CPRIT grants $22M to bring top cancer researchers to Houston

fresh funding

CPRIT recently granted $93 million to 61 organizations and scientists, including many in Houston, to advance cancer research. Carter Smith/Courtesy of MD Anderson

Several prominent cancer researchers are coming to the Houston area thanks to $22 million in grants recently awarded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).

The biggest CPRIT recruitment grant — $6 million — went to genetics researcher Jean Gautier. Gautier, a professor of genetics and development at Columbia University’s Institute for Cancer Genetics, is joining the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to continue his research.

The website for Gautier’s lab at Columbia provides this explanation of his research:

“The main objective of our research is to better understand the molecular mechanisms responsible for the maintenance of genome stability. These controls are lost in cancer, which is characterized by genomic instability.”

Aside from his work as a professor, Gautier is co-leader of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Cancer Genomics and Epigenomics Program at Columbia.

Other recipients of CPRIT recruitment grants include:

  • $2 million to recruit Xun Sun from the Scripps Research Institute to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
  • $2 million to recruit Mingqi Han from the University of California, Los Angeles to MD Anderson.
  • $2 million to recruit Matthew Jones from Stanford University to MD Anderson.
  • $2 million to recruit Linna An from the University of Washington to Rice University.
  • $2 million to recruit Alissa Greenwald from the Weizmann Institute of Science to MD Anderson.
  • $2 million to recruit Niladri Sinha from Johns Hopkins University to the Baylor College of Medicine.
  • $2 million for Luigi Perelli to stay at MD Anderson so he can be put on a tenure track and set up a research lab.
  • $2 million for Benjamin Schrank to stay at MD Anderson so he can be put on a tenure track and set up a research lab.

Over $20.2 million in academic research grants were awarded to researchers at:

  • Baylor College of Medicine
  • Houston Methodist Research Institute
  • Rice University
  • Texas Southern University
  • University of Houston
  • University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
  • University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
  • University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

In addition, nearly $4.45 million in cancer prevention grants were awarded to one researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and another at Texas Southern University.

Also, five Houston businesses benefited from CPRIT grants for product development research:

  • Allterum Therapeutics, $2,999,996
  • CTMC, $1,342,178
  • Instapath, $900,000
  • Prana Surgical, $900,000
  • InformAI, $465,188

“Texas is a national leader in the fight against cancer,” said Kristen Pauling Doyle, CPRIT’s CEO. “We can measure the return on investment from CPRIT grants … not only in the economic benefits flowing from increased financial activity and jobs in the state, but more importantly in the cancers avoided, detected early, and treated successfully. Thanks to the Legislature’s vision, this commitment is saving lives.”

Overall, CPRIT approved 61 grants totaling more than $93 million in this recent round of funding.

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A new study on Mars is shining a light on the Earth's own climate mysteries. Image via UH.edu

Houston scientists create first profile of Mars’ radiant energy budget, revealing climate insights on Earth

RESEARCH FINDINGS

Scientists at the University of Houston have found a new understanding of climate and weather on Mars.

The study, which was published in a new paper in AGU Advances and will be featured in AGU’s science magazine EOS, generated the first meridional profile of Mars’ radiant energy budget (REB). REB represents the balance or imbalance between absorbed solar energy and emitted thermal energy across latitudes. An energy surplus can lead to global warming, and a deficit results in global cooling, which helps provide insights to Earth's atmospheric processes too. The profile of Mars’ REB influences weather and climate patterns.

The study was led by Larry Guan, a graduate student in the Department of Physics at UH's College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics under the guidance of his advisors Professor Liming Li from the Department of Physics and Professor Xun Jiang from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and other planetary scientists. UH graduate students Ellen Creecy and Xinyue Wang, renowned planetary scientists Germán Martínez, Ph.D. (Houston’s Lunar and Planetary Institute), Anthony Toigo, Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins University) and Mark Richardson, Ph.D. (Aeolis Research), and Prof. Agustín Sánchez-Lavega (Universidad del País, Vasco, Spain) and Prof. Yeon Joo Lee (Institute for Basic Science, South Korea) also assisted in the project.

The profile of Mars’ REB is based on long-term observations from orbiting spacecraft. It offers a detailed comparison of Mars’ REB to that of Earth, which has shown differences in the way each planet receives and radiates energy. Earth shows an energy surplus in the tropics and a deficit in the polar regions, while Mars exhibits opposite behavioral patterns.

The surplus is evident in Mars’ southern hemisphere during spring, which plays a role in driving the planet’s atmospheric circulation and triggering the most prominent feature of weather on the planet, global dust storms. The storms can envelop the entire planet, alter the distribution of energy, and provide a dynamic element that affects Mars’ weather patterns and climate.

The research team is currently examining long-term energy imbalances on Mars and how it influences the planet’s climate.

“The REB difference between the two planets is truly fascinating, so continued monitoring will deepen our understanding of Mars’ climate dynamics,” Li says in a news release.

The global-scale energy imbalance on Earth was recently discovered, and it contributes to global warming at a “magnitude comparable to that caused by increasing greenhouse gases,” according to the study. Mars has an environment that differs due to its thinner atmosphere and lack of anthropogenic effects.

“The work in establishing Mars’ first meridional radiant energy budget profile is noteworthy,” Guan adds. “Understanding Earth’s large-scale climate and atmospheric circulation relies heavily on REB profiles, so having one for Mars allows critical climatological comparisons and lays the groundwork for Martian meteorology.”

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This article originally ran on EnergyCapital.

A Houston-based biotech company has completed early testing for its groundbreaking insulin alternative and is headed toward clinical trials. Photo via Getty Images

Houston startup completes testing, prepares biosimilar insulin drug for clinical trials

next steps

A Houston biotech startup is one step closer to releasing its marquee drug for the global insulin market, which is projected to break the $90 billion threshold by 2029.

rBIO says it recently completed testing of the properties of R-biolin, an insulin drug that’s biologically identical to Novo Nordisk’s Novolin drug. The patent for Novolin about two decades ago. In March 2023, the Dutch drugmaker announced it was slashing the list price of Novolin by 65 percent to $48.20 per vial and $91.09 per FlexPen.

Executives at rBIO are now pursuing a partnership with a contract research organization to manage clinical trials of R-biolin. If those trials go well, R-biolin will seek approval to supply its insulin therapy to diabetes patients around the world.

Washington University in St. Louis is rBIO’s academic partner for the R-biolin project.

The rBIO platform produces insulin at greater yields that traditional manufacturing techniques do. The company is striving to drive down the cost of insulin by 30 percent.

About 38 million Americans have diabetes, with the vast majority being treated for type 2 diabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Many people with diabetes must take insulin to control their blood sugar levels.

Research company iHealthcareAnalyst predicts the global market for insulin will surpass the $90 billion mark in 2029.

“There has been a lot of talk in the media about reducing the cost of insulin for diabetic patients, but what is often overlooked is that the domestic demand for insulin will soon outpace the supply, leading to a new host of issues,” Cameron Owen, co-founder and CEO of rBIO, says in a news release.

“We’re dedicated to addressing the growing demand for accessible insulin therapies, and … we’re thrilled to announce the viability of our highly scalable manufacturing process.”

Professionals from the University of California San Diego and Johns Hopkins University established rBIO in 2020. The startup moved its headquarters from San Diego to Houston in 2022.

CEO Cameron Owen and Chief Scientific Officer Deenadayalan Bakthavatsalam work on insulin purification in the Houston lab. Photo courtesy

The EnMed program is housed out of the Texas A&M University System's new Discovery Tower in the Texas Medical Center. Image via Facebook/TAMU EnMEd

Innovative Houston program that combines engineering, medicine to graduate inaugural class

first in class

Priya Arunachalam knew that she had a calling to heal, but she also has a mind for solving problems. After earning a B.S. in biomedical engineering and an MBA in healthcare management and entrepreneurship from Johns Hopkins University, the Austin native applied to medical schools knowing that her trajectory would be working as “a doctor-plus,” as she puts it.

Fortunately, a new program that combined the powers of Houston Methodist and Texas A&M University was recruiting its first graduating class. The School of Engineering Medicine allows students to simultaneously earn both a medical doctorate and a master of engineering degree in four years. It was the perfect fit.

On May 19, she will be among the 22 first students to earn those degrees. Five of them are staying on at Houston Methodist and Arunachalam is one of them.

“I am doing a general surgery residency at Houston Methodist. I am leaning towards transplant,” Arunachalam tells InnovationMap.

It’s no easy task to become a member of the EnMed program, as it’s informally known. Classes are capped at just 50 students a year, says Dr. Timothy Boone, director of education at Houston Methodist Academic Institute. He says that in the four years since EnMed launched, the size and diversity of the applicant pool has continued to grow, but it’s a very specific type of student they’re looking for.

Students must have an undergraduate degree in engineering, for one. That, Boone says, attracts problem solvers who also want to practice medicine.

“If you just think of it as a job, you’re in it for the wrong reasons,” he says.

Throughout their four years of education, students put their problem solving to the test. As they learn about medicine, the students see issues at a patient level and come up with engineering solutions.

One of Arunachalam’s creations in her time in EnMed was a redesigned hospital gown that allows for exams despite being less exposed in the back. She’s currently trying to pilot them at Houston Methodist Hospital.

Boone also mentions an ophthalmology student who has gained a preliminary patent on a design for a chair that accommodates more body types than those currently being used by most doctors. Another group of students created Go Baby Go, a toy car specifically designed for children with significant mobility impairment.

EnMed isn’t Houston Methodist’s only innovative collaboration. The University of St. Thomas Cameron School of Business joins forces with Houston Methodist to offer a master in clinical translation management program to teach students how to turn their ideas into thriving companies.

With Arunachalam’s business background, one might have expected her to follow such a path. But she says she prefers to create solutions and “find the right teams to take those ideas forward.”

Instead, her future is in surgery, which she says, is its own kind of engineering.

“I think they’re very similar," she says. "In engineering, we take apart a problem and put it back together a little better. In surgery you have a system that is malfunctioning and we have to find novel ways to fix it.”

And her and her classmates’ novel discoveries will soon be helping countless patients.

The EnMed program is graduating its first class this week. Photo via HoustonMethodist.org

Here's what student teams from around the world were invited to compete in the Rice Business Plan Competition. Photo via rice.edu

Annual student startup competition in Houston names teams for 2023

getting pitch perfect

Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship has named the 42 student startup teams that were extended invitations to compete in the 23rd annual Rice Business Plan Competition

The 2023 startup competition will take place on Rice University campus May 11 to 13, and the teams representing 37 universities from six countries will pitch to investors, mentors, and other industry leaders for the chance to win funding and prizes. Last year's RBPC doled out nearly $2 million in investment prizes.

This year, Rice saw its largest number of student startups applying for the RBPC internal qualifier from within campus. The university selected three to move on to compete at RBPC in May — Sygne Solutions, Neurnano Therapeutics, and Tierra Climate, which also received a total of $5,000 in cash prizes to these top three teams.

The 2023 RBPC will focus on five categories: energy, cleantech and sustainability; life science and health care solutions; consumer products and services; hard tech; and digital enterprise.

This invited companies, if they attend, will join the ranks of the 784 teams that previously competed in RBPC and have raised more than $4.6 billion in capital, as well as seen more than 50 successful exits including five IPOs.

The 2023 Rice Business Plan Competition invitees, according to Rice University's news release:

  • Active Surfaces, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Adrigo Insights, Saint Mary’s University (Canada)
  • AirSeal, Washington University in St. Louis
  • Algbio, Yeditepe University (Turkey)
  • Arch Pet Food, University of Chicago
  • Astria Biosciences, University of Pittsburgh
  • Atma Leather, Yale University
  • Atop, UCLA
  • Biome Future, University of Florida
  • BioSens8, Boston University
  • BlueVerse, Texas Tech University
  • Boardible, Northwestern University
  • Boston Quantum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • ceres plant protein cereal, Tulane University
  • Citrimer, University of Michigan
  • Dart Bioscience, University of Oxford (United Kingdom)
  • DetoXyFi, Harvard University
  • E-Sentience, Duke University
  • Edulis Therapeutics, Carnegie Mellon University
  • FluxWorks, Texas A&M University
  • Integrated Molecular Innovations, Michigan Technological University
  • Inzipio, RWTH Aachen University (Germany)
  • LoopX AI, University of Waterloo (Canada)
  • Magnify Biosciences, Carnegie Mellon University
  • MiraHeart, Johns Hopkins University
  • MyLÚA, Cornell University
  • Outmore Living, University of Texas
  • Pathways, Harvard University
  • Pediatrica Therapeutics, University of Arkansas
  • Perseus Materials, Stanford University
  • Pike Robotics, University of Texas
  • Quantanx, Arizona State University
  • Sheza, San Diego State University
  • Skali, Northwestern University
  • Sundial Solar Components, University of Utah
  • Thryft Ship, University of Georgia
  • Tierra Climate, Rice University
  • TrashTrap Sustainability Solutions, Visvesvaraya Technological University (India)
  • Unchained, North Carolina A&T State University
  • Unsmudgeable, Babson College
  • Vivicaly, University of Pennsylvania
  • Zaymo, Brigham Young University
Here's what experiments TRISH is launching aboard Axiom Space's next mission. Photo via NASA

Houston space health institute to launch more experiments into space on upcoming mission

ready for takeoff

Houston's Translational Research Institute for Space Health, or TRISH, will launch six more experiments into space this spring aboard Axiom Space's Ax-2 mission, the organization announced this week.

The biomedical research conducted through TRISH, in consortium with CalTeach and MIT, will look into how space travel impacts everything from motion sickness to memory over the course of the mission's 10-day stint on the International Space Station.

The crew will consist of four astronauts: Commander Peggy Whitson (previously with NASA), Pilot John Shoffner and Mission Specialists Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. It's a historic team, bringing the first female private space crew commander and the first Saudi astronauts to the ISS.

“Insights gathered from this work improve our understanding of how the human body and mind respond to spaceflight, helping us to prepare future astronauts to remain safe and healthy during longer-duration missions," Dr. Dorit Donoviel, TRISH executive director and professor in the Center for Space Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, says in a statement.

The six projects onboard the mission have been developed by researchers within TRISH as well as the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University and Baylor College of Medicine. They aim to assess the following:

  • Spaceflight participants’ performance in memory, abstraction, spatial orientation, emotion recognition, risk decision making and sustained attention before and after the mission -Astronauts’ inner ears and eyes' response to motion before and after space travel and how this relates to motion sickness and nausea during launch and landing
  • The effects of spaceflight on the human body at the genomic level
  • Changes to the eyes and brain during spaceflight
  • Astronaut's sleep, personality, health history, team dynamics and immune-related symptoms
  • Sensorimotor abilities and changes in space and how this can impact astronauts' ability to stand, balance and have full body control on the moon

Some of this information will become part of TRISH’s Enhancing eXploration Platforms and ANalog Definition, or EXPAND, program, which aims to boost human health on commercial space flights through its database. The program launched in 2021.

Ax-2 is Axiom's second all-private astronaut mission to the ISS and will launch out of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. Axiom was first established in 2016 with the goal of building the world's first commercial space station.

TRISH is also slated to launch nine experiments on board SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission, which is now expected to launch this summer. The research aboard Polaris Dawn is intended to complement research supported by TRISH on the Inspiration4 all-civilian mission to orbit, which was also operated by SpaceX in 2021.

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Baylor College of Medicine names Minnesota med school dean as new president, CEO ​

new leader

Dr. Jakub Tolar, dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School, is taking over as president, CEO and executive dean of Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine on July 1.

