The Kenneth Rainin Foundation has awarded $4 million to support cutting-edge research that has the potential to improve the prediction, prevention and treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Grantees are testing novel ideas from bright light therapy to diet and the gut-brain connection in the hopes of discovering new ways to reduce the risk of flare-ups and improve the lives of patients with IBD.
The Rainin Foundation believes that investing early in new approaches and supporting diverse perspectives can have a profound impact on IBD research. This impact extends to early career researchers who come to us with fresh, innovative thinking. We’re thrilled that over half of this year’s Innovator Award grantees are early career researchers.
“We place great value on supporting early-stage research from new and veteran IBD investigators alike,” said Laura Wilson, PhD, Director of Health Strategy and Ventures. “We appreciate the potential of early career researchers whose new lines of thinking invigorate the field and benefit from the experience of those who’ve come before them.”
The 2022 Innovator Awards Grantees Include:
- Adebowale Bamidele, PhD, Mayo Clinic
- Gloria Choi, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Marco Colonna, MD, and Marina Cella, MD, Washington University School of Medicine
- Gregory Fairn, PhD, Dalhousie University, and Brian Raught, PhD, University of Toronto
- Chun-Jun Guo, PhD, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Ruaidhri Jackson, PhD, Harvard Medical School
- Maia Kayal, MD; Jeremiah Faith, PhD; Jean-Frédéric Colombel, MD; Ari Grinspan, MD; and Saurabh Mehandru, MD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Meghan Koch, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
- Ta-Chiang Liu, MD, PhD, and Umang Jain, PhD, Washington University School of Medicine
- Eric Martens, PhD, University of Michigan
- David Montrose, PhD, Stony Brook University, and Giovanni D’Angelo, PhD, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne
- Timothy Nice, PhD, Oregon Health & Science University
- Roni Nowarski, PhD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
- Ronen Sumagin, PhD, and Stephen Hanauer, MD, Northwestern University
- Garth Swanson, MD, MS, and Nethanel Zilberstein, MD, Rush University Medical Center
- Jhimmy Talbot, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
- Xu Zhou, PhD, The Children’s Hospital Corporation
Learn more about this year’s Innovator Award grantees and their research.
“I am excited to be part of this amazing community of scientists and look forward to identifying ways to use the brain and peripheral nervous system to mitigate symptoms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.”
Gloria Choi, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Continued Support For Innovator Award And Synergy Award Grantees
The Foundation granted continued support to ten Innovator Award grantees from 2019 and 2021 who made significant progress toward their research goals, including:
- Theresa Alenghat, VMD, PhD, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
- Greg Barton, PhD, University of California, Berkeley
- Isaac Chiu, PhD, Harvard Medical School
- Andy Goodman, PhD, Yale University
- Carrie Lucas, PhD, Yale University
- Shruti Naik, PhD, New York University Grossman School of Medicine
- Francesca Petralia, PhD, Jean-Frédéric Colombel, MD, and Zeynep H. Gümüş, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Carla Rothlin, PhD, Yale University
- Eran Segal, PhD, Weizmann Institute of Science
- Katja Simon, PhD, University of Oxford
“The sustained funding from the Rainin Foundation allows us to delve deep into the biology of intestinal tissue repair and develop new regenerative therapies for Inflammatory Bowel Disease.”
Shruti Naik, PhD, New York University Grossman School of Medicine
The Foundation also granted continued support to seven Synergy Award grantees from 2019 and 2020 who made significant progress toward their goals. This program encourages collaboration among health researchers from across disciplines to advance the study of IBD. These grantees include:
- Charles Elson, MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Andrei Ivanov, PhD, and Florian Rieder, MD, Cleveland Clinic
- Markus Neurath, MD, and Arif Ekici, PhD, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, and Klaus Gerwert, PhD, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
- Gwendalyn Randolph, PhD, Washington University; Alison Kohan, PhD, University of Pittsburgh; and Michael Davis, PhD, University of Missouri
- Hermann Steller, PhD, Rockefeller University; Yaron Fuchs, PhD, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology; and Hayim Gilshtein, MD, Rambam Medical Center
- Thomas Walz, PhD, Rockefeller University; Howard Hang, PhD, Scripps Research; and Ken Cadwell, PhD, New York University School of Medicine
“We are deeply grateful for the continued support from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation over the past few years. Our Synergy Award has provided new opportunities to bridge the basic science of NOD2 structure and function in IBD with specific microbiota species and mechanisms. Moreover, understanding the immunological mechanisms associated with IBD may also help elucidate inflammatory pathways involved in pandemic viral infections.”
Howard Hang, PhD, Scripps Research
Merging The Innovator And Synergy Awards
The Rainin Foundation is consolidating its Innovator Awards and Synergy Awards into one grant program—the Innovator Awards. Grants will continue to support basic and translational research by both individual investigators and collaborative teams to advance the understanding of IBD. Projects by individual researchers will be funded up to $150,000. Collaborative projects involving multiple researchers will be funded up to $300,000. This merger aims to simplify and streamline the process for applicants and create opportunities for more strategic funding decisions. The Kenneth Rainin Foundation will invite Letters of Inquiry for the Innovator Awards program from August 1 through September 30, 2022.
2022 Innovations Symposium
In addition to its grantmaking, the Rainin Foundation hosts an annual Innovations Symposium, which brings together researchers, trainees and clinicians to encourage dialogue and build bridges that enhance IBD research. Due to ongoing public health concerns, this year’s event will be held virtually on July 25-27, 2022. Twelve speakers have been confirmed and free registration for this online gathering is now open.
To learn more about the Rainin Foundation’s research grantees and funding areas, as well as its vision and strategy for solving IBD, visit: krfoundation.org/ibd.
