MSU’s first-ever W. M. Keck Foundation award will show life in a new light

<p>The <a href="http://www.wmkeck.org">W. M. Keck Foundation</a> has awarded Michigan State University’s <a href="https://www.chemistry.msu.edu/faculty-research/faculty-members/marcos-dantus/">Marcos Dantus</a> and <a href="https://www.chemistry.msu.edu/faculty-research/faculty-members/elad-harel/">Elad Harel</a> $1.3 million to start a new revolution in the way we use optical microscopes to understand the living world.</p><p>The philanthropic grant is one of six awarded nationally by the Keck Foundation in 2022 for science and engineering. This also marks the first time that scientists at MSU have claimed the award.</p><p>This also marks the first time that scientists at MSU have claimed the award. The Keck Foundation encourages creativity by rewarding transformative projects that other funding agencies might see as too ambitious or risky. </p><p>“This is a really remarkable achievement,” says <a href="https://research.msu.edu/people/douglas-gage">Douglas Gage</a>, MSU's vice president for research and innovation. “The Keck Foundation is a funder of scientific research, and they value one thing, I think, over anything else, and that's transformative innovation. They do not want to fund research that can be funded by any other agency. </p><p>“One of the things that it does for MSU is that it really validates the innovation that we have going on at the university. And we know that, but it's great to have a national organization really validate what we know about MSU. We're very grateful for this proposal and that it was funded. I'm convinced that the work that Elad and Marcos will do will indeed be transformational. If they can do the imaging of living systems at the resolution that they propose, that will be remarkable, and it will be indeed transformational. The innovation here comes from two very independently innovative scientists bringing together their ideas in really a novel way. I think that's often the seed that leads to innovation. We try to promote that at MSU, so we're looking forward to the o