For The Second Year in a Row, Two Einstein Research Teams Win Competitive XSeed Awards

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Mar 08, 2022, 12:40 ET

BRONX, N.Y., March 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In a demonstration of research excellence and entrepreneurial vision, faculty at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have secured two of the five 2022 XSeed Awards, which provide $100,000 in funding for each winning team to advance promising basic science findings that have startup potential. The theme of this year's competition was neurodegeneration, with proposals offering novel approaches to address key questions about the pathogenesis, progression, diagnosis, or treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

"Einstein is well known for its outstanding basic science and translational research faculty, a reputation that is reinforced by their success in this competition," said Gordon F. Tomaselli, M.D., the Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean at Einstein and executive vice president and chief academic officer at Montefiore Medicine. "These awards, on top of the two winning teams last year, also demonstrate Einstein's commitment to supporting our scientists as they seek to turn their discoveries into diagnostics and treatments that improve the health of our Bronx community and beyond. I applaud each of them for their scientific excellence and initiative."

Winners of the 2022 XSeed Awards are:

Arne Gennerich, Ph.D., and Hernando Sosa, Ph.D., for their proposal to identify and develop drugs targeting neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. The team will start by normalizing the activity of the protein KIF1A. Its dysfunction has been implicated in some cases of intellectual disability, autism, and microcephaly—known collectively as KIF1A-associated neurological disorders, or KAND. The team will use structural analysis, virtual screens, and in vitro and in vivo assays to identify small molecules that might rescue KiF1A function.
Nicholas Sibinga, M.D., and Sayan Nandi, Ph.D., for their research into microglial phagocytosis. This protective process clears dying neurons and toxic proteins such as amyloid beta from the brain—but its overactivity damages live neurons and has been implicated in multiple sclerosis, ALS, and other neurodegenerative diseases. These investigators have found that loss of function of the protein Iba1 slows down microglial phagocytosis. The team, which also includes Evripidis Gavathiotis, Ph.D., Derek Huffman, Ph.D., and Alishba Maira, M.S., will investigate strategies for using drugs to target the Iba1 pathway and thereby disrupt microglial phagocytosis.

"Einstein faculty members have secured four of the ten XSeed Awards given over the first two years of this prestigious competition," noted Janis Paradiso, M.B.A., C.L.P., director of the office of biotechnology and business development, whose office worked with several of the teams that submitted applications for the award. "Our scientific community is focused on important projects that have potential in treating debilitating diseases and is committed to advancing this research. We look forward to working with our Einstein researchers as they build additional relationships with funding sources, like XSeed, investment groups, and licensing partners, to further develop Einstein innovations."

In addition to funding, all winning teams, which are selected by Deerfield Management and a panel of industry specialists, will join a cohort of their fellow awardees and be provided with two years of peer-learning and office hours with leading investors, entrepreneurs, and business experts. XSeed graduates are expected to serve as mentors and coaches for future cohorts, further strengthening New York City's entrepreneurial community.

About Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Albert Einstein College of Medicine is one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2021-22 academic year, Einstein is home to 732 M.D. students, 190 Ph.D. students, 120 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and approximately 250 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has more than 1,900 full-time faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2021, Einstein received more than $185 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health. This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in cancer, aging, intellectual development disorders, diabetes, clinical and translational research, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Its partnership with Montefiore, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. For more information, please visit einsteinmed.org, read our blog, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and view us on YouTube.