BY SILVIA CERNEA CLARK

Houston was already world famous as the home of the largest medical center on the planet. And now Texas is making history as home to the second-largest public funder of cancer research in the U.S.: the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).

Since its inception in 2007, CPRIT has invested over $3.8 billion across its various programs — second only to the National Cancer Institute in terms of research funding — which makes Texas one of the top 10 public financiers of cancer research in the world.

Thanks to a series of significant CPRIT awards over the last 14 years, Rice has been steadily advancing cancer research through funded projects, all while recruiting over two dozen investigators who are discovering better ways to treat and prevent the disease.

Since 2011, CPRIT awards to Rice have allowed the university to recruit 25 leading cancer researchers and innovators from across the nation.

Since September 2023 alone, this has led to a massively expanded research and innovation infrastructure at Rice that’s included the launch of a biotechnology accelerator and a series of centers and institutes closely aligned with CPRIT goals and priorities:

Rice Biotech Launch Pad, led by Paul Wotton and Omid Veiseh

Rice Synthetic Biology Institute, led by Caroline Ajo-Franklin

Rice Synthesis X Center, led by Han Xiao in partnership with the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine

Center for Nanoscale Imaging Sciences, led by Anna-Karin Gustavsson

Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative, established in collaboration with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and co-led by Gang Bao alongside MD Anderson physician Jeffrey Molldrem

Center for Operations Research in Cancer, a collaboration with the Institute for Data Science in Oncology at MD Anderson co-led by Andrew Schaefer and Jeffrey Siewerdsen

Together, these initiatives provide an enhanced institutional framework to advance the understanding of cancer, expand collaborations with partners in the Texas Medical Center (TMC) and drive the discovery and translation of breakthroughs at Rice.

“In addition to the kind of collaborative work that Rice specializes in doing with its TMC partners, we know that artificial intelligence will also be critical to the future of cancer research,” said Ramamoorthy Ramesh, executive vice president for research at Rice. “Thanks in no small part to generous CPRIT funding, this means Rice is uniquely positioned to make the kinds of breakthroughs so desperately needed as cancer deaths are projected to increase globally over the next few decades.”

Since 2011, CPRIT awards to Rice have allowed the university to recruit leading researchers from across the nation, including Veiseh, Ajo-Franklin, Xiao, Gustavsson and Bao.

During last year’s Ken Kennedy Institute-hosted AI in Health Conference (see “Strength in Numbers,” Page 84), Abria Magee, CPRIT senior program manager, outlined a road map for the future of the agency’s funding priorities, with an emphasis on Product Development Research (PDR), which provides money for projects at Texas-based companies developing novel products or services intended to benefit cancer patients.

“Our purpose is to improve patient care through innovation and product development, while also expanding the life sciences industry in Texas, creating new jobs and providing a direct return on taxpayer dollars,” Magee said. “So far we’ve awarded 80 grants or over $700 million, so that’s almost 70 companies that were either started here in Texas, expanded in Texas or brought to Texas from somewhere else.”

Most companies funded through the PDR program are from the Houston area, Magee noted. And for companies relocating to Texas, she emphasized the importance of collaboration with Texas-based academic institutions such as Rice as a key eligibility requirement, specifically noting Houston’s edge as home to the TMC.

Last fall, leaders and researchers from Rice and MD Anderson gathered in the new TMC3 Collaborative Building at Helix Park to celebrate the official launch of the Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative.

“As both institutions continue to make breakthroughs each and every day, this collaborative will really allow us to tackle the complex challenges of cancer care and treatment more effectively,” said Dr. Carin Hagberg, MD Anderson’s senior vice president and chief academic officer. “This collaborative will strengthen each other’s efforts and push the boundaries of what is possible in cancer care.”

Nobel laureate Dr. James Allison, who won the 2018 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for developing a method to disinhibit immune cells’ response to cancer, acknowledged the progress made in cancer survival rates while stressing that there is still more to accomplish. Allison, MD Anderson’s vice president of immunobiology and director of the James P. Allison Institute, expressed excitement for the combination of Rice’s engineering expertise with MD Anderson’s clinical insights.

