Huck Institutes Awards Nine Interdisciplinary Seed Grants for 2026-27, Including Novel AML Immunotherapy and Pediatric Asthma Research
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Penn State's Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences has awarded nine interdisciplinary seed grants for 2026-27 to foster high-impact research across disciplines.
A notable funded project aims to develop a cell-based IL22BP (search) delivery system using biomimetic camouflage for acute myeloid leukemia (search) (AML) therapy, targeting cancer stem cell immune evasion.
Another project will investigate how early-life allergen exposure affects white matter brain development in children with allergic asthma (search) using preclinical models and diffusion tensor imaging.
Penn State's Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences has announced the recipients of nine interdisciplinary seed grants for the 2026-27 academic year, supporting research projects that span human health, agricultural resilience, and computational biology. The program, made possible by an endowment from J. Lloyd Huck and Dorothy Foehr Huck, is designed to foster collaborations across disciplines and colleges with the potential to drive scientific breakthroughs and generate significant real-world impact.
"The Huck Seed Grant program is designed to foster collaborations across disciplines and colleges," said Christina Grozinger, Publius Vergilius Maro Professor of Entomology and director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. "These nine grants represent our continuing commitment to building teams that can tackle fundamental scientific and global challenges through projects that deepen our understanding of life and have the potential to translate that knowledge into significant, real-world impacts."
Among the most clinically significant projects is a novel immunotherapy approach for acute myeloid leukemia (search) (AML), led by Kumble Sandeep Prabhu, professor of immunology and molecular toxicology, with collaborator Yong Wang, professor of biomedical engineering. The project, titled "Cell-Based IL22BP (search) Delivery Using Biomimetic Camouflage for AML therapy," addresses a critical challenge in AML treatment: disease recurrence driven by cancer stem cells that evade the immune system.
The research team proposes developing a cell-based immunotherapy platform that uses engineered stem cells to continuously deliver IL22BP (search), a protein that blocks leukemia growth and restores the immune system's ability to attack cancer. The work falls under the Huck research themes of Health for Life and Translational Science & Public Impact, with the goal of improving long-term treatment outcomes for patients with this aggressive blood cancer.
In another health-focused initiative, Sonia Cavigelli, associate professor of biobehavioral health, will lead a project examining how early environmental allergen exposure affects brain development. Working with collaborators Helen Kamens and Thomas Neuberger, the team will investigate whether exposure to common household allergens such as dust mites during early development disrupts white matter in brain regions involved in cognition and mental health. Using a preclinical model and diffusion tensor imaging, the study aims to provide insights into the neurological effects of pediatric allergic asthma (search).
Additional funded projects span diverse areas including AI-enabled quantification of transcriptional condensate dynamics to predict gene regulation in live cells, led by Qunhua Li, which may lay groundwork for future studies of diseases linked to faulty gene regulation such as sickle cell disease (search). A project investigating the gut-brain axis linking ultra-processed foods and substance use in emerging adults, led by Emma Jane Rose, will employ functional MRI, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and metabolomics to explore biological mechanisms connecting diet to substance use risk.
The seed grant program also supports agricultural and environmental research, including projects on cereal crop resistance against the parasitic plant Striga, AI frameworks for understanding plant responses to environmental perturbations, and improved microbial community analysis methods.
"Their vision and commitment to supporting research and researchers who break down the boundaries between disciplines to transform the life sciences continue to inspire us all," Grozinger said of the Huck family endowment.