Grants to Promote Collaborative and Translational Research (GCAT)

2024-2025 GCAT Awardees

Styliani Goulopoulou, PhD
Department of Basic Sciences

Andrea Salcedo, DO, MPH
Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics

“Circulating extracellular vesicles in patients with uterine fibroids.”

2023-2024 GCAT Awardees

David Hessinger, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Ciprian Gheorghe, MD Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics	“The BK Channel as a potential therapeutic target to ameliorate effects of intrauterine hypoxia.”
Mary Kearns-Jonker, PhD Department of Basic Sciences David Rabkin, MD Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery	“Tissue Engineering for Cardiovascular Repair.”
Juli Unternaehrer, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Yevgeniya Ioffe, MD Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics	“Reversing Chemoresistance in Organoid and Patient-Derived Xenograft Models of Ovarian Cancer.”

2022-2023 GCAT Awardees

Jiang Zhong, PhD
Department of Basic Sciences

Minh-Tri Nguyen, MD
Department of Surgery

“Detection of alloreactive T lymphocyte clones to predict acute rejection after kidney transplantation."

2021-2022 GCAT Awardees

Juli Unternaehrer, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Yevgeniya Ioffe, MD Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics	“Reversing Chemoresistance in Recurrent Ovarian Cancer.”
Reinhard Schulte, MD Department of Basic Sciences Warren Boling, MD Department of Neurosurgery	“Development of Nanocarriers for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy.”
Charles Wang, MD, PhD, MPH Department of Basic Sciences Hua Wang, MD, PhD Department of Pediatrics	“RNA sequencing for undiagnosed genetic disorders with variant uncertain significance.”

2020-2021 GCAT Awardees

Lei Huang, MD, MS Department of Basic Sciences David Rabkin, MD Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery	Elucidating mechanisms of brain death-induced cardiac dysfunction.”
Salam Khan, MD, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Alfred Simental, MD Department of Otolaryngology & Head/Neck Surgery	“Differential genetic alterations on vitamin D metabolic pathway in thyroid cancer health disparities.”
Saied Mirshahidi, PhD Department of Medicine Hamid Mirshahidi, MD Division of Medical Oncology	“Preclinical evaluation of anti-IL-1b and anti-PD-L1 combination therapy in syngeneic mouse model of lung cancer.”

2019-2020 GCAT Awardees

Christopher G. Wilson, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Andrei Radulescu, MD, PhD Department of Surgery	“Role of Heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HB-EGF) in prevention of Necrotizing enterocolitis and modulation of brain gut interaction.”
Julia Unternaehrer, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Marcelo Vazquez, MD, PhD Department of Radiation Medicine Jerry Slater, MD Department of Radiation Medicine	“Cancer cell aggressiveness caused by conventional vs. proton radiation.”
Sean Wilson, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Andrei Radulescu, MD Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics	“Fetal Plasma Extracellular Vesicles and Influence on Lung Endothelium in Gestational Long Term Hypoxia.”

2018-2019 GCAT Awardees

Charles Wang, MD, PhD, MPH
Department of Basic Sciences

Matthew Bock, MD, FAAP
Department of Pediatric Cardiology,
Heart Failure and Transplantation

“Simultaneous cellular reprogramming and genome-editing to generate cardiomyocytes.”

2017-2018 GCAT Awardees

Juli Unternaehrer, PhD
Department of Basic Sciences

Yevgeniya Ioffe, MD
Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics

“Improving genetic testing rates to enable targeted therapy: Novel combination therapy targeting Snail and PARP for advanced ovarian cancer in Hispanic women.”

2016-2017 GCAT Awardees

Xiaobing Zhang, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Gary Botimer, MD Department of Orthopedic Surgery	“Articular Cartilage Tissue Regeneration with Reprogrammed Cells.”
Mary Kearns-Jonker, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Timothy Martin, MD Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery	“Tissue Engineering Pulmonary Conduits for Congenital Cardiac Surgery.”
Richard Sun, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Joseph Fan, MD Department of Ophthalmology	“Novel Image Methods to Characterize Early Age-Related Macular Degeneration.”
John Zhang, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Warren Boling, MD Department of Neurosurgery	“Effect of Hydrogen Gas on Acute Large Vessel Ischemic Stroke: A Pilot.”

