2026 Awardees
What if we could program the brain’s own cells to fight Alzheimer’s disease for us?
— Engineering microglia to act as “smart” therapeutic delivery systems
Principal Investigator: Milos Simic, Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Molecular Engineering
Institution: University of Chicago
Project Type: neurological disease, biomedical research, junior faculty
What if microplastics can hijack the blood-brain barrier and meninges to trigger neurodegenerative disease?
— Investigating microplastics in human and rodent brain
Principal Investigators: Alana Kirby, Assistant Professor; Liudmila Romanova, Assistant Professor
Institution: Rush University Medical Center
Project Type: neurological disease, biomedical research, junior faculty
What if a global map of protein interactions can guide us toward more effective therapies for neurodegenerative diseases?
— Identifying new druggable targets in the human brain
Principal Investigator: Bryan Killinger, Assistant Professor
Institution: Rush University Medical Center
Project Type: neurological disease, biomedical research, junior faculty
What if we could stiffen cancer cells so they are shattered by the immune system?
— Leveraging mechanosuveillance to develop new cancer therapeutics
Principal Investigators: Ekrem Emrah Er, Associate Professor; Terry Moore, Professor
Institution: University of Illinois-Chicago
Project Type: cancer, biomedical research, senior faculty
What if sleep replay could help people with aphasia communicate better?
— Evaluating targeted memory reactivation during sleep for aphasia therapy
Principal Investigator: Leora Cherney, Scientific Chair, Think and Speak, Director of the Center for Aphasia Research and Treatment
Institution: Shirley Ryan AbilityLab
Project Type: neurological disease, biomedical research, senior faculty
What if a brief brain retraining protocol during rehabilitation could eliminate chronic pain?
— Testing pain reprocessing therapy in rehabilitation settings
Principal Investigator: Marwan Baliki, Research Scientist
Institution: Shirley Ryan AbilityLab
Project Type: neurological disease, biomedical research, junior faculty