The Mayo Clinic Center for Biomedical Discovery announces 2020 Discovery Science Award recipients. These awards fund teams working on innovative, cutting-edge discovery science with a focus on understanding biological processes that contribute to human disease.
“NKG7 — A New Cell-Intrinsic Factor Regulating Cytotoxic Lymphocyte Killing”
Principal investigator: Haidong Dong, M.D., Ph.D. (IMM ’01), Urology/Immunology
Principal investigator: Daniel Billadeau, Ph.D. (IMM ’99), Medical Oncology
Co-investigators: Roxana Dronca, M.D. (HEMO ’10, CTSA ’15), Medical Oncology (Florida); Yiyi Yan, M.D., Ph.D. (HEMO ’17), Medical Oncology; Jie Sun, Ph.D. (THDCC ’16), Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine/Immunology; Xiaosheng Wu, M.D. (PD ’99), Research Services
“Neuronal Autoantigen Discovery in Progressive Multiple Sclerosis”
Principal investigator: Charles Howe, Ph.D. (N ’03), Neurology
Principal investigator: Marion Curtis, Ph.D. (IMM ’18), Immunology (Arizona)
Principal investigator: John R. Mills, Ph.D. (CLCH ’15, CMG ’17), Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
“Functional and Mechanistic Characterization of the Dleu2 lncRNA in Hematopoiesis”
Principal investigator: Wenqian Hu, Ph.D. (BMB ’15), Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Co-investigator: Kay Medina, Ph.D. (IMM ’05), Immunology
“Targeting the DOCK7-Rac1/Cdc42 Axis for Cancer Therapy”
Principal investigator: Zhenkun Lou, Ph.D. (PHAR ’01, ONCL ’06), Medical Oncology
Principal investigator: Daniel Billadeau, Ph.D. (IMM ’99), Medical Oncology
Principal investigator: Saravut Weroha, M.D., Ph.D. (I ’10, CI ’11, HEMO ’13), Medical Oncology
“Probing the Structural and Functional Divergence of SPOP Mutations in Cancer”
Principal investigator: Georges Mer, Ph.D. (MBIO ’01), Biochemistry
Co-investigators: Haojie Huang, Ph.D. (LABM ’99), Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Jun Zhang, M.D. (PATH ’05), Anatomic and Clinical Pathology; Dejie Wang, Ph.D. (BIOC ’16), Research Services
“Landscape of Infiltrating Single Myeloid Cells in Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA)”
Principal investigator: Sumera Rizvi, M.B.B.S. (GI ’16, HEPT ’17), Gastroenterology
Principal investigator: Haidong Dong, M.D., Ph.D. (IMM ’01), Urology/Immunology
Co-investigators: Rory Smoot, M.D. (MED ’05, S ’08, CI ’10, S ’12), Surgery; Chen Wang, Ph.D. (HSR ’11), Health Sciences Research/Obstetrics and Gynecology; Rondell Graham, M.B.B.S. (PATH ’13, MGP ’14, SGPA ’15, GPTH ’16), Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
“Nuclear Import Receptors (NIRs) as Modifiers of TDP-43 Pathology”
Principal investigator: Wilfried Rossoll, Ph.D. (NSCI '18), Molecular Neuroscience (Florida)
Principal investigator: Ke Zhang, Ph.D. (NSCI '19), Molecular Neuroscience (Florida)
Principal investigator: Yongjie Zhang, Ph.D. (NSCI ’08), Molecular Neuroscience (Florida)
“Mechanisms of Lipolytic Exacerbation of Heart Failure”
Principal investigator: Vijay Singh, M.B.B.S. (I ’05, GI ’08), Gastroenterology (Arizona)
Co-investigators: Clifford Folmes, Ph.D. (CV ’12), Cardiovascular Disease (Arizona); Marek Belohlavek, M.D., Ph.D. (CV ’93, PHYS ’93, BPHY ’96), Cardiovascular Disease (Arizona)
“Elucidating the Mechanisms that Underlie Age-Related Pulmonary Fibrosis Following Influenza Infection: Roles of CD38-positive Tissue-resident Memory T cells and Tissue NAD Metabolism”
Principal investigator: Jie Sun, Ph.D. (THDCC ’16), Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine/Immunology
Co-investigators: Eduardo Chini, M.D., Ph.D. (NEPH ’95, ANES ’01), Anesthesiology; Robert Vassallo, M.D. (I ’98, THDC ’01), Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine/Physiology and Biomedical Engineering
“Develop PKD Models in Adult Zebrafish for Autophagy-based Therapy”
Principal investigator: Xiaolei Xu, Ph.D. (BIOC ’03), Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Co-investigators: Peter Harris, Ph.D. (NEPH ’99), Nephrology; Slobodan Macura, Ph.D. (BIOC ’90), Biochemistry
“Targeting Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerase 1 in C9orf72-mediated Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD)”
Principal investigator: Ke Zhang, Ph.D. (NSCI '19), Molecular Neuroscience (Florida)
Co-investigators: Yongjie Zhang, Ph.D. (NSCI ’08), Neuroscience (Florida); Tania Gendron, Ph.D. (NSCI ’09), Neuroscience (Florida)
