2022 Accelerator Grant Recipients

The Emory University Biological Discovery through Chemical Innovation (BDCI) initiative is pleased to announce the awardees of the 2022 BDCI Accelerator Grants. BDCI sits at a key intersection of biology, chemistry, and human health in both scientific discovery and training of new researchers. In addition to accelerating the development of the next generation of research tools, safe & effective drugs, and diagnostic agents, a major focus of BDCI is to build a research network at the interface between chemistry and human health at Emory. The Accelerator Grants aim to cultivate this network and catalyze innovative research by funding cross-disciplinary collaborations that align with the mission of the BDCI. This year’s proposals spanned three major units at Emory (ECAS, SOM, Winship Cancer Institute) and eight departments! The 2021 projects — along with their principal investigators, co-investigators and external partners — that received Accelerator Grants are:

“Targeting oxidative stress-induced tumor edge cells for therapeutic discovery in the minipig glioblastoma model”

Nicholas Boulis, MD, (Neurosurgery) and Yuhong Du, PhD (Emory Chemical Biology Discovery Center)

"Development of brain-penetrant inhibitors for PPM1D-altered high-grade pediatric brain tumors"

Craig Castellino, MD, (Pediatrics) and Erik Dreaden, PhD (Biomedical Engineering)

"Mechanism-based inhibition of oligoadenylate synthetase 1 (OAS1) gain-of-function"

Graeme Conn, PhD (Biochemistry) and Bill Wuest, PhD (Chemistry)

"Safer, longer-acting prodrugs of tenofovir that target HIV-enriched tissue"

Eric Miller, PhD, (Pharmacology and Chemical Biology) and Cynthia Derdeyn, PhD (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine)

"Rational-based design of novel non-covalent SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibitors"

Stephen Pelly, PhD (Chemistry) and Baek Kim, PhD (Pediatrics)

"Drug target discovery with human organoid models of pediatric high-grade gliomas"

Renee Read, PhD (Pharmacology and Chemical Biology) and Steven Sloan, MD, PhD (Human Genetics)