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Taubman Institute now boasts 16 Taubman scientists

Ann Arbor, Mich. – A dozen cutting-edge researchers now are leading the charge for new cures under the auspices of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute at the University of Michigan.

Since its founding in 2008 with a gift from philanthropist A. Alfred Taubman, the institute has awarded funding to clinician-scientists seeking innovative new treatments for diseases ranging from ALS to cancer to diabetes. 

And with the recent addition of diabetic retinopathy expert Tom Gardner, M.D., a professor of ophthalmology and physiology at the University of Michigan’s Kellogg Eye Center, the roster of Taubman Scholars, including senior Scholars and those in the Emerging Scholars program for up-and-coming young scientists, has grown to 16.

Taubman Institute grants are intended to give these aggressive researchers unprecedented freedom to conduct “high risk, high reward” research with the intent of moving scientific discoveries out of laboratories and into doctors’ offices.

Including those scientists’ post-doctoral fellows, assistants and technicians, that means Taubman Institute funding has brought the skills of more than 300 people to bear on the illnesses that cause so much devastation to patients and their families.  

Who are the Taubman Scholars?

Fifteen leading clinician- scientists have received the prestigious Taubman Scholar grants, including four designated senior Taubman Scholars in their second round of funding and four Emerging Scholars in a new program designed to encourage early-career researchers.

Current Senior Taubman Scholars

Valerie Castle, M.D., Ravitz Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatric and Communicable Diseases, Pediatrician-in-Chief and Director of the Taubman Institute's Neuroblastoma Research Program: Castle is conducting a clinical trial of a new drug that may reduce the chemotherapy resistance of the deadly childhood cancer, neuroblastoma. In addition, by comparing embryonic stem cell lines that she differentiates into neural crest stem cells with neuroblastoma cancer cells she has established in her laboratory, she hopes to gain insights into the origins of the disease.

Eva Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., Russell N. DeJong professor of Neurology; director of the Taubman Institute, director of Program for Research & Discovery: Feldman is conducting the first FDA-approved human clinical trial of a stem cell treatment for ALS. At the same time, she is working to adapt that stem cell therapy to treat Alzheimer’s disease. She also is a leading authority on diabetes-related neuropathy.

David Pinsky, M.D., J. Griswold Ruth MD & Margery Hopkins Ruth Professor of Internal Medicine; Professor of Molecular & Integrative Physiology; Chief, Cardiovascular Medicine and Director, Cardiovascular Center: Pinsky has discovered compounds that can increase the body’s own natural defenses to the damage caused by strokes. These enzymes protect not only the blood vessels of the brain but blood vessels elsewhere, too.

Max Wicha, M.D., founding director of U-M’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, Distinguished Professor of Oncology and Internal Medicine: Wicha leads a team that is conducting the world’s first three human clinical trials targeting cancer stem cells, aimed at stunting the growth of these cells, which he believes drives the growth of tumors,  or making them less resistant to other therapies.

Current Taubman Scholars

Nicholas Boulis, M.D., adjunct associate professor of Neurology at U-M and associate professor of Neurosurgery at Emory University: Boulis is working to develop stem cell and gene therapies to preserve and protect neurons from neurodegenerative diseases. In collaboration with Dr. Feldman, he has pioneered a procedure for implanting stem cells in the human spinal cord of patients with ALS, which is currently undergoing clinical trial.

Frank Brosius, M.D.,  Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular & Integrative Physiology and Division Chief, Nephrology: Brosius is studying how elevated blood sugar levels and other diabetes-associated abnormalities lead to metabolic changes in kidney cells, which ultimately cause progressive kidney damage and failure.  Using the same techniques, he hopes to find better diagnostic tests for diabetic kidney disease, the most common cause of kidney failure in the U.S., which can lead to earlier detection and more effective treatment.

Charles F. Burant, M.D., Ph.D., Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Professor of Metabolism, Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular and Integrative Physiology and Director, U-M Metabolomics and Obesity Center: Burant is studying new approaches to understanding and treating obesity. His research utilizes metabolomics, the measurement of small molecules (metabolites) in biological samples. Burant hopes to understand which metabolites play a role in signaling the brain that enough food has been eaten, providing a tool to preventing or treating obesity.

