Brown accelerator fund backs new malaria, Alzheimer’s and heart disease treatments

Five faculty members are one step closer to translating research into new biomedical innovations designed to improve patient care, thanks to hundreds of thousands of dollars awarded this year through the Brown Biomedical Innovations to Impact accelerator fund.

Out of 16 submitted proposals to the BBII Proof of Concept program, four received $100,000 grants each. A fifth proposal received $250,000 via the Brown Innovation Fund-Life Sciences Impact Award, established by Preetha Basaviah ’91 MD’95 and Venky Ganasan. This year marks the second round of funding for the award, which provides advising and mentorship to one or two recipients each year. Recipients are expected to generate licensable technology, with the potential to establish a start-up. 

Jonathan Kurtis '89 PhD'96 MD'96, P'28, chair of pathology and laboratory medicine and executive director of the MD-PhD Program, received this year’s Life Sciences Impact Award for his malaria treatment project. He proposes developing a small molecule therapeutic that targets PfGARP, a highly conserved protein essential for Plasmodium falciparum parasite survival. His team has identified several lead compounds that demonstrate potent efficacy in vitro against both sensitive and multi-drug resistant P. falciparum malaria strains, indicating a novel mechanism. Kurtis will use the funding to carry out further preclinical work to nominate a development candidate to be tested in clinical trials.

Since 2018, the BBII Proof of Concept program has funded 28 proposals by 25 faculty, totaling $3.1 million. Of those, four have formed start-ups to commercialize their products, and raised more than $3 million combined in additional seed funding. Karen Bulock, PhD, managing director of BBII, says Brown’s support of proof-of-concept projects with the potential for clinical impact, such as drugs, medical devices, and tests, is more important now than ever.

“This is an important way Brown can have a direct impact by turning research into products that can treat patients while also fostering new opportunities for partnerships within Providence and Rhode Island,” she says. “There are many exciting new developments happening in our state and the local life sciences ecosystem,  which makes for a good environment to support startups coming out of Brown.”

The $100,000 awards, funded either by BBII or by a gift from the Steven J. Massarsky Trust, help faculty inventors to develop important data showing the promise of their technology. An advisory committee made up of venture capitalists and experts in the pharmaceutical and medical device fields review proposals for commercialization potential.

This year’s awardees are:

• Justin Fallon, PhD, P'07, P'09, professor of medical science and of psychiatry and human behavior, is developing a novel monoclonal antibody therapy designed to activate endogenous muscle stem cells. The molecular target is the MuSK Ig3 domain, which recent published work from Fallon's lab identified as a regulator of satellite cell activation, muscle growth, and accelerated regeneration. No approved therapies exist for muscle regeneration, and Fallon's therapy aims to promote muscle growth by actively stimulating the proliferation of new muscle cells. Fallon will use his award to support the generation of this antibody, its functional testing in vitro, and some initial bioengineering as a first step toward a novel therapeutic to increase muscle function and repair.
• Alvin Huang, PhD, MD, James and Dorothy Goodman Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, aims to support tau-targeting therapies for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD) by introducing a novel therapeutic strategy leveraging an exon-skipping antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) to target BIN1, the second-greatest genetic risk factor for LOAD. Huang’s ASO is designed to reduce extracellular tau protein secretion and limit the spread of tau pathology throughout the brain, which is the main determinant of cognitive decline. This therapy aims to detoxify tau spread rather than directly targeting tau, offering a potentially superior and more cost-effective solution. His development plan includes in-vitro screening of ASO candidates for efficient exon skipping and reduction in tau secretion, and ultimately, seeking regulatory approval to bring this innovation to patients.
• Wenliang Song, MD, assistant professor of medicine, is developing a novel approach to detoxify elevated lipoprotein(a) without lowering its levels. Lp(a) is a major, yet untreatable, contributor to cardiovascular disease, but eradicating Lp(a) entirely may carry potential long-term risks as it also plays physiological roles in wound healing and tissue regeneration. Song’s proposed lead compound targets oxidized phospholipids (OxPLs), which are increasingly recognized as the primary drivers of Lp(a)'s pathogenicity, and neutralizes them. Song says this strategy is not only safer by preserving Lp(a)'s beneficial functions but potentially more effective, as it also neutralizes harmful OxPLs on other lipoproteins. Song will use the award to optimize lead compounds for enhanced efficacy and druggability, paving the way for a novel, safer Lp(a) therapeutic.
• Stephanie Jones, PhD, professor of neuroscience, received follow-up funding to continue the development of brain simulation tools to uncover the mechanisms underlying neurological diseases and model the effects of neurotherapeutics on brain circuits. The core technology provides a biophysical interpretation of brain activity that translates from animals to humans. In the second year, the initiative will focus on establishing proof-of-concept through human and mouse data analysis, alongside the development of predictive neural models. The resulting software will provide evidence for critical decision-making in preclinical and clinical drug development, ultimately increasing success rates in the drug development pipeline.