Van Andel Institute’s Dr. Travis Walton awarded prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship
February 18, 2025
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Feb. 18, 2025) — The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has named Van Andel Institute’s Travis Walton, Ph.D., to its 2025 class of Sloan Research Fellows in recognition of his exemplary neuroscience research.
Awarded annually since 1955, Sloan Research Fellowships honor exceptional early career researchers in the U.S. and Canada who are rising stars in their areas of study. This year’s class comprises 126 scientists across seven fields. Awardees receive a two-year, $75,000 fellowship to support their research.
To date, 58 Sloan Fellows have gone on to win a Nobel Prize and 72 have won the National Medal of Science.
“The Sloan Research Fellows represent the very best of early-career science, embodying the creativity, ambition and rigor that drive discovery forward,” Adam F. Falk, president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, said in a statement. “These extraordinary scholars are already making significant contributions, and we are confident they will shape the future of their fields in remarkable ways.”
Walton studies the cellular cytoskeleton, an intricate network of fibers that provides structure and stability to cells. Problems with the cytoskeleton can contribute to a wide range of human diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Walton’s lab uses leading-edge technologies, including VAI’s high-powered cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) suite, to identify vulnerabilities in the cytoskeleton that can lead to new ways to diagnose or treat disease.
“As a newcomer to neuroscience, I am deeply honored that the Sloan Foundation recognizes my scientific vision,” Walton said. “This award will further strengthen the role of my lab and VAI in bridging neuroscience and structural biology.”
Related: Learn more about the Walton Lab ➔
Walton joined VAI in 2024 as an assistant professor in the Department of Structural Biology. He earned his Ph.D. in biological and biomedical sciences from Harvard Medical School and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Alan Brown, Ph.D., also at Harvard. While there, Walton employed cryo-EM to develop the first full atomic model of the axoneme, the cytoskeletal “backbone” of cilia and flagella. In 2020, Dr. Walton was awarded the prestigious Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in recognition of his research accomplishments.