# Seed Grant Awards ## expand\_more ### Fall 2021 Collaborative Seed Grant Recipients Sort **Project Lead** **Collaborating PI** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Yingzi Yang, PhD Jennifer Gibbs, DDS, PhD Harvard School of Dental Medicine Sensory nerve regulation of dentin repair in molars Dental diseases Christian Brendel, PhD Daniel Bauer, MD, PhD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital Engineering and tracking quiescent human hematopoietic stem cells Blood ### Spring 2021 Collaborative Seed Grant Recipients Sort **Project Lead** **Collaborating PI** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Stephan Kissler, PhD Nika Danial, PhD Joslin Diabetes Center/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Metabolic interplay between immune cells and pancreatic beta cells in type 1 diabetes Diabetes Alan Cantor, MD, PhD Jeffrey Moffitt, PhD Boston Children's Hospital Bone Marrow Spatial Transcriptomics to Enhance In Vitro Platelet Production from Stem Cell Sources Blood Ruth Franklin, PhD Fei Chen, PhD Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Mechanisms of tissue regeneration following respiratory infection Lung regeneration ### 2020 Collaborative Seed Grant Recipients Sort **Project Lead** **Collaborating PI** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Shailesh Agarwal, MD Vicki Rosen, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard School of Dental Medicine Transplantation of isogenic, gene-edited, biosensor-enabled hematopoietic stem cells to treat fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) Musculoskeletal Jia Liu, PhD Richard Lee, MD Harvard John A. Paulson School Of Engineering And Applied Sciences/Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Nanoelectronics-integrated cardiac organoids with defined cell types for online monitored and regulated transplantation Cardiovascular Andrea McClatchey, PhD Shannon Stott, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Re-engineering the (re)generation of the intrahepatic biliary system Cancer/Liver regeneration ### 2019 Seed Grant Recipients Sort **Project Lead** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Suneet Agarwal, MD, PhD Boston Children's Hospital Enhancing stem cell self-renewal via novel telomerase modulators Aging/Blood/Fibrosis Ruben Carrasco, MD, PhD Dana Farber Cancer Institute Mining the Wnt/β-catenin/BCL9 transcriptional complex for gastric cancer pathogenesis and therapy Cancer Elliot L. Chaikof, MD, PhD Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Immunoevasive engineered living blood vessels Cardiovascular Diseases April Craft, PhD Boston Children's Hospital Testing efficacy of hESC-derived cartilage in large animal model Musculoskeletal Zhixun Dou, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Empowering immunotherapy to treat age-associated diseases Aging Rakesh Karmacharya, MD, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Modeling synpatic pruning in schizophrenia with iPSC-derived microglia and neurons Nervous System (Psychiatric) Hongmei Mou, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Regenerative capacity of human iPSC-derived airway basal cells Airway Mustafa Sahin, MD, PhD Boston Children's Hospital Examining non-cell autonomous effects in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex using neuronal spheroids from human iPSCs Nervous System ### 2017 Seed Grant Recipients Sort **Project Lead** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Michael Choi, MD Massachusetts General Hospital Cell therapy for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease using reprogrammed hepatic stellate cells locked into a quiescent-like state Fibrosis Jenna Galloway, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Generation of a tendon transgenic reporter in human pluripotent stem cells for regenerative medicine strategies Musculoskeletal Ya-Chieh Hsu, PhD Harvard University Factors that promote wound healing during chemotherapy Skin Vikram Khurana, MD, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital Identifying and reversing pathologies in neurons derived from a Parkinson's disease kindred harboring mutant (E46K) alpha-synuclein Neuro Jennifer Lewis, PhD Harvard Medical School/ Wyss Institute Maturation of kidney organoids under fluidic shear stress Kidney Lee Rubin, PhD Harvard University Establishing a screening platform to chemically reprogram human cells for cell therapy and drug discovery Fibrosis/ Musculoskeletal Amar Sahay, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Characterization of