2015-2016 GCAT Awardees

Saied Mirshahidi, MSc, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Lee Zuckerman, MD Department of Orthopaedic Surgery	“The effect of local anesthetics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications on sarcoma.”
Charles Wang, MD, PhD, MPH Department of Basic Sciences Khashayar Dashtipour, MD, PhD Department of Neurology	“DNA methylation patterns and susceptibility of Parkinson’s Disease.”
Eileen Brantley, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Gayathri Nagaraj, MD Department of Medicine	“Targeting putative stemness biomarker alpha-6-integrin to reverse Tamoxifen resistance
Nathan Wall, PhD, MBA Department of Basic Sciences Maheswari Senthil, MD Department of Surgery	“Factors Predictive of Prognosis in Peritoneal Carcinomatosis from Lower GI Malignancies.”

2014-2015 GCAT Awardees

Xiaobing Zhang, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Gary Botimer, MD Department of Orthopedic Surgery	“Turning Blood into Articular Cartilage.”
Juli Unternaehrer, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Yevgeniya Ioffe, MD Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics	“Development of a metastatic ovarian cancer patient-derived xenograft model.”
Maria Filippova, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Mark Reeves, MD Department of Surgery	“A novel combinatorial approach for treating HPV-associated malignancies.”
Xiangpeng Yuan, MD Department of Basic Sciences Steve C. Lee, MD, PhD Department of Otolaryngology & Head/Neck Surgery	“Tumorigenic and Metastatic Activity of Head and Neck Cancer Initiating Cells.”

2013-2014 GCAT Awardees

Kimberly Payne, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Michael de Vera, MD Department of Surgery	“B Cells in Transplant Rejection.”
Jiping Tang, MD Department of Basic Sciences Richard Applegate, II, MD Department of Anesthesiology	“Remote ischemic pre-conditioning for vasovagal synocope.”
Andre Obenaus, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Andrea Pardo, MD Department of Pediatrics	“Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Dysregulates the Molecular Cues of White Matter.”
Salvador Soriano, PhD Department of Basic Sciences James Larsen, MD Department of Medicine	“Human Cell Reprogramming for Functional Genetics of Alzheimer’s Disease.”

2012-2013 GCAT Awardees

Nirmalya Ghosh, PhD Department of Pediatrics Elia Haddad, MD Department of Neurology	"Automated Core Penumbra Quantification in Acute Ischemic Stroke."
Eugenia Mata-Greenwood, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Bryan Oshiro, MD Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics	“Characterization of Vitamin D status and metabolism in preeclampsia.”
Mary Kearns-Jonker, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Nahidh Hasaniya, MD Department of Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery	“Stem Cells for Cardiovascular Repair.”
Nathan Wall, PhD, MBA Department of Basic Sciences Thomas O’Callaghan, MD Department of Surgery	“The Role of Exosomes in Traumatic Brain Injured (TBI) Patient Outcomes.”

2011-2012 GCAT Awardees

Ravi Goyal, PhD Department of Basic Sciences CS Chen, MD, PhD Department of Internal Medicine	“Identification and functional analysis for Regenerative Potential of very small embryonic-like stem cells.”
Kimberly Payne, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Christopher Morris, MD, PhD Department of Pediatrics	“TSLP in Pediatric B-ALL.”
Eileen Brantley, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Maheswari Senthil, MD Department of Surgery	“Cytoglobin gene reactivation as a novel to treat breast cancer.”
Ying Nie, PhD Department of Basic Sciences Ramdas Pai, MD Department of Cardiology	“Stereotactic Proton Beam Focal Ablation of Cardiac Tissues for Elimination of Arrhythmias.”