Kiran Turaga, MD, MPH, division chief of Surgical Oncology, Anup Sharma, PhD, research scientist, and co-principal investigators Mark Saltzman, PhD, Sterling Professor and chair of Biomedical Engineering, and Michael Girardi, MD, Evans Professor of Dermatology, have received a two-year, $200,000 award through Yale's Program On Innovative Team Science (POINTS) to advance the development of a bioadhesive nanotherapy for colorectal and appendiceal cancers with peritoneal metastasis.
The funded project, Bioadhesive Intraperitoneal Nanotherapy for Colorectal and Appendiceal Cancer with Peritoneal Metastasis, brings together experts in surgical oncology, biomaterials engineering, and cancer biology to develop a nanoparticle-based therapy for patients with peritoneal metastasis. The team will optimize the platform, test it in preclinical models, and generate data, shared research resources, and regulatory groundwork needed to support future clinical trials and apply for large National Institutes of Health (NIH) program grants. Reviewers praised the proposal's strong preliminary data, translational approach, and potential to address a major unmet clinical need.
“Through this award, we are able to integrate complementary expertise to accelerate a therapy that directly targets a major unmet need in peritoneal metastasis,” said Turaga.
The POINTS award supports innovative, multidisciplinary teams developing competitive large-scale external funding proposals and accelerating the translation of scientific discoveries into improved patient care.