chair; Nicol Voermans, MD PhD, co-chair; Stephen Tapscott, MD PhD, co-chair; Marnie Blewitt, PhD; Enrico Bugiardini, PhD; Seth Friedman, PhD; Channa Hewamadduma, FRCP; Cristiane Araujo Martins Moreno, MD PhD; Jeffrey Statland, MD; Giorgio Tasca, MD PhD; Kyoko Yokomori, PhD; Vishnu VY, MD.

Congratulations to the winners!