Through Collaboration, 7 Research Teams Aim to Transform Biomedical Science
Meet the Pew Innovation Fund investigators tackling big questions in health and disease
Collaboration powers scientific discovery. Now 14 accomplished researchers are teaming up to lead such a charge as The Pew Charitable Trusts’ 2025 Innovation Fund investigators. The new class, announced Dec. 9, brings together pairs of leading scientists whose studies span immunology, cancer biology, biophysics, and more. Through their interdisciplinary partnerships, these investigators will explore creative research projects at the forefront of health and medicine.
For 40 years, Pew has championed scientific advancement through the support of more than 1,000 early-career scientists. The Innovation Fund, launched in 2017, fosters collaboration among alumni of its three biomedical programs in the United States and beyond.
Learn more about the 2025 class of investigators and their research projects:
Understanding cancer therapy resistance
Recent discoveries have paved the way for new and lifesaving methods for treating cancer. But cancer cells are experts at evolving to outsmart even the most sophisticated drugs, and scientists are trying to find out why.
Carlos Carmona-Fontaine, Ph.D., and Piro Lito, M.D., Ph.D., recently uncovered not only how some cancer cells build immunity to a drug used for lung cancer, but that these cells can also shield more vulnerable cancer cells from the medication’s effects. The researchers will study how these treatment-resistant cells protect neighboring cells that are more susceptible to these therapies and whether this same mechanism occurs with other cancer drugs. Their research will unveil how different cell types work together to resist treatment and how this opposition affects tumor evolution—information that could help fine-tune therapies targeting KRAS, an aggressive cancer-causing mutation.
Exploring what rewires the gut
The array of bacteria that lives in our gut, called the microbiome, is critical for protecting against disease and maintaining health. But this important microbial defense system is also vulnerable and can become depleted by certain medications and diet choices.
Andrew L. Goodman, Ph.D., and Ivaylo I. Ivanov, Ph.D., will examine how drugs and gut microbes activate antimicrobial proteins (AMPs) that alter the microbiome. The team’s early studies revealed how a medication used for congestive heart failure eliminated good gut bacteria by activating a previously silent AMP. Soon after, they discovered a gut microbe that did the same. Now the researchers will build on these findings by identifying other molecules and microbes that awaken AMPs and assess how these proteins go on to affect the microbiome. Because flourishing gut bacteria is essential for health, this work could help scientists leverage the body’s natural method for managing the microbiome to optimize gut composition.
Decoding brain communication
Organs and cells in the human body pass key information to the brain by transforming mechanical stimuli into electrical signals. This translation happens through an intricate and elusive process called mechanotransduction.
Eduardo Perozo, Ph.D. and Juan-Pablo Castillo, Ph.D., will harness recent technological advances to examine this process in mechanically active cells. They’ll draw on techniques across electrophysiology, functional measurements, cellular engineering, and more to visualize exactly how transduction occurs in real time in individual cells. The team’s research could open new doors in the sensory physiology field and offer a closer look at diseases linked to mechanotransduction problems.
Investigating the mechanisms of temperature resilience
Some species have the unique ability to survive, and even thrive, in extreme conditions. Among them are snow flies—small, wingless insects that expertly navigate the snowy peaks of the Northern Hemisphere.
John Tuthill, Ph.D., and Sebastian Brauchi, Ph.D., are working together to understand the mechanics behind the snow fly’s resilience to cold. Typically, subzero conditions inhibit certain biological processes that allow bodily movement, causing animals to slow down. However, snow flies retain their capacity for swift movement even as their internal temperature plunges. The investigators predict that snow flies may have adapted and now possess specialized proteins needed for movement. Using cutting-edge approaches, the duo will put this theory to the test, looking to reveal fundamental insights into how snow flies and other organisms retain their ability to move amid harsh conditions.
Pioneering methods to boost cancer treatment
Specialized white blood cells called T-cells play an important role in the body’s defense against cancer. But they’re easily thwarted by tumors, which often absorb the energy T-cells need to kill the disease.
Richard Possemato, Ph.D., and Michelle Krogsgaard, Ph.D., are exploring how T-cells become hampered by tumors and the metabolically hostile environments they produce. The team will explore the specific nutrient conditions and metabolic genes that help T-cells fight cancer. Then, they’ll examine the T-cells of patients undergoing immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy for triple-negative breast cancer. Ultimately the researchers hope to determine the nutrient environments and potential gene targets present during cancer that could be leveraged to give T-cells a helping hand during treatment.
Uncovering how cyanobacteria grow and adapt
Cyanobacteria is a pervasive group of bacteria known for its ability to live across a varied range of ecosystems—from rivers and wetlands to deserts. Uncovering its biology could help scientists better understand how different organisms grow and evolve.
Michael J. Rust, Ph.D., and Suckjoon Jun, Ph.D., are joining forces to study how this bacteria thrives in changing ecosystems. After first observing how cyanobacteria develop in stable conditions, the team will then replicate nature’s fluctuating environment in the lab to understand how these microbes adapt. They’ll take cyanobacteria programmed with their own internal circadian clocks and cultivate this strain in a controlled setting that cycles between light and dark. Then, Rust and Jun will examine how this bacterium prioritizes growth versus stress tolerance, information that could shed light on cellular growth.
Charting the evolution of the senses
From choosing what we eat to looking out for potential threats, humans rely constantly on our five senses for survival. But how does our body interpret this sensory information, and how have these processes evolved in response to changing environments?
Juan Du, Ph.D., and Marco Gallio, Ph.D., believe a protein in fruit flies could lead to answers. An ion channel in this species that once served as a receptor to bitter tastes later evolved into a heat sensor and has continued to adapt as fruit flies encounter new temperatures. The investigators are looking to understand how a receptor like this one can switch its function entirely from one sense to another. In turn, they hope this research can help to answer questions about how different species adapt to the sensory demands of their environments and how temperature is detected at a molecular level.
Donna Dang works on The Pew Charitable Trusts’ biomedical programs.
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