novel secreted pro-neurogenic enzyme Neuro Tobias Schatton, PhD, PharmD and Matthew Ramsey, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital Cancer stem cell-intrinsic role of the immune checkpoint receptor PD-1 in squamous cell carcinoma Cancer/Skin Rich Sherwood, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital Systematic profiling of combinatorial signaling pathway effects on stem cell differentiation Cell ### 2016 Seed Grant Recipients Sort **Project Lead** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Daniel Bauer, MD, PhD Boston Children's Hospital Targeted Disruption of the BCL11A erythroid Enhancer in Hematopoietic Stem Cells for Genetic Therapy of the beta-Hemoglobinopathies Blood Disease Fernando Camargo, PhD Boston Children’s Hospital Small molecule manipulation of Hippo signaling for regeneration Epithelial Regeneration and Wound Healing April Craft, PhD Boston Children's Hospital Preclinical development of engineered hPSC-derived tissues for articular cartilage repair Musculoskeletal Disease Yick Fong, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital Identifying mechanisms of discern ribonucleoprotein dysfunction in stem cell disorders Blood Disease Maria Lehtinen, PhD Boston Children's Hospital A synthetic cerebrospinal fluid supplement to protect hippocampal stem cells from chemotherapy Cancer, Neurological Disease Ryuji Morizane, MD, PhD Brigham and women's Hospital Modeling glomerular disease in vascularized kidney organoids derived from human pluripotent stem cells Kidney Disease George Murphy, MD and Markus Frank, MD Brigham and Women's Hospital/ Boston Children’s Hospital A stem cell-based cutaneous bioprothesis Skin Disease, Skin Regeneration Christine Seidman, MD Harvard Medical School Developing Trypanosome cruzi-infected iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes as a model for Chagas cardiomyopathy Cardiovascular Disease, Infection Thomas Serwold, PhD Joslin Diabetes Center Factors that promote thymus regeneration Aging, Type 1 Diabetes, Autoimmunity ### 2015 Seed Grant Recipients Sort **Project Lead** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Carla Kim, PhD Boston Children's Hospital Stem cell differentiation tools to reveal new targets in cystic fibrosis Cystic Fibrosis Amar Sahay, PhD and Rakesh Karmacharya, MD, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Generation and characterization of human hippocampal CA3 pyramidal neurons Neuroscience Mustafa Sahin, MD, PhD Boston Children's Hospital Autistic neurons in a dish Autism David Williams, MD and Scott Snapper, MD, PhD Boston Children’s Hospital Hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy for very early onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease due to IL 10-receptor deficiency Inflammatory Bowel Disease Andreas Herrlich, MD, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital Inhibition of ADAM17-dependent pathways in kidney fibrosis Kidney Disease ### 2013 Seed Grant Recipients Sort **Project Lead** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Reza Abdi, MD Brigham and Women’s Hospital The targeted delivery of mesenchymal Stem cells for the treatment of type 1 diabetes Diabetes Suneet Agarwal, MD, PhD Boston Children’s Hospital Manipulating heteroplasmy in mitochondrial genetic diseases Mitochondrial Genetic Diseases Sangmi Chung, PhD McLean Hospital Human medial ganglionic eminence cells as a potential source for novel cell-based therapy for temporal lobe epilepsy Epilepsy Natasha Frank, MD Boston Children’s Hospital ABCB5+ limbal stem cells for LSCD therapy Eye Diseases Jenna Galloway, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Tendon regeneration in zebrafish Tendon and Ligament Injuries Tatsuya Kobayashi, MD, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Characterization and manipulation of articular cartilage chondrocytes as stem/progenitor cells Osteoarthritis Maria Kontaridis, PhD and Amy Roberts, MD Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/ Boston Children’s Hospital Elucidation of the epigenetic, transcriptional, and differentiation abnormalities underlying RASopathy disorders in iPS cells Genetic Diseases David Milan, MD Massachusetts General Hospital Novel method to map human genetic disease using induced pluripotent stem cells Genetic Diseases Jayaraj Rajagopal, MD Massachusetts General Hospital Developing humanized mouse models of respiratory disease Respiratory Disease ## 2012 Seed Grants Sort **Project Lead** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Susan Dymecki, MD, PhD Harvard Medical School