Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative hosts kickoff event, awards first round of seed grants

HOUSTON – (Oct. 30, 2024) – Leaders and researchers from Rice University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center came together this month to celebrate the launch of the Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative, first announced earlier this summer.

The Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative is a joint initiative between the two institutions created to develop innovative technologies and bioengineering approaches to improve cancer research, diagnosis and treatment.

Attendees gathered at the TMC³ Collaborative Building in Helix Park for the kickoff event were welcomed by the leaders of the initiative, Rice’s Gang Bao and MD Anderson’s Jeffrey Molldrem, and enjoyed opening remarks by leading officials from the two institutions, who expressed their enthusiasm and support for the joint undertaking.

“As both institutions continue to make breakthroughs every day, we hope this collaborative will enable us to tackle the complex challenges of cancer care and treatment more effectively, ultimately improving the lives of patients here in Houston and beyond,” said Carin Hagberg, senior vice president and chief academic officer at MD Anderson. “Whether our researchers are working on the South Campus or within the hedges of Rice, this collaborative will strengthen each other’s efforts and push the boundaries of what is possible in cancer.”

Additional speakers from MD Anderson included Eyal Gottlieb, vice president for research, and Nobel laureate James Allison, regental professor and chair of immunology and director of the James P. Allison Institute.

A primary focus of Rice’s newly launched 10-year strategic plan, “Momentous: Personalized Scale for Global Impact,” is to lead in health innovation. President Reginald DesRoches emphasized his commitment to strengthening collaboration with MD Anderson as an important part of this initiative.

“This collaborative initiative builds on the strong foundation of our existing relationship, combining Rice’s expertise in bioengineering, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology with MD Anderson’s unmatched insights in cancer care and research,” DesRoches said. “This is a momentous occasion to advance cancer research and treatment with the innovative fusion of engineering and medicine.”

Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Rice’s executive vice president for research, framed the event in the context of the university’s strategic vision for the next decade, which centers around three key drivers ⎯ health innovation, sustainable futures, thriving urban communities ⎯ and a crosscutting commitment to responsible, cutting-edge AI.

“We believe we have a fantastic game plan,” said Ramesh.

As part of the event, the Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative announced its first round of seed grants. Five projects were selected from a robust cohort of high-quality proposals:

● “Enhancing CAR-T immunotherapy via precision CRISPR/Cas-based epigenome engineering of high value therapeutic gene targets,” led by Isaac Hilton, associate professor of biosciences and bioengineering at Rice and a Cancer Research and Prevention Institute of Texas (CPRIT) scholar; and Michael Green, associate professor of lymphoma/myeloma at MD Anderson.

● “Nanocluster and KRAS inhibitor-based combination therapy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma,” led by Linlin Zhang, assistant research professor of bioengineering at Rice; and Haoqiang Ying, associate professor of molecular and cellular oncology at MD Anderson.

● “Engineering tumor-infiltrating fusobacteriumas a microbial cancer therapy,” led by Jeffrey Tabor, professor of bioengineering at Rice; and Christopher Johnston, associate professor of genomic medicine and director of microbial genomics within the Platform for Innovative Microbiome and Translational Research at MD Anderson.

● “Preclinical study of nanoscale TRAIL liposomes as a neoadjuvant therapy for colorectal cancer liver metastasis,” led by Michael King, the E.D. Butcher Professor of Bioengineering at Rice, CPRIT scholar and special adviser to the provost on life science collaborations with the Texas Medical Center; and Xiling Shen, professor of gastrointestinal medical oncology at MD Anderson.

● “Deciphering molecular mechanisms of cellular plasticity in MDS progression,” led by Ankit Patel, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice and of neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine; and Pavan Bachireddy, assistant professor of hematopoietic biology and malignancy and lymphoma/myeloma at MD Anderson.

The Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative kickoff event was organized by Rice’s Educational and Research Initiatives for Collaborative Health office, which fosters research collaborations and educational partnerships with leading TMC institutions.

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This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

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https://rice.box.com/s/ue2ga2978mamazollch2sfcl6e12huz1  (Photos by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

About Rice:
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of architecture, business, continuing studies, engineering, humanities, music, natural sciences and social sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 4,574 undergraduates and 3,982 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction, No. 2 for best-run colleges and No. 12 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.