The National Institutes of Health awarded over $17 million to eight Stanford scientists on Sunday. The grant will enable the recipients to pursue major, groundbreaking projects in the field of biomedicine that might otherwise be too unconventional for mainstream funding, which generally requires more certainty.

The awards are divided into categories: the Pioneer Award, of which one was given to a Stanford faculty member; the Innovator Award, of which three were given; the Transformative Research Award, of which four were given; and the Early Independence Award, the only grant not awarded to a Stanford faculty member.

The recipients were Michael Lin, Catherine Blish, Maximilian Diehn MD ‘01 Ph.D. ‘04 MF ‘06, Elizabeth Sattely, Thomas Rando, Tony Wyss-Coray,  David Relman, and Susan Holmes.

Some of the research that was recognized included a fluorescent light-inducible protein (FLIP) switch that controls the activity of a protein using light, a study of the positive effect of physical activity on the brain’s functioning capabilities and an investigation of the microbiology of certain vegetables to explain why they are beneficial to human health.

The Stanford researchers are among 78 National Institutes of Health grantees, who were awarded a total of approximately $123 million for their initiatives.