Reverse engineering serotonin neuron subtypes Neuronal Disorders Stephen Haggarty, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Characterization of iPSC-derived neurons from patients with intellectual disability: role of TCF4 in Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome Neuronal Disorders Bernhard Kuhn, MD Boston Children's Hospital Controlling the differentiation of ES and iPS-derived heart muscle cells Cardiovascular Disease Rohit Kulkarni, MD, PhD Joslin Diabetes Center Significance of MODY genes in the differentiation of human iPS cells into insulin-secreting beta cells Diabetes Cammie Lesser, MD, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Non-viral transdifferentiation of fibroblasts to cardiomyocytes Cardiovascular Diseases Michael Mannstadt, MD Massachusetts General Hospital Directed differentiation of ES and iPS cells towards parathyroid cells Endocrine Disorders Thomas Serwold, PhD Joslin Diabetes Center Identification and functional characterization of thymic epithelial stem cells and progenitors Immunology Matthew Steinhauser, MD Brigham and Women’s Hospital Quantifying human cell division with a heavy water tracer Cellular Imaging Clifford Tabin, PhD Harvard Medical School Analysis of blastema cell heterogeneity by RNA-seq Tissue Regeneration & Repair Tracy Young-Pearse, PhD Brigham and Women’s Hospital Establishment of a single cell assay to screen individual cell types for efficacy of putative small molecule drugs Single-Cell Analysis ## 2011 Seed Grants Sort **Project Lead** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Wolfram Goessling, MD, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital Functional characterization of genes associated with abnormal liver tests for liver development and repair – a post-GWAS approach Liver Disease Stanley Shaw, MD, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Small molecule inhibitors of p16INK4a: proof-of-concept for the generation of iPS cells via a high-throughput screening platform Cardiovascular Disease Carla F. Kim, PhD Boston Children's Hospital Imprinted gene regulation in lung and skin stem cell self-renewal Cancer Elliot Chaikof, MD, PhD Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Engineered fascia for stem cell therapy in hernia repair Hernia Rakesh Karmacharya, MD, PhD McLean Hospital Identification of cellular signatures for schizophrenia in iPSC-derived neuronal cells Neuropsychiatric Diseases Sandra McAllister, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital Understanding how systemic factors govern breast cancer stem cell plasticity and malignancy Cancer Chien-Wei (Eric) Liao, MD, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Transcriptome and functional analysis of neural crest stem cell Genetic Diseases Xu Wu, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Controlling stem cell self-renewal and differentiation using small molecule modulators of hippo signaling pathway Cancer Jordan A. Kreidberg, MD Boston Children's Hospital Reprogramming ES and IPS cells into kidney progenitor cells Kidney Disease Joy Wu, MD, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Chemical screening of pluripotent stem cells for modifiers of mesenchymal lineage commitment Osteoporosis ## 2010 Seed Grants Sort **Project Lead** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Andrew Brack, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital The regulation and functional capacity of skeletal muscle satellite cells in dystrophic muscle Musculoskeletal Disease C. Geoffrey Burns, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Chemical genetic screen for modifiers of cardiac stem cell function during zebrafish embryogenesis Cardiovascular Disease Cassandra Extavour, PhD Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University Exploring germline regeneration: a transcriptome approach to understanding transdifferentiation of somatic cells into germ cells Genetic Diseases Richard I. Gregory, PhD Boston Children's Hospital Molecular and cellular function of a novel stem cell factor Trim71 Genetic Diseases Craig P. Hunter, PhD Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University Control of stem cell homeostasis by the dsRNA transporter SidT2 Genetic Diseases Akio Kobayashi, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital Cell fate decision in nephron progenitor cells of the kidney Kidney Diseases Andrew Lassar, PhD Harvard Medical School How FGF signals maintain phenotypic plasticity in mesenchymal stem cells Musculoskeletal Disease Zhe Li, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital Luminal progenitors as cells of origin for breast cancer Cancer Jayaraj Rajagopal, MD Massachusetts General Hospital Identification of factors that direct the differentiation of ES Cells into lung endoderm progenitors using developmentally guided growth factors and chemical screening platforms Lung Disease Judith Arunodhaya Steen, PhD Boston Children's Hospital Quantitative proteomics to reveal progenitor specific markers on the cell surface Cancer ## 2009 Seed Grants Sort **Program Lead** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Wolfram Goessling, MD, PhD and Trista E. North, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Isolating novel regulators of liver regeneration through a chemical genetic modifier screen in zebrafish Liver Disease Mark Damone Johnson, MD, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital Cancer stem cells in meningiomas Cancer David M. Langenau, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Imaging notch pathway requirements for symmetric vs. asymmetric self-renewal divisions in embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma Cancer Sharad Ramanathan, PhD Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University Studying decision making in single embryonic stem cells Bioengineering Derrick J. Rossi, PhD Immune Disease Institute *In vivo* reprogramming of lineage committed progenitor cells to hematopoietic stem cells Blood Disease Yu Hua Tseng, PhD Joslin Diabetes Center Identification and significance of brown fat progenitor cells Diabetes David Weinstock, MD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute DNA double-strand break repair in human pluripotent cells Cancer Paul B. Yu, MD, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Identification of osteogenic progenitors in heterotopic ossification Musculoskeletal Disease ## 2008 Seed Grants Sort **Program Lead** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Paola Arlotta, PhD Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Directed differentiation of neural progenitors and iPS Cells into corticospinal motor neurons Nervous System Disease Sangeeta Bhatia, MD, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital High-throughput platform for probing inductive interactions in embryonic stem cell differentiation Bioengineering Caroline E. Burns, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Lineage analysis of cardiac progenitor cells *in vivo* Cardiovascular Disease Stephen Haggarty, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Characterization on the Wnt/GSK-3beta pathway in fragile X syndrome using a human induced pluripotent stem cell model Genetic Diseases Xue (Sean) Li, MD, PhD Boston Children's Hospital Renal progenitor cells: Genetic studies of Eya1 protein phosphatase Kidney Disease Judy Lieberman, PhD Immune Disease Institute An siRNA screen for genes that regulate breast cancer stem cells Cancer William T. Pu, MD Boston Children's Hospital Epicardial cardiac progenitors in the developing and adult heart Cardiovascular Disease Zhong Wang, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling in mouse and human ES cell pluripotency Cardiovascular Disease Rebecca Wingert, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Molecular networks regulating the segment fate decisions of renal progenitors Kidney Disease Sean Wu, MD, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Functional biology of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived organ Bioengineering ## 2007 Seed Grants Sort **Project Lead** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Li Chai, MD Brigham and Women's Hospital SALL4 Dependent Transcriptional Network in Human and Murine Embryonic Stem Cells Cancer Zheng-Yi Chen, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Inner ear stem cell genes: identification, function and role in hair cell regeneration Hearing Loss Dieter Egli, PhD Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University Derivation of patient specific human embryonic stem cell lines by chromosome transfer into human zygotes and blastomeres Genetic Diseases Benjamin Humphreys, MD, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital Epithelial Cell Lineage Analysis During Renal Repair Kidney Disease Richard I. Gregory, PhD Children's Hospital Boston Promoting stem cell expansion through chemical inhibition of microRNA-mediated cell differentiation Genetic Diseases Carla F. Kim, PhD Children's Hospital Boston Lineage tracing of lung stem cells in vivo & in vitro Lung Disease Kameran Lashkari, MD The Schepens Eye Research Institute