Collaborative Pilot Programs

2023 Awardees:

• Xuebing Wu, PhD, Jianwen Que, MD, PhD, Targeting MYC-driven cancer with CRISPR/Cas13 collateral activity
• Lance Kam, Nicole Lamanna, MD, Jia Guo, Accelerating immunotherapy through a rapid test of T cell health

2022 Awardees:

• Larisa Geskin, MD, Nick Tatonetti, PhD, Itsik Pe'er, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to Examine the Clinical-Genomic Correlation in Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma
• Swarnali Acharyya, PhD, Chao Lu, PhD, Catherine Shu, MD, Identifying epigenetic drivers of brain relapse in lung cancer: mechanistic and translational studies

2021 Awardees:

• Akiva Mintz, MD, PhD, Tal Danino, PhD, Nicholas Arpaia, PhD, Elisa Konofagou, Maximizing anti-GBM activity of engineered therapeutic probiotics

2020 Awardees:

• Ran Reshef, MD, MSc, Elham Azizi; Identification of a targetable macrophage maturation defect in human intestinal graft-versus-host disease by using advanced single-cell technologies and machine learning tools
• Peter Canoll, MD, PhD, Peter Sims, PhD, Brent Stockwell, PhD, Jeffrey Bruce, MD, Targeting Glioblastoma with Ferroptosis

2024 Awardees:

• Tannishtha Reya, PhD, Identifying New Dependencies of Therapy Resistant Pancreatic Cancer Cells
  • ​​​​Co-awardees: Kenneth Olive, PhD & Christine Chio, PhD
• Sandra Ryeom, PhD, Gastric Cancer Across the Continuum; from Early Detection to Metastatic Progression
  • Co-awardees: Chin Hur, MD, MPH, Akiva Mintz, MD, Ryan Moy, MD PhD, Timothy Wang, MD, Zhigou Zhang, PhD

2023 Awardees:

• Michael Shen, PhD, Cory Abate-Shen, PhD, Modeling bladder cancer pathogenesis and tumor evolution

2022 Awardees:

• Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD, PhD, Understanding and targeting epigenetic and metabolic alternations in HNSCC pathobiology 
  • Co-Principal Investigator: Chao Lu, PhD

  • Co-Investigators: J. Alan Diehl, PhD, Quintin Pan, PhD, Theodoros Teknos, MD.

• Jeffrey Bruce, MD, Convection-enhanced delivery for brain tumors
  • Co-Principal Investigator: Peter Canoll, MD, PhD 
  • Co-Investigators: Andrea Califano, MD, Andrew Lassman, MD, Raul Rabadan, PhD, Peter Sims, PhD

2021 Awardees:

• Michael Shen, PhD, Cory Abate-Shen, PhD, Investigating cell-intrinsic and extrinsic interactions in prostate cancer at the single-cell level
• Stavroula Kousteni, PhD, Emmanuel Passegue, PhD, Adolfo Ferrando, MD, Epigenetic remodeling, emergency myelopoiesis and stromal cell signaling-induced stem cell reprograming  in AML transformation

2020 Awardees:

• Angela Yoon, DDS, MPH, MAMSc, Elizabeth Philipone, DMD , Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD, PhD, Richard Carvajal, MD, Gloria Su, PhD, Fatemeh Momen-Heravi, DDS, PhD, MPH, MS, Collaborative Projects in Oral Dysplasia and Carcinoma
• Robert Schwabe, MD, Ira Tabas, MD, PhD, Utpal Pajvani, MD, PhD, Understanding and targeting cell-cell crosstalk in NASH-associated liver fibrosis and liver cancer
• Stephen Goff, PhD, Songtao Jia, PhD, Zhiguo Zhang, PhD, Chao Lu, PhD, Jennifer Amengual, MD, Epigenetic Regulation of Endogenous Retroviral DNAs and Consequences for Tumor Immunotherapy

2023 Awardees:

• Elisa E. Konofagou, PhD, Tumor Mechanical Properties For Predicting Breast Cancer Treatment Response
  • Co-Investigators: Julia E. McGuinness, MD, Richard S. Ha, MD, Md Murad Hossain, PhD
• Jack Grinband, PhD, Using time domain diffuse optical tomography (TD-DOT) to measure BOLD asynchrony in glioblastoma​​​
  • Co-Investigators: Ken Shepard, PhD, Peter D. Canoll, MD, PhD, Jeffrey N. Bruce, MD, Fabio M. Iwamoto, MD
• Edmond M Chan, MD ​​, Potentiating antibody-based therapies in gastro/gastroesophageal cancers
  • Co-Investigators: Jellert Gaublomme, PhD
• Juan Manuel Schvartzman, MD, PhD, ​​​​​Levering metabolism-dependent synthetic lethalities between epigenetics and replication stress in cancer

• Jeanine Genkinger, PhD, Supportive TReatment to Improve Vitality and Energy (STRIVE) Cohort

  • Co-Investigators: Silvia Martins, MD, PhD, Jason D. Wright, MD, Melissa Accordino, MD, Katherine M. Keyes, PhD, Lauren Houghton, PhD

2022 Awardees: 

• Lauren Houghton, PhD, “NEW PARADIGM Breast Cancer in Black Women”
  • Co-Investigator: Jasmine A. McDonald, PhD.

