Seed grant application requires a collaboration between an NCI and a UMD PI. To facilitate connections with potential collaborators, eligible PIs can view the list of Teaming Profiles and identify Investigators within NCI or UMD with complementary expertise. Please reach out directly to individual PIs to discuss potential collaborative research projects and prospects for a seed grant application.
If you would like to be included in the Teaming Profiles, or if you want to amend your profile, please submit your request using the Teaming Profiles form.
NCI PIs
Gregoire Altan-Bonnet
NCI Faculty/Investigator
gregoire.altan-bonnet@nih.gov
Interests/expertise of the group: We are interested in quantitatively modeling the response of the immune system against tumors. We use a combination of robotics and high-dimensional single-cell parametrization to assemble large datasets of leukocytes responding to tumors. We combine machine learning and theoretical modeling to identify limiting steps in tumor eradication. Our model predictions are then tested to help in the optimization of cancer immunotherapy.
Collaborating team expertise: Our research effort is fundamentally interdisciplinary, with contributions from bioengineering, theoretical physics, immunology and clinical sciences. We are particularly interested in collaborations with bioengineers and computational biologists to test novel technologies/codes in immunology.
Mardo Koivomagi
NCI Faculty/Investigator
mardo.koivomagi@nih.gov
Interests/expertise of the group: I have focused on uncovering the signaling mechanisms that control cell division, with a particular emphasis on the biochemical processes controlled by cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) complexes in regulating cell cycle transitions in both human and yeast cells. To gain deeper insights into the role of cyclin-Cdk complexes in cell cycle control, we have successfully reconstituted all the cell cycle cyclin-Cdk complexes in both mammalian and yeast systems. This has enabled us to quantitatively measure phosphorylation rates and specificity profiles of target proteins, allowing for direct comparison between different cyclin-Cdk complexes. This comprehensive toolset also allows us to identify phosphorylation mechanisms and pinpoint critical phosphorylation sites. Recognizing that phosphorylation dynamics can vary when comparing freely floating substrates to those in complex with their physiological binding partners, we have developed more sophisticated kinase-substrate complex assays.
Collaborating team expertise: To synergize our expertise in quantitative biochemistry, we are looking a collaborating team with expertise in transcription, replication, RNA splicing, cell biology or animal models. In our recent target hunt for Cdk4/6 targets with have identified several hits, which could link cell cycle to different processes, including the ones mentioned above.
Joe Nguyen
NCI Faculty/Investigator
joe.nguyen@nih.gov
Interests/expertise of the group: The Nguyen Lab of the Head and Neck Cancer Section of Surgical Oncology Program at the NCI is interested in understanding how premalignant oral lesions transform into head and neck cancer. Our group utilizes cutting-edge molecular, single-cell spatial, and computational techniques to better our understanding of immune cell activity in these premalignant lesions.
Collaborating team expertise: We're interested in team members that share a common interest in tackling challenging problems patients face with regard to head and neck cancer.
Mili Voula
NCI Faculty/Investigator
voula.mili@nih.gov
Interests/expertise of the group: Our research program focuses on the roles of localized mRNAs in mammalian physiology and tumor progression. Our goal is to explore the mechanisms leading to compartmentalized mRNA distributions in the cytoplasm, and to understand how localized mRNA translation influences the function of the encoded proteins and modulates physiological responses. We use multidisciplinary approaches with an emphasis on microscopy-based methods, including single-molecule RNA and translation imaging in fixed and live cells, bioengineering methods as well as 3D and in vivo models.
Collaborating team expertise: Bioengineering, micro-patterning, image analysis, particle tracking
UMD PIs
John Baras
UMD Faculty/Investigator
baras@umd.edu
Interests/expertise of the group: Cancer as a disease/weakness of the immune system, integrating genomic and clinical data for cancer, advanced methods of Machine Learning (ML) integrated with Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KRR), Building LLMs for cancer research restricted by domain expertise and knowledge. Focus on Melanoma and other forms of Skin Cancer.
Collaborating team expertise: Clinical data on cancer, genomic data on cancer, immune system data correlated with cancer data. Focus on Melanoma and other forms of Skin Cancer.
Wolfgang Losert
UMD Faculty/Investigator
wlosert@umd.edu
Interests/expertise of the group: My research team investigates the dynamics of living systems at the convergence of biophysics and AI. We have developed a suite of live cell microscopy tools and analysis approaches to measure dynamics across scale from cytoskeletal dynamics to collective behavior of cell groups. My current research focuses on the multimodal electrical, chemical, and mechanical excitability of cells and tissues, which enable new paradigms for how cells and tissues sense their physical environment and process information.