Application of retinal progenitor cells derived from eyes with persistent fetal vasculature to replace lost retinal ganglion cells in clinical glaucoma Eye Diseases Stuart H. Orkin, MD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Down Syndrome, somatic mutation of GATA-1, and acute megakaryoblastic (M7 AML) leukemia Cancer Sridhar Rao, MD, PhD Ibrahim Domian, MD, PhD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Massachusetts General Hospital Identification of Master Transcriptional Regulators for Early Lineage Commitment Cancer Sabina Signoretti, MD Brigham & Women's Hospital Identification of stem cells in prostate and bladder epithelia Urinary Diseases ## 2006 Seed Grants Sort **Project Lead** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Raymond Anchan, MD, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital Derivation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) from blastomere biopsies Genetic Diseases Scott A. Armstrong, MD, PhD Children's Hospital Boston Development of a hematopoietic stem cell and lineage differentiation map and repository Blood Diseases Bradley Bernstein, MD PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Epigenetic mechanisms of ES cell pluripotency Genetic Diseases Keith Blackwell, MD Joslin Diabetes Center Functions of the oocyte RNA-binding P-body protein CAR-1 Diabetes David Breault, MD, PhD Children's Hospital Boston Characterization of Putative Intestinal Progenitor/Stem Cells using mTert-GFP Transgenic Mice Gastrointestinal Diseases Rona Carroll, PhD Brigham and Women's Hospital Mesenchymal stem cell-based therapy for human brain tumors Cancer Konrad Hochedlinger, PhD Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Analysis of the pluripotency factors Oct4, Nanog and Sox2 in Adult Mice Cancer Hanno Hock, MD, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Deciphering the Biology of the Transcriptional Repressor Tel/Etv6 in Hematopoietic Stem Cells Blood Diseases Charles Lin, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital In-vivo Imaging of Hemotopoietic Stem Cell Niche Blood Diseases Anjana Rao, PhD Immune Disease Institute Identifying DNA demethylases Genetic Diseases Rosalind Segal, MD, PhD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Symmetric and Asymmetric Proliferation of Glioma Stem Cells Cancer Yaming Wang, MD Brigham and Women's Hospital Evaluation of the regeneration capacity of msx1-induced dedifferentiated cells Genetic Diseases Jing-Wei Xiong, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital The Hemangioblast Development in Zebrafish Cancer ## 2005 Seed Grants Sort **Project Lead** **Affiliation** **Title** **Research Area** Nabeel Bardeesy, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital he pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell-of-origin Cancer Dong Feng Chen, MD, PhD Schepens Eye Research Institute Repairing retinal disease and damage by neural stem/progenitor cell transplantation Eye Diseases Alan James Davidson, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Functional genomics approach to identify genes expressed in the kidney Kidney Diseases Kevin C. Eggan, PhD Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Derivation of Parkinson's disease specific human embryonic stem cell lines Nervous System Diseases Niels Geijsen, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital In vitro germ cell development and epigenetic reprogramming using human and murine ES cells Genetic Diseases Rohit Kulkarni, MD, PhD Joslin Diabetes Center Identification of beta cell growth factor Diabetes Jeannie Lee, MD, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Analysis of X-chromosome inactivation in human embryonic stem cells Genetic Diseases M. William Lensch, PhD Children's Hospital Boston The analysis of complex genetic syndromes using disease-specific human embryonic stem cell lines Genetic Diseases Craig Michelli, PhD Harvard Medical School Progenitor cells in the adult Drosophila gut: understanding tissue renewal in endoderm lineages Gastrointestinal Diseases Hanna Mikkola, MD, PhD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Placenta as a niche for hematopoietic stem cell development Blood Diseases Rosario Sanchez-Pernaute, MD, PhD McLean Hospital Characterization, transplantation and functional analysis of dopamine neuronal progenitors derived from primate and human embryonic stem cells Nervous System Diseases Amy Wagers, PhD Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Biology and function of adult skeletal muscle precursor cells Musculoskeletal Diseases