Arul M. Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D. S.P. Hicks Endowed Professor of Pathology; Professor of Urology; Director, U-M Center for Translational Pathology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator: Chinnaiyan was the first to discover gene fusions in a common solid tumor – the joining together of two separate genes thought to be an important mechanism in prostate and other cancers. His lab is exploring whether gene fusions can serve as a biomarker for the characterization of the cancer, allowing clinicians to know how aggressive a case of prostate cancer is likely to be and how best to treat it.

Thomas Gardner, M.D., M.S.   – Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Molecular and Integrative Physiology at the University of Michigan’s Kellogg Eye Center, Director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Diabetic Retinopathy Center.  Gardner’s research focuses diabetic retinopathy, including how the structure of the eye is damaged in diabetes with an aim toward improving prevention and treatment.

David Ginsburg, M.D., James V. Neel Distinguished Professor of Internal Medicine and Human Genetics Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor of Medicine and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator: Ginsburg is studying the science behind blood clotting. A major focus of his laboratory’s current work is on venous thromboembolism (VTE) — the process by which dangerous blood clots flow through the veins — and how to better diagnose and treat this condition.

Theodore S. Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D., Isadore Lampe Professor and Chair of Department of Radiation Oncology: Lawrence is studying how to combine radiation most effectively with molecularly targeted drugs to provide the best treatment for patients with liver and pancreas cancer. These drugs block cancer cells’ ability to hijack normal growth signals. Functional imaging techniques allow his team to target the highest doses of radiation to the most aggressive regions of the tumor.

Kenneth J. Pienta, M.D., Professor of Internal Medicine and of Urology; Director, Experimental Therapeutics, Michigan Center for Translational Pathology; and Principal Investigator, Specialized Program of Research Excellence in Prostate Cancer:  Pienta’s research focuses on how prostate cancer cells metastasize to bone, where they can hide in the marrow for years before becoming aggressive. This finding suggests possible new biomarkers for diagnosing types of prostate cancer and possible new targets for therapy.

Meet the Emerging Scholars

Additionally, and thanks to the generosity of several key Taubman Institute supporters, four young researchers – all practicing physicians on the U-M faculty who also run active research projects – have received the Taubman Emerging Scholar grants of $50,000 per year.

There is a pressing need in the scientific community to do more to support early-career researchers who increasingly are choosing to leave the laboratory.  If nothing is done to reverse this trend, we are at risk of losing the next generation of our best and brightest scientists. The Emerging Scholars Program will offer an opportunity for selected scientists of great promise to establish their credentials in order to secure traditional funding in the future – thus helping to ensure that potential cures and treatments are not derailed for lack of dollars at a crucial time. 

Current Taubman Emerging Scholars

Ronald J. Buckanovich, M.D., Ph.D.,  Marvin and Betty Danto Family Foundation Emerging Scholar and assistant professor of Internal Medicine and of Obstetrics and Gynecology: Buckanovich is studying novel diagnostic tests and therapeutic agents for women’s cancer, including breast and ovarian. His laboratory is developing immune-based therapies that can specifically kill the blood vessels of tumors and has identified two drugs that directly target cancer stem cells. 

James Dowling, M.D., Ph.D., Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg Emerging Scholar, assistant professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases and of Neurology, and Director, Muscular Dystrophy Clinic: Dr. Dowling is investigating childhood onset muscle diseases, including myopathies and muscular dystrophies.  These conditions are characterized by impairment in a child's ability to walk and run, and many patients with this group of disorders remain wheelchair dependent for life.  His work is aimed at unlocking the biological mechanisms of these diseases, and then using that knowledge to develop new treatments for these devastating conditions.

Johann E. Gudjonsson, M.D., Ph.D., Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg Emerging Scholar and assistant professor of Dermatology: Gudjonsson is pursuing novel approaches to the genetics and immunology of psoriasis and other inflammatory skin diseases. The goal is to advance our understanding of the genetic causes of these disorders, which may help in the development of novel therapeutic approaches.

Erika A. Newman, M.D., Edith Briskin Emerging Scholar and assistant professor of Pediatric Surgery: Newman is exploring the role of DNA repair in the development of the often fatal childhood cancer, neuroblastoma. She is studying the effect of faulty DNA repair in the embryonic development of the neural system, which may provide insight into the origins of neuroblastoma and allow a more targeted approach to effective treatment.