UH Drug Discovery Institute

The University of Houston Drug Discovery Institute supports innovative drug discovery and development research through its Seed Grant Program. This year, three multidisciplinary research teams have been selected to receive funding to develop competitive extramural grant proposals, advancing UH’s research priority area of Health and Well-being. 

New to the program, DDI included a separate Technique Expansion Track for projects that would leverage the state-of-the-art equipment in UH core facilities to strengthen external grant applications in drug discovery. Two proposals were awarded for the technical track. 

Each winning team will receive funding to support critical activities like pilot studies, data collection, and proposal development. 

2025 DDI Seed Grant Recipients 

Scientific Track: $50,000 

1. A Novel Closed-System Microfluidic Platform for High-Purity Lymphocyte Isolation from Whole Blood: Enhancing PSMA-Targeted CAR T Therapy for Prostate Cancer 
   1. Team: Sergey Shevkoplyas, Cullen College of Engineering ; Qin Feng, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics 
2. Mechanistically Novel Inhibitors of Androgen Receptor to Treat Prostate 
   1. Team: Alexander V. Statsyuk, College of Pharmacy ;Tasneem Bawa-Khalfe, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics 
3. Studies on the Mycobactericidal Properties of Lysates from an Actinobacterial Isolate Tersicoccus Phoenicis 
   1. Team: William Widger and  Madhan Tirumalai, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics; Patrick Cirino, Cullen College of Engineering 

Technique Expansion Track: $15,000 

1. Improving CAR T Therapy Efficacy and Persistence through Modulation of a Transcriptional Coactivator 
   1. PI: Qin Feng, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics 
2. Novel Targeted Therapy for Vasculopathy in Cryopyrin-associated Periodic Syndrome 
   1. PI: Yunting Wang, College of Pharmacy