“MD Anderson and Rice are both known to be outstanding [and have] complementary strengths, and it’s about time we put them together,” said Allison.

Read on for more about Rice’s 25 CPRIT-funded scholars and how their work will shape the future of cancer research and innovation.

David Sarlah (2024)

Sarlah’s lab is dedicated to replicating natural molecules in the lab. These molecules, found in plants and various organisms, are often used to create antibiotics or anticancer drugs. His research team is exploring new opportunities to create these molecules with a specific focus on cancer biology. “Our main focus is on streamlining the production of these compounds in the laboratory, making them identical to those made in nature,” Sarlah said. “More than half of the molecules used in cancer therapy today are derived from nature, which resonates with our research well.”

Christina Tringides (2023)

Tringides’ research focuses on developing new materials and neurotechnologies to interface with the nervous system, from the cell to organ levels, for in vivo and in vitro applications. She developed viscoelastic surface electrode arrays out of hydrogels that match the mechanical properties of tissues, allowing for ultraconformable implants to match the brain’s complex architecture without causing compression or damage to the organ. Building on this work, physiologically mimicked complex in vitro platforms can be formed to better monitor how glioblastoma innervates the surrounding neuronal cells, helping diagnose and treat devastating brain cancer.

Michael King and Cynthia Reinhart-King (2023)

This husband-and-wife pair (King was recruited with CPRIT funds) are national leaders in the biomedical engineering field. “Both are established leaders in bioengineering,” said Gang Bao, A.J. Foyt Family Professor of Bioengineering at Rice. “Cindy has been doing outstanding research on understanding tissue formation and tissue disruption during diseases such as atherosclerosis and cancer. Mike’s research aims to understand important processes in the blood, including cancer metastasis, inflammation and thrombosis.”

Hans Renata (2022)

Renata’s work pursues a hybrid approach to developing cancer drugs by combining contemporary organic chemistry approaches and synthetic biology. “Traditional organic chemistry approaches the preparation of these molecules through purely chemical means, but there are limits to what that can do,” Renata said. “Our strategy is to try to marry the natural ways of making molecules to the synthetic way and get the best of both worlds.”

Thanks in no small part to generous CPRIT funding, Rice is uniquely positioned to make the kinds of breakthroughs so desperately needed as cancer deaths are projected to increase globally.

—Ramamoorthy Ramesh

Samantha Yruegas (2022)

Yruegas’ lab focuses on catalytic processes that employ alkaline earth metal complexes that include calcium and magnesium. “These elements are among the top 10 in abundance in the Earth’s crust and have low toxicity, potentially providing safer catalysts for large-scale chemical processes,” Yruegas said. “When you do pharmaceutical chemistry on a large scale, you have to think about how to get rid of impurities such as metals from your drug candidate. These alkaline earth metals are biocompatible, which can dramatically simplify the purification process.”

Mingjie Dai (2022)

Dai’s lab develops state-of-the-art molecular imaging and sequencing technologies to help understand complex cellular states and cell fates from the bottom up. He tries to combine a variety of biophysical, biochemical and computational principles while pushing limits in all directions to improve sensitivity, affordability, multiplexing and throughout. His focuses include super-resolution microscopy, single-molecule protein imaging and single-cell profiling.

Julea Vlassakis (2021)

Vlassakis previously focused on designing tools that provide an understanding of the composition of individual cells and protein interactions. “With CPRIT support at Rice, we have launched exciting projects developing microscale tools for measuring single-cell and single-molecule protein interactions and conformations that drive Ewing sarcoma, the second most common pediatric bone cancer,” she said. “We are fortunate to collaborate with outstanding clinicians and researchers across the Texas Medical Center and beyond in support of our goal to bring targeted therapeutics to Ewing sarcoma treatment.”

