By Shannon McCaffrey, Emory Health Sciences

Two research teams from Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University (Winship) have been awarded pilot grants from the Donaldson Charitable Trust Research Synergy Fund, a unique funding opportunity offered jointly by Winship, the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.

Each one-year grant of $125,000 is funded in part by contributions from the Oliver S. and Jennie R. Donaldson Charitable Trust. The grants are intended to spark collaboration between basic science researchers (including biomedical engineers) and physicians, leading to innovations that improve the lives of children and adults with cancer.

This cycle's Donaldson Charitable Trust Research Synergy Fund pilot grant recipients are:

"Improving CAR T cell efficacy through optimal manufacturing with nanoparticle backpacks"

• Sarwish Rafiq, PhD (Principal Investigator)
  
  Assistant Professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology
  
  Emory University School of Medicine
• Erik Dreaden, PhD (Co-Principal Investigator)
  
  Assistant Professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
  
  Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University
  
  Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
  
  Emory University School of Medicine
  
  Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta

“MERTK and MEK inhibitor combination therapy for AML”

• Deborah DeRyckere, PhD (Principal Investigator)
  
  Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
  
  Emory University School of Medicine
  
  Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
• Nicki Panoskaltsis, MD, PhD, FRCP (Co-Principal Investigator)
  
  Associate Professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology
  
  Emory University School of Medicine

Visit Winship Awards & Pilot Grants for more information about pilot grants and other funding opportunities for Winship investigators.