• Chin Hur, MD, ​​​​​“Real World Integration of Liquid Biopsy Cancer Tests into Gastrointestinal Cancer Early Detection”

  • ​​​​Co-Investigator: Fay Kastrinos

• Markus D. Siegelin, MD, ​​​​​​“Targeting Metabolic Liabilities Induced by AURKA Inhibition in Glioblastoma”

  • Co-Investigator: Guoan Zhang, PhD

• Neil Vasan, MD, PhD, “Large scale functional examination of PIK3CA variants and PI3K inhibitor sensitivity in breast cancer”
  ​​​​​​

2021 Awardees:

• Iok I. Christine Chio, PhD, “A Chemical Proteomic Approach to Overcome Immune Evasion in Pancreatic Cancer”

  • Co-investigator: Marko Jovanovic, PhD

• Eileen Connolly, MD, “Checkpoint Inhibition and High-dose Radiation”

  • Co-investigator: Darrell Yamashiro, MD

• John C. Markowitz, MD, “Randomized Feasibility Trial of Tele-IPT and Tele-Pharmacotherapy for Depression In Patients with Non-Metastatic Breast Cancer”

  • Co-investigators: David Hellerstein, MD; Dawn Hershman, MD

• Laura Pasqualucci, MD, ​​​​​​“Hypermutated super-enhancers identify novel therapeutic targets in diffuse large B cell lymphoma”

  • Co-investigators: Riccardo Dalla-Favera, MD; Alberto Ciccia, PhD

• Hee Won Yang, PhD, “Deciphering mechanisms of CDK4/6-inhibitor resistance to determine new breast cancer therapeutic opportunities”

  • Co-investigators: Gary Schwartz, MD; Hanina Hibshoosh, MD, PhD; and Minah Kim, PhD

2020 Awardees:

• Benjamin Izar, MD, PhD, “Dissecting Melanoma Brain Metastases by Molecular, Spatial, and Functional Single-Cell Profiling”
• Minah Kim, PhD, “Targeting Vascular Abnormalities to Overcome Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Resistance in Metastatic Melanoma”
• Chao Lu, PhD, “Expanding Epigenetic Therapies for Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma”
• Parisa Tehranifar, DrPH, “Reducing Overscreening and Supporting Informed Mammography Screening Decisions in Older Women”

2023 Awardees:

• Sara Zaccara, PhD, “Predicting AML by Means of m6A and YTHDF Proteins Activity” 
• Aaron Viny, MD, “Nucleolar Dysfunction as a Therapeutic Liability in Cohesin Mutant MDS” 
  • Co-Investigator: Hans Scnoek Willem, MD, PhD

2022 Awardees:

• Pawel Muranski, MD and Amer Assal, MD , “Multi-Epitope Specific Cytotoxic CD4+ T Cells for Adoptive Immunotherapy of Myelodysplastic Syndrome” 
  • Co-investigators: Azra Raza, MD; Markus Y. Mapara, MD; Mithil K. Soni, PhD
• Raul Rabadan, PhD, ​​​​​​“Systematic Protein Structure Characterization of Mis-spliced Transcripts in Myelodysplastic Syndromes” ​​​​​​
  •  Co-Investigator: James Manley, PhD

2023 Awardees:

• Jeanine Genkinger, "Turning data into cancer prevention: Assessing diet, metals, mycotoxin, and Inflammation in the Indian Study of Heath for Adults (ISHA)"
  • Co-investigators: Hui-Chen Wu; Kathrin Schilling; Sharayu Mhatre; Rajesh Dikshit 

2022 Awardees: 

• Yoanna Pumpalova, MD, “Development of a clinical prediction model to improve colorectal cancer outcomes in South Africa” 
• Adana Llanos Wilson, PhD, MPH, “Personal care and hair product use among women in Kenya: Assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of use in the context of breast cancer risk” 
• Kara Cicero, MD, “Prevalence and risk factors of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance in a Black Sub-Saharan African population” 

2021 Awardees: 

• Grace Hillyer, EdD, “Developing a tobacco control program delivered by community health workers in Johannesburg, South Africa” 
• Hui-Chen Wu, DrPH, Jasmine A. McDonald, PhD,“Biological age acceleration, reproductive history, and early onset breast cancer risk in Ghanaian Women” 

2022 Awardees:

• Brent Stockwell, PhD; Elham Azizi, PhD, "Identifying 3D tumor metabolic neighborhoods using mass spectrometry imaging"
• Kenneth Olive, PhD; Christoph Juchem, PhD, "Measuring ferroptosis in vivo using magnetic resonance spectroscopy"

2021 Awardees:

• Lance Kam, PhD; Benjamin Izar, MD,"T cell Adoptive Immunotherapy Through 3D Biomaterials and Mechanobiology"
  • Co-investigators: Helen Lu, PhD, Ran Reshef, MD, MSc

2020 Awardees: 

• Peter Sims, PhD; Sam Sia, PhD, "Microfluidic platform for automated multiplexed drug testing on intact biopsy samples"
• Adolfo Ferrando, MD, PhD; Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, PhD, "Patient-specific leukemia-bone marrow organoid culture and therapeutic platform"​​​​​​

2023 Awardees:

• Yvon Woappi, PhD ; Ishmail Abdus-Saboor, PhD, NEED TITLE​​​​​​

2022 Awardees:

• Teresa Palomero, PhD; Rafael Yuste, "Optically-released JAK inhibitors for cutaneous lymphoid malignancies"

2021 Awardees:

• Angela Christiano, PhD; Lewis Brown, "Detection of Tumor Neoantigens after Induction of PTC Readthrough and Inhibition of Nonsense Mediated mRNA Decay using Immunopeptidome Analysis"
• Yiping Han, PhD , Ann McDermott, PhD, "Investigation of amyloid-like FadA adhesin by solid phase NMR"

2020 Awardees:

• Jellert Gaublomme, PhD; Raul Rabadan, PhD, "Single-cell and Spatial Transcriptomic Analysis of Intercellular Networks  in the Tumor Microenvironment in Glioblastoma"
• Laura Kaufman, PhD, Carol Prives, PhD, "Identification of p53-dependent pro-metastatic metabolic pathways in 3D invasive cancer cells"