Interdisciplinary Interface Training Program (IITP) Grant - Previous Awardees
| Year | Award Recipient | Mentor | Project Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Fangfang Guo | Jun Li & Sharon Stack | Decoding the Molecular Landscape of Native American and Latin American Cancers: A Multi-Omics Perspective |
| 2025 |
Gaeun Kim |
Yichun Wang & Xin Lu | Dendritic Cell-Derived Small Extracellular Vesicles for Enhanced Adoptive T Cell Transfer Therapy through T Cell Activation and Immune Checkpoint Blockade |
| 2025 | Maksym Zarodniuk | Meenal Datta & Jun Li | Transcriptional Regulation of Glioblastoma-Associated Fibroblasts |
| 2024 | Alice Burchett | Meenal Datta & Tengfei Luo | Establishing a novel spheroid model in microgravity to elucidate immunomechanical reciprocal regulation in glioblastoma |
| 2024 | Shiyu Wang | Xin Lu & Brian Blagg | Enhancing CAR-T Immunotherapy with Isoform-Selective HSP90 Inhibition |
| 2024 | Wanrui Wang | Sharon Stack & Brian Blagg | Novel Strategy to Block Obesity Induced SREBP1 Activity Via HSP90β-Selective Inhibition for Ovarian Cancer |
| 2023 | Jensen Amens | Pinar Zorlutuna & Sharon Stack | Investigating the Effect of Chemotherapeutics on Normal Breast Fibroblast ECM Production |
| 2023 | Sarah Nano | Glen Niebur & Laurie Littlepage | Mechanical loading effects on breast cancer proliferation, migration, and dormancy and bone mechanoadaptation in a human bone metastatic environment |
| 2023 | Ziyu Zeng | Xin Lu & Jun Li | Cross-Species Single-Cell Analysis Uncovers Evolution of Neutrophil Heterogeneity in Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer |
| 2022 | Leah (Cossin) Lund | Kate White & Donny Hanjaya-Putra | Characterizing the relationship between tumor microenvironment stiffness and pH dynamics in cancer |
| 2022 | Janeala Morsby | Bradley Smith & Meenal Datta | Monitoring Glioblastoma Hypoxia Development Using a Novel Carbonic Anhydrase IX Targeted Near Infrared Highly Stable and Renal Clearable Probe for Improved Patient Therapy Outcome |
| 2022 | Jun Yang | Pinar Zorlutuna & Brian Blagg | 3D Age-Related Breast Cancer Model with Mouse Extracted Collagen for Novel Drug Screening |
| 2021 | Loan Duong | Xin Lu & Sangpil Yoon | “Off-the-shelf” Novel Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) NK Cell Therapy for Lethal Prostate Cancer |
| 2021 | Courtney Flatt | Laurie Littlepage, Glen Niebur & Olaf Wiest | Evaluating Cxcr2 signaling as a therapeutic target in breast cancer bone metastasis |
| 2021 | Kyler Pugh | Brian Blagg & Sharon Stack | The Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Grp94 Inhibitors: A Non-toxic Therapeutic Approach Against Cancer Metastasis |
| 2020 | Samantha Golomb | Siyuan Zhang & Shaun Lee | Engineered gut microbiota as an adjuvant for cancer immunotherapy and metastasis |
| 2020 | Francisco Huizar | Jeremiah Zartman & Brandon Ashfeld | Accelerating Preclinical Testing of Dual-Specificity Protein Kinase Inhibitors for Triple Negative Breast Cancer Therapeutics with an In Vivo High-Content and High-Throughput Phenotypic Platform |
| 2020 | Maria Cristina Miranda Vergara | Laurie Littlepage & Glen Niebur | Evaluating Cxcr2 activation as a therapeutic vulnerability in ER+ breast cancer metastasis to bone |
| 2019 | Laura Alderfer | Donny Hanjaya-Putra & Laurie Littlepage | Employing the Breast Cancer Microenvironment for Biomimetic Lymphatic Vessel Engineering to Resolve Cancer-Related Lymphedema |
| 2019 | Nicole Hudson | Rebecca Whelan & Sharon Stack | In-Depth Characterization of Exosomes in Metastatic Ovarian Carcinoma in Young vs Aged Patients |
| 2019 | Sharif Rahmy | Xin Lu & Brian Blagg | Sensitizing Advanced Prostate Cancer to Immunotherapy by Isoform-Selective HSP90 Inhibitors |
