Daniel Colón Ramos, director and co-founder of CienciaPR and post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University, was recently awarded the National Institutes of Health Pathway to Independence Award (NIH K-99/R00 award: Pathway to Independence Program). This program will give the young investigator almost a million dollars over a period of five years to start his own laboratory and new research program. The Pathway to Independence Award is divided in two phases: the first phase gives the investigator, during the first two years, funding to finish his/her post-doctoral work, publish results and look for an independent researcher position. The second phase, in which the investigator becomes independent and consists of years 3-5 of the award, allows the investigator that gets an associate professor or equivalent position to establish his/her own research program and the opportunity to apply for R01 funding (NIH Investigator-Initiated). An R01 is the main source of funding that the NIH provides to researchers in the field. Of about 900 applications received, the NIH grated around 50 awards. Daniel will use this money to establish his own research program that aims to understand how nervous circuits that give way to brain formation and behavior are developed.