Project Grant R35GM155437
- Federal Project Grant Award Summary The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) awarded The Leland Stanford Junior University a $438,900 Project Grant (CFDA 93.286: Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health) effective April 1, 2025, through March 31, 2028. This research initiative focuses on the combinatorial engineering of a three-cell synthetic immunotherapy system that integrates T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and...
- This Project Grant award from the Trans-NIH Research Support program, CFDA #93.310, provides $1,350,770 to The Leland Stanford Junior University to develop a novel class of synthetic RNA-based receptors to enhance the targeting precision of mRNA-mediated adoptive cell therapies. The project aims to create a modular, programmable receptor system that can convert ligand-induced dimerization events into the expression of desired output proteins, enabling improved specificity for ablating target...
- The New York University (NYU) School of Medicine was awarded a $1,525,500 Project Grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of the Director under the Trans-NIH Research Support program (CFDA 93.310). The grant funding, which runs from September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2027, supports the development of new technologies to address two major bottlenecks in the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy development process: identifying tumor-specific antigens and engineering...
- This federal Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (CFDA 93.395 - Cancer Treatment Research) provides $457,683 to the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope to develop and evaluate novel "Bio-Beacons" - tumor-targeting bacterial vectors engineered to secrete chemokines and cytokines. The goal is to increase the density of tumor-reactive immune cells, such as CD8 T cells, CD4 T cells, dendritic cells, and natural killer cells, within solid tumors. This is...
- This Project Grant award of $162,080, made by the National Cancer Institute under the Cancer Research Manpower program (CFDA 93.398), supports research conducted by The Johns Hopkins University from December 27, 2025 through June 30, 2028. The funded research, led by Dr. Komatsu's laboratory, focuses on visualizing B cell infiltration and aggregation within the tumor microenvironment to advance cancer immunotherapy development. The project delivers foundational scientific insights through...
- This Project Grant award of $249,000, administered by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859), supports fundamental research investigating how biophysical cues regulate macrophage and T-cell functions in the tumor microenvironment. The award, effective September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2028, is being conducted by the University of California, San Diego at its Boston, Massachusetts location. The...
- Grant Award Summary The Leland Stanford Junior University received a $1.41M project grant from the National Institutes of Health Office of the Director under the Trans-NIH Research Support program (CFDA 93.310) for a three-year research initiative running from September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2028. The award funds the development and application of synthetic cell state engineering technologies for primary human cellular therapies, with a focus on creating therapeutically useful new human...
- The TOOLS4CELLS project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), received a $350,000 Project Grant award effective August 1, 2025, through July 31, 2026. Conducted by Trustees of Tufts College in Medford, Massachusetts, the project delivers development of innovative turn-on biosensors (TOBS) that enable real-time measurement of endogenous biomolecules in live cells. Rather than relying...
- Federal Grant Award Summary The National Institutes of Health Office of the Director awarded Stanford University a $1.4M Project Grant under the Trans-NIH Research Support program (CFDA 93.310) on August 15, 2025, to support research in combinatorial engineering of multicellular synthetic immunotherapy systems. The three-year project, concluding July 31, 2028, will deliver advanced cell therapy technologies designed to overcome current limitations in engineered immune cell treatments,...
- This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) provides $275,000 to Targeting Systems to develop a novel intramuscular gene delivery platform capable of sustained expression and endogenous secretion of bispecific natural killer cell engager (BIKE) therapeutics to treat solid tumors like hepatocellular carcinoma. The platform aims to deliver BIKEs in a less invasive manner than current immunotherapies,...
ANTIGEN DENSITY SENSORS FOR CELL ENGINEERING - PROJECT SUMMARY MY LABORATORY COMBINES MECHANISTIC CELL BIOLOGY WITH SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY, FOCUSING ON UNDERSTANDING CELLULAR BEHAVIORS LIKE RECOGNITION AND COMMUNICATION. WE AIM TO ADVANCE THE APPLICATIONS OF ENGINEERED MULTICELLULAR SYSTEMS, PARTICULARLY IN ENGINEERED T CELLS TARGETING SOLID TUMORS. OUR RESEARCH HAS A FOUNDATION ON TWO MAIN QUESTIONS. 1) HOW CAN WE ENGINEER HIGHLY SPECIFIC CELLULAR RECOGNITION? WE SEEK TO UNDERSTAND THE LIMITS AND SYNERGIES OF STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING CELLULAR SPECIFICITY. THROUGH A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SYNTHETIC CIRCUITS, WE WILL EXPLORE MECHANISMS SUCH MULTI-STEP SIGNALING, AND MOLECULAR TITRATION TO OPTIMIZE T CELL DISCRIMINATION OF TUMORS FROM BYSTANDER TISSUE BASED ON ANTIGEN DENSITY. WE ALSO AIM TO UNCOVER GENERAL PRINCIPLES FOR ENGINEERING GENE EXPRESSION SYSTEMS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH GENOME ORGANIZATION. THIS MAY LEAD TO GENERAL RULES TO ENGINEER ROBUST CIRCUIT BEHAVIOR THAT COULD HELP IN THERAPEUTICS. 2) HOW DOES MULTICELLULAR ORGANIZATION AFFECT CELLULAR RECOGNITION? IN ADDRESSING THE COMPLEXITY AND HETEROGENEITY OF TUMORS, WE AIM FOR A QUANTITATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TISSUE ARCHITECTURE IMPACTS T CELL ACTIVITY. USING AN ENGINEERED SPHEROID PLATFORM, OUR RESEARCH WILL FOCUS INTO HOW VARIATION IN ANTIGEN DENSITY IN SOLID TUMORS INFLUENCE THE ANTIGEN DENSITY SENSING T CELL ACTIVITY. WE ANTICIPATE EXTENDING THIS RESEARCH TO INCLUDE FACTORS LIKE TUMOR INHIBITORY SIGNALS, INTER T CELL COMMUNICATION AND THE ROLE OF CHEMOKINE SECRETION, ON T CELL TRAFFICKING AND TUMOR INFILTRATION. THE FUNDAMENTAL IDEA IN THIS PROJECT IS TO CONTROL THE COMPOSITION AND SPATIAL ORGANIZATION OF A SPHEROID AND TO STUDY HOW THESE PROPERTIES AFFECT THE ACTIVITY OF ENGINEERED T CELLS. IN SUMMARY, OUR GROUP WILL APPLY PRINCIPLES OF MOLECULAR RECOGNITION AND NOVEL METHODS IN CELL AND TISSUE ENGINEERING TO UNDERSTAND AND CONTROL CELLULAR BEHAVIOR. BY SYSTEMATICALLY DECONSTRUCTING THE PROBLEM OF HOW T CELLS RECOGNIZE TUMORS FROM BYSTANDER TISSUE BASED ON ANTIGEN DENSITY AND STUDYING THE INFLUENCE OF TUMOR ORGANIZATION TO THE IMMUNE RESPONSE, WE AIM TO LAYOUT FUNDAMENTAL RULES TO ENGINEERING RECOGNITION AT THE CELLULAR LEVEL AND IMPROVE THERAPEUTIC CELLS.
Mod # | Description | ReasonForModification | Federal Obligation | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not listed | $386.0k | 4/15/25 | ||
| Not listed | $386.0k | 6/11/24 | ||
| Not listed | $386.0k | 6/11/24 |