Category: Awards & Funding

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Awards & Funding Brigham Research Institute Microgrants Office for Research Careers Request for Proposals

Microgrants

Medical Science Laboratory: Portrait of Beautiful Black Scientist Looking Under Microscope Does Analysis of Test Sample. Ambitious Young Biotechnology Specialist, working with Advanced Equipment
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Awards & Funding Brigham Research Institute Fund to Sustain Research Excellence Request for Proposals

Fund to Sustain Research Excellence

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Awards & Funding Brigham Research Institute BRIght Futures Prize Request for Proposals

BRIght Futures Prize 2021 Request for Proposals

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BRIght Futures Prize News

Natalie Artzi, PhD is the Winner of the $100,000 BRIght Futures Prize

20191107, Thursday, November 7, 2019, Boston, MA, USA, Brigham Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Brigham Research Institute held their annual Discover Brigham campus-wide research day on Thursday, November 7, 2019. Discover Brigham 2019 sessions: 9:00 a.m. - Registration: Schlager Atrium, Schuster Lobby, Zinner Conference Center, Hale Café Atrium 10:00 a.m. - Keynote Speaker - Bornstein Amphitheater - Health Equity Keynote featuring Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP, VP & Chief Health Officer, IBM 11:15 a.m. - poster session and lunch - Schlager Atrium 11:25 a.m. - Poster session and demos - Mezzanine area - Spine Virtual Laboratory (interactive web-based virtual lab, online game and real-time results), BeSpoke Bodies (the design and craft of prosthetics multi-media exhibition) 11:35 a.m. - Poster session - Schuster Lobby 11:45 a.m. - chair yoga demo - Shapiro Lounge - chair yoga will run from 11:40 a.m.-12:00 p.m. 12:00 p.m. - Poster Session and Demos - Miller Atrium - All of Us Campaign, From Discovery to Development: Finding the Cure 12:30 p.m. - Poster sessions - Hale Café Atrium - Research in Excellence Award Winning posters in this location. 12:40 p.m. - How to Handle a Medical Emergency on a Deep Space Mission - Neville House - STRATUS and NASA are developing tools to prepare astronauts to deal with medical events in space. 1:00 p.m. - Zinner Breakout Room - Clinical Translation of Discoveries Generated in Engineering in Medicine 1:00 p.m. - Wolf Conference Room - CAR T-Cells: Engineering Immune Cells to Treat Cancer 2:00 p.m. - Zinner Breakout Room - How Intelligent Failure Leads to Innovation 2:00 p.m. - Wolf Conference Room - Transforming Medicine Through Preventative Genomics 3:00 p.m. - Zinner Breakout Room - Home Hospital and the Brigham Experience 3:00 p.m. - Wolf Conference Room - Blood from Plants 4:00 p.m. - Zinner Breakout Room - Turning Dark Matter of the genome into RNA drugs 4:00 p.m. - Wolf Conference Room - Opioid & Pain Innovations at Brigham Healt
Natalie Artzi, PhD stands, in focus, in front of her blurred laboratory.

Congratulations to the winner of the 8th Annual BRIght Futures Prize of $100,000, Biomedical Engineer, Natalie Artzi, PhD. This project focuses on engineering therapies for better outcomes with brain cancer in children. With more than 35,000 votes from more than 110 countries and all 50 states, this year we set a record for BRIght Futures voting.

Brain tumors are the most lethal childhood cancer, with a median survival rate of only 9 to 15 months — a measure that has not changed for 20 years. Despite extensive efforts to develop better therapies, there is currently no treatment that can cure brain cancer, which specializes in escaping immune surveillance mechanisms and thus avoids immune-mediated elimination. Since a highly selective membrane protects the brain, the blood-brain barrier (BBB), whose role is to prevent most molecules from penetrating into the brain, it makes it even more challenging for drugs to reach a brain tumor. This means that even higher — and more toxic — doses of a drug may not be very effective for patients with brain cancer.

“Our solution is to deliver an adhesive patch that can reveal and kill cancer cells by (1) activating the immune system by using molecules that act as “danger” signals, and (2) delivering these molecules efficiently to the brain by using a material called an adhesive hydrogel, which can be sprayed onto and stick to the brain after surgery. This material allows us to locally release a cocktail of molecules that will activate the immune system while circumventing the BBB.”

“We plan to harness nanotechnology to form particles at a size of 1,000th the diameter of a single human hair. These nanoparticles specialize in penetrating cancer cells and may be programmed to deliver drugs at a predetermined rate. This technology will ensure that the immune system remains active and that the tumor will not come back.”

The BRIght Futures Prize will allow Dr. Artzi to take the first steps in making this therapy a reality, making the hydrogels and testing their safety and effectiveness in a preclinical model of brain cancer.