Seed Grant Program
The purpose of the UH Drug Discovery Institute seed grant program is to catalyze multidisciplinary research teams with seed funds that would facilitate preparation and submission of competitive extramural drug discovery and development research proposals.
Request for Applications
Applications for the DDI Seed Grant Program are closed for 2025. The 2026 Request for Applications will be announced in Spring.
Catalyzing Novel Research
The seed funding grant program supports the University thrust for Drug Discovery and Development that the Vice President for Research and the Provost developed in consultation with the college deans, and which the Chancellor has endorsed. This seed grant program is also aiming at supporting the University 50-in-5 initiative and the UH Strategic Plan. Each application responding to this RFA should be submitted by an interdisciplinary research team with principal investigators from at least two different colleges, aiming at building university-wide capabilities in new drug discovery and development. In addressing the unmet needs of current academic drug discovery centers, the DDI will encourage applicants to utilize innovative, advanced technology/platform such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cutting-edge technologies to discover and develop new therapeutics for human diseases.
It is expected that data from funded seed grants will be used to support strong federal or state grant applications. Applicants should include a plan and timeline for external grant submission (see Reporting Requirements below). Subsequent applications should represent a substantial return on investment, with all the planned submissions through the Drug Discovery Institute.
Seed Grant Recipients
Scientific Track: $50,000
- A Novel Closed-System Microfluidic Platform for High-Purity Lymphocyte Isolation from Whole Blood: Enhancing PSMA-Targeted CAR T Therapy for Prostate Cancer
- Team: Sergey Shevkoplyas, Cullen College of Engineering ; Qin Feng, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
- Mechanistically Novel Inhibitors of Androgen Receptor to Treat Prostate
- Team: Alexander V. Statsyuk, College of Pharmacy ;Tasneem Bawa-Khalfe, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
- Studies on the Mycobactericidal Properties of Lysates from an Actinobacterial Isolate Tersicoccus Phoenicis
- Team: William Widger and Madhan Tirumalai, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics; Patrick Cirino, Cullen College of Engineering
Technique Expansion Track: $15,000
- Improving CAR T Therapy Efficacy and Persistence through Modulation of a Transcriptional Coactivator
- PI: Qin Feng, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
- Novel Targeted Therapy for Vasculopathy in Cryopyrin-associated Periodic Syndrome
- PI: Yunting Wang, College of Pharmacy
Electrochemical Method to Generate Gradient-Based High Throughput Screening Assay
PI: Ran An
Co-PI: T. Randall Lee
Al-Driven Scoring for Virtual Screening of Peptide-Based Ligands
PI: Dinler Antunes
Co-PI: Gregory Cuny
Brain Permeable PI3K Isoform Specific Inhibitor for Brain Metastases
PI: Xinli Liu (Pharmacy)
Co-PI: Weiyi Peng (Center for Nuclear Receptors & Cell Signaling)
CRISPR-edited CAR NK Cells for Advanced Prostate Cancer
PI: Qin Feng (Biology)
Co-PI: Xinli Liu (Pharmacy)
Novel Micropatterned Substrates for Cell Motility in 3D Aggregates of Ovarian Cancer
PI: Tasneem Bawa-Khalfe (NSM)
Co-PI: Fatima Merchant (Engineering Technology)
Targeting ADGRF1 (GPR110) in HER2+ breast cancer
PI: Meghana Trivedi (Pharmacy)
Co-PI: Tasneem Bawa-Khalfe (NSM)
Discovery of a novel inhibitor of IL-15 receptor for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis
PI: Bin Guo (Pharmacy)
Co-PI: Gomika Udugamasooriya (Pharmacy)
Co-PI: Chandra Mohan (Engineering)
Novel Targeted Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma
PI: Wei Wang (Pharmacy)
Co-PI: Wa Xian (NSM)