The purpose of the Aprison Scholar Fund is to support one undergraduate student’s summer research training in the Zhao lab each year. The educational focus is on developing interdisciplinary skills necessary to creatively design and implement scientific experiments.  

This Scholarship is named after the late Morris H. Aprison, PhD, a UW-Madison alumnus and distinguished neurochemist. Morris Aprison obtained his bachelor’s degree in chemistry, master’s degree in physics, and doctorate in biochemistry at UW-Madison. He then worked as a professor for 37 years in the departments of psychiatry and biochemistry at Indiana University’s School of Medicine in Indianapolis. Morris Aprison’s productive research programs resulted in more than 335 publications and his robust research portfolio included the identification and neurochemical characterization of the amino acid glycine as a functioning inhibitory neurotransmitter in spinal cords of animals. Before passing in 2007, Morris Aprison, a longtime UW-Madison donor, established a fund to support neurochemistry research at his alma mater. 

Barry Aprison, PhD

One of his sons, Barry Aprison, PhD, designated a purpose for the fund consistent with his father’s wishes. Barry Aprison, who has extensive experience in science communication and in developing research training programs, combined his expertise with his father’s wish to support neurochemistry research and training at the UW. “I know how important it is for undergraduates to have some kind of outstanding research experience if they want to move on to a PhD training program. This inspired me to think about a framework that would make sense for my dad’s neurochemistry idea,” Barry Aprison says. After reading published research papers and reviewing lab website overviews he felt the work and training being done in Zhao’s lab was a perfect fit for his father’s fund and support. 

In 2022. Sabrina Huang became the first recipient of the Morris Aprison Undergraduate Research Scholarship (see news release in 2022  Morris Aprison Undergraduate Research Scholarship.). Sabrina graduated in 2023 and enrolled into UW-Madison as a medical school student.

Recipients of Morris Aprison Undergraduate Research Scholarship:

2022: Sabrina Huang, mentored by Yu (Kristy) Guo.

2023: Edward Chang, mentored by Zhiyan Xu.

2024: Lily Peters, mentored by Soraya Sandoval and Natasha Mendez-Albelo.

2025: Paofue Yang, mentored by Yu (Kristy) Guo.

2026: Gwen Roter, mentored by Zhiyan Xu.