Three faculty members from Baylor College of Medicine have received the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award. The award is part of the NIH Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, designed to support innovative research by early-career investigators. Each recipient will receive $2.4 million for their respective projects.
Dr. Blair Benham-Pyle, an assistant professor in the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, will investigate the regenerative mechanisms of planarian flatworms. These invertebrates can reproduce asexually by fragmenting and regenerating missing tissues. Benham-Pyle aims to understand how these worms avoid aging-related issues through regeneration. "In most vertebrate systems, repairing tissue leads to an increased likelihood of DNA damage and mutations that eventually lead to age-associated diseases or cancer," said Benham-Pyle, who is also affiliated with the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center and is a CPRIT Scholar. She hopes her research may reveal insights into human regenerative processes.
Dr. Steven Boeynaems, an assistant professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor and investigator at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, will study neuroinflammation in neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS, FTD, and Alzheimer’s disease. His research focuses on how protein clumps in the brain trigger immune responses similar to infections. "We are starting to understand that the protein pathology in the brain triggers neuroinflammation because it mimics the molecular features of an infection," Boeynaems explained. He plans to explore bacterial mechanisms for evading immune responses as potential strategies for treating neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr. Hongjie Li, an assistant professor in the Huffington Center on Aging and the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, will examine how aging affects communication between the brain and other body systems using fruit flies as a model organism. Li's work involves constructing aging trajectories using single-cell sequencing platforms combined with machine learning methodologies. "Aging is the cause of almost all chronic diseases," said Li, who aims to design interventions promoting healthy aging by understanding these fundamental mechanisms.
This year’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program awarded 67 grants totaling $207 million to support unconventional approaches in biomedical research challenges. Funding comes from several NIH sources including its Common Fund along with contributions from other institutes like NIGMS, NIMH, and NLM.
Benham-Pyle's project receives funding through NIH grant DP2AG093210-01; Boeynaems' work is supported by NIH grant 1DP2NS142714-01; while Li's research benefits from NIH grant DP2AT013275 alongside support from CPRIT RR200063 among others.