Anna-Karin Gustavsson (2020)

Gustavsson, who specializes in single-molecule tracking and super-resolution imaging, launched Rice’s Center for Nanoscale Imaging Sciences last year. She was previously a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in the group of Nobel laureate W.E. Moerner — the first postdoc hired by Moerner since winning the prize the year before. Gustavsson studies the nanoscale structures and dynamics of single molecules inside cells and the molecular mechanisms that drive them, she designs and builds versatile imaging tools in the rapidly developing field of 3D single-molecule super-resolution microscopy.

Caroline Ajo-Franklin (2019)

Ajo-Franklin launched the Rice Synthetic Biology Institute (RSBI) last year, which aims to catalyze collaborative research in synthetic biology and its translation into technologies that benefit society. With more than 18 faculty and over 100 students and postdoctoral scholars across the schools of engineering and natural sciences connected to the quickly expanding field of synthetic biology, RSBI plans to connect basic and translational research and elevate Rice’s international visibility in this space.

Vicky Yao (2019)

Yao specializes in developing machine learning and statistical methods to better model complex biological circuitry and how its dysregulation can lead to diseases such as cancer. “The research proposed in the CPRIT grant is enabled by the large amount of biological data that has been generated,” Yao said. “By using our modeling approaches with these data, we hope to find new insights into what is going wrong in different cancers.” Yang Gao (2019) Gao’s research investigates genome instability, a hallmark of cancer. Mutations in many genome maintenance genes are correlated with predisposition to cancer. As cancer cells often rely on certain DNA repair pathways for survival, inhibiting these pathways will provide targeted therapy for cancer treatment. Research in his lab focuses on illustrating the 3D structures and working mechanisms of genome maintenance proteins to pave the way for understanding and targeting cancer.

Yang Gao (2019)

Gao’s research investigates genome instability, a hallmark of cancer. Mutations in many genome maintenance “Thanks in no small part to generous CPRIT funding, Rice is uniquely positioned to make the kinds of breakthroughs so desperately needed as cancer deaths are projected to increase globally.” —Ramamoorthy Ramesh Rice Research Review WINTER 2025 16 genes are correlated with predisposition to cancer. As cancer cells often rely on certain DNA repair pathways for survival, inhibiting these pathways will provide targeted therapy for cancer treatment. Research in his lab focuses on illustrating the 3D structures and working mechanisms of genome maintenance proteins to pave the way for understanding and targeting cancer.

Julian West (2019)

West, a synthetic chemist whose lab designs novel chemical reactions, was one of a dozen upand- coming young scientists featured in Chemical & Engineering News’ 2024 Talented 12. Drawing inspiration from biology, West’s research group has found ways to simplify the production of entire libraries of feedstock chemicals for drug and chemical manufacturers.

Kevin McHugh (2019)

McHugh focuses on biomaterials for drug delivery and regenerative medicine. “If we can reignite the immune system inside a tumor, where it’s normally dormant, we can have immunotherapy that is a lot more effective,” McHugh said.

George J. Lu (2019)

Lu leads the Laboratory for Synthetic Macromolecular Assemblies at Rice. His research focuses on studying a class of gasfilled protein organelles and applying synthetic biology and microbial engineering to develop innovative applications in biomanufacturing, biogenic materials, ultrasound imaging and more. His lab is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, CPRIT and private foundations such as the Welch Foundation, the Mathers Foundation and the John S. Dunn Foundation.

B.J. Fregly (2017)

Fregly, who was named a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 2021, uses computational modeling and simulation of the human neuromusculoskeletal system to design improved surgical and rehabilitation treatments for movement impairments caused by cancer, stroke and osteoarthritis.

Isaac Hilton (2017)

Hilton’s lab has created multiple new technologies to understand and control human cancers. One tool dubbed CRISPR-DREAM (for CRISPR-dCas9 recruited enhanced activation module) is enabling better and safer therapies and more accurate disease models to address so-called haploinsufficiency disorders, which cause a number of hard-totreat conditions such as cancer, epilepsy, immunodeficiency and Alzheimer’s disease.