| 2018 | Tyler Finamore | Ryan Roeder & Laurie Littlepage | Disruption of Microcalcification-Induced Tumorigenesis Using Bisphosphonate-Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles |
| 2018 | Elizabeth Harper | Sharon Stack & Brian Blagg | The Role of Aging Peritoneum on Ovarian Cancer Metastasis |
| 2017 | Marwa Asem | Sharon Stack, Matthew Ravosa, & Pinar Zorlutuna | Intra-peritoneal Mechanobiology and Tumor:Host Crosstalk in Ovarian Cancer |
| 2017 | Austin Boucher | Richard Dahl, Karen Cowden-Dahl, & Ryan Roeder | Targeting miRNAs to Combat Immune Suppression in Cancer |
| 2017 | Angela Poffenberger | Brian Baker, Brandon Ashfeld, & Caroline Le Poole | Structural Characterization of Vitiligo Associated T Cell Receptor: Towards the Development of Improved Melanoma Immunotherapy |
| 2017 | Casey Stefanski | Jenifer Prosperi & Matthew Webber | Doxorubicin-loaded Nanoparticles for Treatment in Chemoresistant Breast Cancer Cells |
| 2016 | Pavel Brodskiy | Jeremiah Zartman & Danny Chen | Next-generation high-content analysis (HCA) facilitating integrated drug synthesis and mechanistic characterization |
| 2016 | Alyssa Lesko | Jenifer Prosperi & Jeremiah Zartman | Adenomatous Polyposis Coli Mediates the Cytoskeleton to Regulate Cell Motility |
| 2016 | Felicia Roland | Bradley Smith & Ryan Roeder | Targeted Nanoparticles for Multimodal Imaging and Guided Surgery of Ovarian Cancer |
| 2016 | Kimberly Curtis | Glen Niebur & Laurie Littlepage | The Effects of LMMS on Breast Cancer Metastasis in Bone |
| 2016 | Ann Zeleniak | Reginald Hill & Amanda Hummon | Identification of Key Metastatis Promoting Peptides for the Proteomes of Stromal-Treated & MTSS1-Deficient Pancreatic Cancer Cells |
| 2015 | Charissa Quinlan & David Omstead | Basar Bilgicer & Rafat Abonour | Engineering Dual Drug Loaded Liposomal Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Multiple Myeloma |
| 2015 | Kevin Rodriquez | Jeremiah Zartman & Brandon Ashfeld | Phosphorous Mediated Cycloadditions Towards the Synthesis of Spirooxindole Alkaloids for the Treatment of Breast Cancer with Brain Metastasis |
| 2015 | Sindu Preetham Burugupally | David Hoelzle & Siyuan Zhang | Development of a novel microdevice to understand the link between tumor cell mechanical heterogeneity and cancer invasiveness |
| 2015 | Zhicong Zeng | Zachary Schultz & Sharon Stack | Correlating Extra-Cellular Matrix Mechanics In The Peritoneum With Age-Associated Onset Of Ovarian Cancer Metastasis |
| 2014 | Ricardo Moreno-Romero | Laurie Littlepage & Glen Niebur | A Novel Bone Bioreactor Used to Model Bone Metastasis Ex Vivo |
| 2014 | Patricia Skallos | Siyuan Zhang & David Hoelzle | Quantitative Investigation of the Dynamic Crosstalk between Brain Metastatic Cells and Brain Stromal Microenvironment |
| 2014 | Wei Huang | Reginald Hill & Amanda Hummon | Identification of Novel Stromal Peptides Regulating Chemoresistance of Pancreatic Cancer |
| 2014 | Volker Kurz & Eamonn Kennedy | Gregory Timp, Jenifer Prosperi, & Tetsuya Tanaka | Defining a Molecular Profile Associated with Breast Cancer Metastasis by a Nanopore |
| 2013 | Danny Taller & Katherine Richards | Reginald Hill & David Go | Rapid Separation of Vesicles by Surface Acoustic Wave-inspired Microfluidics for Early Detection and Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer |
| 2013 | Lisa Cole & Tracie McGinnity | Ryan Roeder & Tracy Vargo-Gogola | Contrast-enhanced X-ray detection of breast microcalcifications in a murine model of radiographically dense mammary tissue |
| 2013 | Christopher Suarez | Laurie Littlepage & Sunil Badve | Novel preclinical animal models of chemotherapy resistance using patient-derived breast tumor xenografts |
| 2013 | Shaoshi Gao | Kevin Vaughan & Reginald Hill | Combining Microtubule Stabilizing Agents with Mitotic Kinase Inhibitors To Improve Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer |