SCI Innovation Awards
- Award Information
- Awardees
March 2026 Awardees
- Defining Breast Cancer Metastatic Potential by Personalized Tumor Bed Tissue Profiling
Ash Alizadeh, MD, PhD, Melinda Telli, MD, Julia Ransohoff, MD
- Establishing The Role Of Leptotrichia And Its Associated Immunomodulatory Micropeptides as Biomarkers in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Michelle M. Chen, MD, MHS, FACS, Ami Bhatt, MD, PhD, Fangdi Sun, MD
- Development of Enhanced CAR T Cells That Remodel the Glioblastoma Tumor Microenvironment
Kyle Daniels, PhD, Michael Lim, MD
- Non-Invasive Liquid Biopsy for Liver Cancer Using Synthetic Receptors and Urinary Outputs
Xiaojing Gao, PhD, Renu Dhanasekaran, MD, PhD
- A Deep Learning Framework for Highly Accurate Liquid Biopsy in Clinics
Md Tauhidul Islam, PhD, Lei Xing, PhD, Max Diehn, MD, PhD, James Zou, PhD
- Developing OSMR Bifunctional Antibodies for KRAS‑Dependent Adenocarcinomas
Peter Jackson, PhD, Jennifer Cochran, PhD
- Positronium Lifetime Provides Additional Valuable Information for Cancer Characterization During a PET Scan
Craig Levin, PhD, Edward Graves, PhD, Jianghong Rao, PhD
- Advancing Women’s Health: Establishing a Precision Oncology Platform with Epic Cosmos
Marissa Reitsma, PhD, Allison Kurian, MD, MSc, Jennifer Caswell-Jin, MD
- On Device Ultra-Wide Field Imaging AI to Flag Referable Ocular Melanoma in Community Clinics
Yasir Sepah, MBBS, Prithvi Mruthunjaya, MD, MHS
- Chemically Induced Proximity to Eliminate Virally-Driven Cancers
Priscilla Yang, PhD, Nathanael Gray, PhD
- Personalized Circulating Tumor DNA Profiling Enables Enhanced Measurable Residual Disease Detection and Clonal Surveillance in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Tian Yi Zhang, MD, PhD
October 2025 Awardees
- Deconstructing Lysosomal Rewiring in PDAC to Identify Vulnerabilities and Mechanisms of Immune Evasion
Laura Attardi, PhD; Monther Abu-Remaileh, PhD; Michael Bassik, PhD
- Leveraging electronic health records to map cancer screening and diagnosis in California
Jade Benjamin-Chung, PhD, MPH; David Rehkopf, PhD; Melissa Bondy, PhD
- Scalable discovery of gene activation vulnerabilities in KRAS-mutant cancers
Steven Corsello, MD
- Dynamics and Determinants of Resistance by Cell-free DNA in the CD19-Targeted CAR T-cell Therapy for Eradication of Active Residual Disease in Large B-cell Lymphoma (CLEAR-1) Investigator-Initiated Trial
Saurabh Dahiya, MD, FACP; Joseph Schroers-Martin, MD; Ash Alizadeh, MD, PhD
- Defining the genomic makeup of uterine lavage samples to enable better biomarker discovery for screening and early diagnosis of high-grade serous ovarian cancer
James Ford, MD; Talayeh Fhezelayagh, MD, MPH; Billy Lau, PhD
- Colorectal Cancer-Induced Atherosclerosis: A TNF-Targeted Therapeutic Strategy
Nicholas Leeper, MD; Lingfeng Luo, PhD
- Decoding immunological tolerance programs within lymph nodes through in vivo interactions screens
Nathan Reticker-Flynn, PhD
- Identifying microbial metabolites that enhance chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell efficacy
Melody Smith, MD, MS
- Organ and Cell Selective Non-viral Gene Delivery
Paul Wender, PhD
- High-throughput optimization of in vivo CAR T cell function
Monte Winslow, PhD; Rogelio Hernandez-Lopez, PhD; Dmitri Petrov, PhD
- Investigating ovarian carcinogenesis with new precancerous fallopian tube epithelial organoid models
Bo Yu, MD, MS
March 2025 Awardees
- Reaching underserved populations in the U.S.: feasibility of an adapted same-day community-based cervical cancer screening program
Paul Blumenthal, MD, MPH; Kay Daniels, MD; Michelle Khan, MD, MPH
- PSMA targeted sialidase for prostate cancer immunotherapy
James Brooks, MD; Carolyn Bertozzi, PhD
- Investigator-initiated trial of neoadjuvant immunotherapy in early-stage colon cancer
Chris Chen, MD; Shruti Patel, MD
- Deciphering PrimPol's role in cancer: balancing challenges and therapeutic opportunities
Gheorghe Chistol, PhD
- Combinatorial screening to overcome de-differentiation mediated treatment resistance in thyroid cancer
Le Cong, PhD; Maya Kasowski, MD, PhD; Lisa Orloff, MD
- Engineering CD8 T cells to migrate to and target ovarian cancer tumors
Livnat Jerby, PhD
- Prediction and treatments of pregnancy-related tumors using a novel 3D in vitro model of the human endometrium
Matteo Molè, PhD; Jonathan Berek, MD, MMSc
- Novel transcutaneous spectrophotometry device for reconstructive flap monitoring
Arash Momeni, MD
- Enhancing anti-cancer responses to radiation therapy
Julien Sage, PhD; Edward Graves, PhD
- Matrix viscoelasticity and induction of hepatocellular carcinoma in the cirrhotic liver
Natalie Torok, MD; Ovijit Chaudhuri, PhD
- A spatial and longitudinal analysis of radiation and immunotherapy response in patients with sarcoma
Matt van de Rijn, MD, PhD; Anusha Kalbasi, MD
- New approaches for proteome-wide investigation of mechanisms regulating cancer metabolism
Haopeng Xiao, PhD
October 2024 Awardees
- Patient-centered discovery science to identify biomarkers of response and define mechanisms of resistance in patients receiving tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) cell therapy
Allison Betof Warner, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (oncology), and her collaborator, Zina Good, PhD, instructor, Stanford Institutes of Medicine, received an SCI Cancer Innovation Award.
- Epigenetic-aware deep learning model for single cell-free DNA molecule annotation and cancer classification
Mohammad Esfahani, PhD, assistant professor of radiation oncology (radiation and cancer biology), is the recipient of an SCI Cancer Innovation Award.
- Programmable cancer ablation using RNA sensors for oncogenes
Xiaojing Gao, PhD, assistant professor of chemical engineering, received an SCI Cancer Innovation Award.
- Functional oncology mapping (FuncOMap) to deliver cutting-edge biomarkers for precision immunotherapy application.
Amanda Kirane, MD, assistant professor of surgery (general surgery) was awarded an SCI Cancer Innovation Award.
- Addressing the acceptability of self-testing kits for prostate cancer screening in South Africa: learning from high-risk communities of men with global implications
Marvin Langston, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of epidemiology and population health, was awarded an SCI Cancer Innovation Award.
- Identifying patterns of clinicians delivering guideline-discordant breast cancer care
Allison Kurian, MD, MSc, associate professor of medicine (oncology) and of health research and policy, Jennifer Caswell-Jin, MD, assistant professor of medicine (oncology), and their collaborator, James Dickerson, MD, instructor of medicine (oncology), were awarded an SCI Women's Cancer Center Innovation Award.
- Closing gaps in cancer care disparities by listening to patients' own voices
Eleni Linos, MD, DrPH, MPH, professor of dermatology and of medicine (Center for Digital Health), along with her collaborators, Allison Kurian, MD, MSc, associate professor of medicine (oncology) and of health research and policy, Jennifer Caswell-Jin, MD, assistant professor of medicine (oncology), and Jiyeong Kim, PhD, postdoctoral scholar, dermatology, received an SCI Women's Cancer Center Innovation Award.
- Targeting EPOR positive tumor-associated macrophages in high grade serous ovarian cancer: a novel immunotherapeutic approach
An SCI Women's Cancer Center Innovation Award was awarded to Erinn Rankin, PhD, assistant professor of radiation oncology (radiation biology) and of obstetrics and gynecology (oncology), and Edgar Engleman, MD, professor of pathology and of medicine (immunology and rheumatology).
- Uncovering the role of the type I interferon receptor in cancer metastasis
Nathan Reticker-Flynn, PhD, assistant professor of otolaryngology - head & neck surgery (OHNS) was awarded an SCI Women's Cancer Center Innovation Award.
- 77Br/18F-hGTS13: a theranostic for detection and targeted treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer
Corinne Beinat, PhD, MSc, assistant professor of radiology (molecular imaging program at Stanford), received a Shmunis Family Innovation Award in Cancer Therapeutics.
- Modulation of GVHD through the EPO/EPOR axis
Robert Negrin, MD, professor of medicine (blood and marrow transplantation and cellular therapy), and Edgar Engleman, MD, professor of pathology and of medicine (immunology and rheumatology), received a Michael Toshio Cure for Cancer Catalyst Award.
March 2024 Awardees
- Label-free spatial profiling of the tumor microenvironment for therapeutic prediction
An SCI Innovation Award was given to Amanda Kirane, MD, assistant professor of surgery (general surgery) and Jennifer Dionne, PhD, associate professor of materials science and engineering for their proposal titled “Label-free spatial profiling of the tumor microenvironment for therapeutic prediction.”
- Integration of MR perfusion and metabolic imaging biomarkers with circulating EBV-DNA for predicting treatment response and prognostication in patients with nasopharyngeal cancer
Nancy Pham, MD, clinical assistant professor, radiology, Quynh-Thu Le, MD, Katharine Dexter McCormick and Stanley McCormick Memorial Professor, Dimitrios Colevas, MD, professor of medicine (oncology), Nancy Fischbein, MD, professor of radiology, and Michael Iv, MD, clinical associate professor, radiology, have been granted an SCI Innovation Award for their project, “Integration of MR perfusion and metabolic imaging biomarkers with circulating EBV-DNA for predicting treatment response and prognostication in patients with nasopharyngeal cancer.”
- A platform for elucidating the tumor-reactive T cell repertoire of metastatic cancers
An SCI Innovation Award was given to Nathan Reticker-Flynn, PhD, assistant professor of otolaryngology - head & neck surgery, for his proposal, “A platform for elucidating the tumor-reactive T cell repertoire of metastatic cancers.”
- Deconstructing tumor-immune landscape of GBM using engineered 3D assembloids
Melanie Hayden Gephart, MD, MAS, professor of neurosurgery, Marius Wernig, MD, PhD, professor of pathology, and Michael Bassik, PhD, associate professor of genetics were awarded an SCI Nodal Award for their proposal titled “Deconstructing tumor-immune landscape of GBM using engineered 3D assembloids.”
- Rewiring RAS pathway mutations to activate programmed cell death in pancreatic cancer
Gerald Crabtree, MD, David Korn, MD, Professor of Pathology and professor of developmental biology, and Nathanael Gray, PhD, Krishnan-Shah Family Professor of chemical and systems biology, were awarded an SCI Pancreatic Cancer Innovation Award for their project, “Rewiring RAS pathway mutations to activate programmed cell death in pancreatic cancer.”
- Detection & prevention of severe dose-limiting neurotoxicity among adults initiating breast cancer treatment
Alyce Adams, PhD, Stanford Medicine Innovation Professor and professor of health policy, epidemiology and population health, and Miriam Goodman, PhD, Mrs. George A. Winzer Professor of Cell Biology, were awarded an SCI Women’s Cancer Center Innovation Award for their proposal, “Detection & prevention of severe dose-limiting neurotoxicity among adults initiating breast cancer treatment: an interdisciplinary proof of concept study.”
- Engineering target receptors to boost efficacy of antibody-drug conjugate therapy
Carolyn Bertozzi, PhD, Baker Family Director of Sarafan ChEM-H, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, received an SCI Women’s Cancer Center Innovation Award for her proposal entitled “Engineering target receptors to boost efficacy of antibody-drug conjugate therapy.”
- GPR65 expression, obesity, and breast cancer in a multiethnic population
An SCI Women’s Cancer Center Innovation Award was awarded to Esther M. John, PhD, professor (research) of epidemiology and population health and of medicine (oncology), and Edgar Engleman, MD, professor of pathology and of medicine (immunology and rheumatology), for their proposal, “GPR65 expression, obesity, and breast cancer in a multiethnic population.”
- Investigating DCIS progression via 3D volumetric imaging and single-cell spatial-omics
Garry Nolan, PhD, Rachford and Carlota Harris Professor, received an SCI Women’s Cancer Center Innovation Award for his proposal titled “Investigating DCIS progression via 3D volumetric imaging and single-cell spatial-omics.”
- Novel approaches for creating fallopian tube organoids with BRCA1/2 heterozygous mutations
Bo Yu, MD, MS, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology (reproductive endocrinology and infertility) was awarded an SCI Women’s Cancer Center Innovation Award for her proposal, “Novel approaches for creating fallopian tube organoids with BRCA1/2 heterozygous mutations.”
- High-resolution longitudinal analysis of sarcoma response to hypofractionated radiotherapy
Everett Moding, MD, PhD, assistant professor of radiation oncology (radiation therapy), was awarded a Behar Innovation Award in Sarcoma Research for his project, “High-resolution longitudinal analysis of sarcoma response to hypofractionated radiotherapy.”