Rosa Uribe (2017)

Uribe’s work has revealed that artificial gene expression of the human oncogene MYCN in nervous system stem cells of the zebrafish embryo leads to drastic changes in the genes that are “on” or “off” in those stem cells, revealing a previously unappreciated consequence of early oncogene expression in developing embryos. As MYCN is a leading factor implicated in the formation of neuroblastoma, a devastating pediatric cancer, this discovery illuminates abnormal molecular events that occur due to MYCN elevation, possibly setting the stage for the neuroblastoma manifestation.

Han Xiao (2017)

Xiao founded Rice’s Synthesis X Center last year, the culmination of a grassroots effort that began seven years ago when his Rice research group began collaborating with Baylor researchers at the Duncan Cancer Center. “At Rice, we are strong on the fundamental side of research in organic chemistry, chemical biology, bioengineering, nanoscience and AI-based drug discovery,” said Xiao. “Starting at the laboratory bench, we can design and synthesize therapeutic molecules and proteins with atom-level precision, offering immense potential for real-world applications at the bedside. That’s really unique in the Texas Medical Center.”

MD Anderson and Rice are both known to be outstanding [and have] complementary strengths, and it’s about time we put them together.

—Dr. James Allison

Omid Veiseh (2016)

Veiseh co-leads the Rice Biotech Launch Pad and was principal investigator of a $45 million Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health grant awarded in 2023 to rapidly develop sense-and-respond implant technology that could slash U.S. cancer-related deaths by more than 50%. “The research Rice bioengineer Omid Veiseh is doing in leading this team is truly groundbreaking and could potentially save hundreds of thousands of lives each year,” said Rice President Reginald DesRoches. “This is the type of research that makes a significant impact on the world.”

Natasha Kirienko (2015)

Kirienko and her Albert Einstein College of Medicine collaborator, physician-scientist Marina Konopleva, have discovered potential new drugs that work in concert with other drugs to deliver a deadly one-two punch to leukemia. A recently published study in the journal Leukemia highlights these drugs’ promise and the innovative methods that led to their discovery.

Gang Bao (2014)

Bao and MD Anderson’s Molldrem lead Rice’s Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative. Bao, a highly regarded, groundbreaking cancer researcher and the CPRIT senior scholar in cancer research at Rice, was drawn to Rice in part because of the opportunities to work with colleagues in the BioScience Research Collaborative building and with researchers and clinicians in the TMC. “One thing I really like is that this building is right in the Texas Medical Center,” Bao said.

Aryeh Warmflash (2014)

Warmflash’s research focuses on quantitative studies of signaling dynamics and spatial pattern formation during embryonic development and in the cancer microenvironment. Last year, his team received a $1.6 million grant from the NIH to advance knowledge of embryonic patterning and contribute to the future of regenerative medicine.

K.C. Nicolaou (2012)

World-renowned synthetic organic chemist Nicolaou, a pioneer of total synthesis, has earned global recognition for his distinguished work in chemical synthesis, vital for advancements in medicine, materials science and chemical biology. He has synthesized nearly 200 naturally occurring molecules and contributed to advancements in cancer treatments and other areas of medicine. “In terms of contributions to society and the young generation, the field of synthetic organic chemistry is uniquely essential and continues to advance,” Nicolaou said.

José Onuchic (2011)

Onuchic was named to a lifetime post with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences by Pope Francis in 2020 and presented with the 2023 Founders Award presented by the Biophysical Society. His work with computational models at the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics has investigated decision-making on biological networks with particular emphasis on cancer and metastasis. The most important result involved the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In regular situations, the EMT circuit has only two stable states, but, under stress, he predicted that a third hybrid state arises, which allows cells to travel through the blood as clusters. Cancers that have large clusters are much more aggressive, a theoretical prediction that has been demonstrated experimentally.