Shalini Pradhan, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Xiaoyu Shi, has been awarded a prestigious 2026 postdoctoral fellowship from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The fellowship recognizes promising early-career scientists who are pursuing innovative research with the potential to open new frontiers in science.
The award provides support for postdoctoral researchers to explore bold ideas and pursue new directions in their work. For Pradhan, the fellowship offers both recognition and an opportunity to deepen her research into how the human brain is organized at the molecular level.
“Receiving the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship is both an honor and a meaningful source of encouragement at this stage of my career,” Pradhan said. “It provides the support and flexibility to pursue ambitious ideas and explore new directions in spatial proteomics. I’m especially grateful for the opportunity to contribute to research that aims to better understand the molecular organization of the human brain, and I’m thankful to my mentor Dr. Xiaoyu Shi and collaborators who have supported my work along the way.”
Pradhan’s research focuses on developing new approaches to map how proteins — the molecular workhorses of cells — are arranged within brain tissue. While scientists have long known that proteins are essential to how the brain functions, determining their precise locations within the brain’s complex cellular architecture remains a major challenge.
Her work uses an emerging approach known as GEMclear spatial proteomics, which allows researchers to study proteins directly within intact brain samples while preserving the natural arrangement of cells and molecules. Maintaining this spatial information allows scientists to uncover molecular patterns that are often lost in traditional analyses that break tissues apart.
“What excites me most about the GEMclear spatial proteomics approach is its ability to study proteins in their native spatial context within the brain,” Pradhan said. “By mapping protein distributions across specific cell types in the human cortex, we hope to gain new insights into how molecular organization supports brain function.”
Understanding how proteins are distributed among different brain cells could help answer longstanding questions about how the brain works and how neurological disorders arise. Disruptions in these molecular systems are linked to many neurological and psychiatric conditions.
“In the long term, uncovering cell-type–specific protein organization in the brain may help reveal biological mechanisms underlying neurological and psychiatric diseases,” Pradhan said. “These insights could ultimately guide new strategies for studying and treating brain disorders.” By supporting early-career scientists at critical moments in their research journeys, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship help accelerate discoveries that expand our understanding of the natural world. For Pradhan, the award provides an opportunity to pursue ambitious questions about the brain — research that could ultimately contribute to new ways of understanding and treating brain disease.