A new pilot grant program led by Senior Associate Dean Bill Fay announced 30 awards to School of Medicine (SOM) investigators, including multiple awards to MU Biochemistry faculty. Four biochemists are principal investigators on a TRIUMPH award, and four others are co-investigators. This program is part of the SOM’s initiative to transform research at MU by promoting advances in translational research and precision medicine. An additional key aim of TRIUMPH is to promote the success of the NextGen Precision Health Institute, scheduled to open in fall of 2021. The awards were announced March 2021.

The maximum size of the awards is $100,000, covering a period of two years. The Biochemistry-associated faculty and award titles are:

• Lesa Beamer (PI); John Tanner (co-I). Unified view of inherited metabolic diseases: enzyme dysfunction phenotypes.
• Mark Hannink (PI); Gary Weisman (co-I). Molecular Mechanisms of Drug Resistance in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.
• Xiao Heng (PI); Xiaoqin Zou (co-I). A novel platform for peptide design with applications to targeting antibiotics resistance.
• Thomas Quinn (PI); Gary Weisman (co-I). Novel use of P2X7 receptor antagonists to protect salivary glands in PSMA-617 targeted radiotherapy for prostate cancer.
• Lixing Reneker (PI, Ophthamology); Dennis Lubahn (co-I). The estrogen’s role in age-related dry eye disease (DED).
• Olga Baker (PI, Otolaryngology). Building a better saliva substitute.