The scholarship program for graduate students was created by the Clause family’s generous donation to Sanford Burnham Prebys
Erik Hultenius, a third-year doctoral student in the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, was selected as the 2026 recipient of the Melvin and Phyllis McCardle Clause Scholarship.
The scholarship was established in honor of Phyllis McCardle Clause after her long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. The award supports graduate student education in age-related neurodegeneration within the Institute’s graduate school.
“Receiving this honor is very reassuring for the direction of my project,” said Hultenius. “Receiving positive feedback from the selection committee is encouraging, as is having my research project singled out from a competitive field of proposals.”
Hultenius became passionate about understanding the biology of aging during his undergraduate coursework. He remembers a particular class where he and his peers discussed a manuscript about epigenetic reprogramming to reverse features of aging in mice.
“It was fascinating to me that there are people working on interventions that targeted aging almost as if it was a disease,” said Hultenius. “At that point, I knew I wanted to develop ways to intervene in the biological aging process to prevent age-related neurodegeneration and other diseases before they become too difficult to treat.”
After graduating in 2023, Hultenius conducted an internship with Altos Labs, a biotechnology company focused on restoring cell health and resilience through cell rejuvenation. He then joined Sanford Burnham Prebys and experienced a “full circle” moment with his PhD program mentor, Xiao Tian, PhD, assistant professor in the Center for Neurologic Diseases.
“I realized that Xiao was one of the lead authors on the paper I read in class that introduced me to this field,” said Hultenius. “He is partly responsible for sparking my research interest to begin with, so it was serendipitous to end up joining his lab.”
Hultenius investigates the brain’s immune cells, which are called microglial cells. He wants to understand how they change with aging and how those age-related changes might contribute to how Alzheimer’s disease progresses.
“Microglia are intimately involved in the processes that help to prevent disease from spreading in the brain,” said Hultenius. “They also mediate inflammation, and we know that increased levels of inflammation correlate with poor outcomes in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.”
Hultenius sees the potential to make a meaningful difference in this ever more prevalent age-related disease.
“There is a tremendous gap in patient care right now as treatment options are limited and lacking in effectiveness for most individuals. I want to make an impact on Alzheimer’s disease for all those affected, and the support from the Clause scholarship will help me advance my research and move closer to my goal.”