As the funding climate for research becomes less certain, it is increasingly important to find alternative sources of support so that novel ideas don’t become lost opportunities. We’re proud to work with the Philanthropic Partners, a motivated group of thinkers and doers who see the potential in great nascent science and understand the value of investing in passionate scientists.
On October 29, we held our second annual event, where a half-dozen University of Utah researchers pitched their ideas to seven philanthropic partners. Projects ranged from AI-powered dental screening for children to genetic engineering approaches for treating aggressive cancers to new approaches for protecting against painful sickle cell disease. The innovative projects were selected from a highly competitive pool of 18 proposals. All the ideas have the power to broaden [NM1] our understanding of health and drive meaningful change in people’s lives.
Highly engaged and driven to make a difference, the partners awarded $75,000 each to advance three proposals that address challenges in surgery, oncology, and pediatric critical care. Join me in congratulating the awardees for their courage and forward-thinking ideas! Hearing their vision for the future of science and medicine was an important reminder of the people that we can help through science.
I’m deeply grateful for our Philanthropic Partners and their commitment to advancing discovery, and I’m so proud of the researchers whose creativity and collaboration continue to move science forward.
Funded Projects
Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a life-threatening condition that affects a million Americans annually and has no early diagnostic tools or effective models to study its development. Current animal models fail to capture how AAA begins, leaving major gaps in understanding and treatment. To address this, researchers are developing aortic aneurysm vascular organoids (aaVOs)—lab-grown 3D blood vessel models that mimic early AAA formation. This innovative, high-risk project could create the first biologic model of AAA, enabling discovery of new biomarkers and therapies for this deadly vascular disease.
Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare, aggressive cancer with no effective treatments beyond a toxic 1960s-era drug. Current immunotherapies fail against ACC because T cells can’t penetrate its dense tumor environment. Researchers discovered that macrophages—immune cells abundant in ACC tumors—could be key to fighting it. The team is developing a new therapy called CAR-M (chimeric antigen receptor macrophages) that engineers macrophages to recognize and destroy ACC cells. If successful, this approach could lead to a first-in-class therapy that could revolutionize treatment for ACC and other cancers resistant to existing immunotherapies.
When heart and lung function fail, ECMO can save lives, but many life-saving drugs stick to ECMO tubing instead of reaching patients, leaving major gaps in dosing knowledge. Testing each drug using standard ECMO systems is prohibitively expensive, limiting research. To solve this, researchers developed AERx, a low-cost, high-fidelity device that replicates ECMO conditions for a fraction of the cost. Early tests show strong accuracy, and with further validation, AERx could make drug testing affordable and improve care for ECMO patients worldwide, helping ensure patients receive the right medicines at the right dose.