Tolar—who’s also vice president for clinical affairs at the University of Minnesota and a university professor—will succeed Dr. Paul Klotman as head of BCM. Klotman is retiring June 30 after leading Texas’ top-ranked medical school since 2010.

In tandem with medical facilities such as Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center and Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor trains nearly half of the doctors who work at Texas Medical Center. In addition, Baylor is home to the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Texas Heart Institute.

The hunt for a new leader at Baylor yielded 179 candidates. The medical school’s search firm interviewed 44 candidates, and the pool was narrowed to 10 contenders who were interviewed by the Board of Trustees’ search committee. The full board then interviewed the four finalists, including Tolar.

Greg Brenneman, chair of Baylor’s board and the search committee, says Tolar is “highly accomplished” in the core elements of the medical school’s mission: research, patient care, education and community service.

“Baylor is phenomenal. Baylor is a superpower in academic medicine,” Tolar, a native of the Czech Republic, says in a YouTube video filmed at the medical school. “And everything comes together here because science saves lives. That is the superpower.”

Tolar’s medical specialties include pediatric blood and bone marrow transplants. His research, which he’ll continue at Baylor, focuses on developing cellular therapies for rare genetic disorders. In the research arena, he’s known for his care of patients with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, a severe genetic skin disorder.

In a news release, Tolar praises Baylor’s “achievements and foundation,” as well as the school’s potential to advance medicine and health care in “new and impactful ways.”

The Baylor College of Medicine employs more than 9,300 full-time faculty and staff. For the 2025-26 academic year, nearly 1,800 students are enrolled in the School of Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and School of Health Professions. Its M.D. program operates campuses in Houston and Temple.

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2024, Baylor recorded $2.72 billion in operating revenue and $2.76 billion in operating expenses.

The college was founded in 1900 in Dallas and relocated to Houston in 1943. It was affiliated with Baylor University in Waco from 1903 to 1969.

$50 million for Houston ibogaine research tops innovation news to know

News to know

Editor's note: The Houston innovation scene is entering 2026 with fresh funding for startups and major grants for innovative health treatments and neurological research. Here are the five most-read InnovationMap stories to start the new year, published Jan. 1-15, 2026:

1. Houston hospitals win $50M grant for ibogaine addiction treatment research

UTHealth Houston and UTMB will lead IMPACT, an initiative working toward ibogaine-based treatments for addiction and neurological issues. Photo via Pexels.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has awarded $50 million to UTHealth Houston in collaboration with The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB Health) to co-lead a multicenter research trial to evaluate the effect of ibogaine, a powerful psychoactive compound, on patients suffering from addiction, traumatic brain injury and other behavioral health conditions. The funding will establish a two-year initiative—known as Ibogaine Medicine for PTSD, Addiction, and Cognitive Trauma (IMPACT)—and a consortium of Texas health institutions focused on clinical trials and working toward potential FDA-approved treatments. Continue reading.

2. Rice scientist earns $600K NSF award to study distractions in digital age

Kirsten Adam, a Rice psychologist, is studying how the brain refocuses in the age of screens, instant gratification and other lingering distractions. Photo via Pexels.

Rice University psychologist Kirsten Adam has received a $600,000 National Science Foundation CAREER Award to research how visual distractions like phone notifications, flashing alerts, crowded screens and busy workspaces can negatively impact focus—and how the brain works to try to regain it. Adam’s work will aim to clarify how the brain refocuses in the age of screens, instant gratification and other lingering distractions. The funding will also be used to train graduate students in advanced cognitive neuroscience methods, expand access to electroencephalography (EEG) and for public data sharing. Continue reading.

3. TMC launches new biotech partnership with Republic of Korea

The Texas Medical Center and KBIOHealth have launched the TMC Republic of Korea BioBridge. Photo via LinkedIn.

Houston's Texas Medical Center has launched its new TMC Republic of Korea BioBridge. The new partnership brings together the TMC with the Osong Medical Innovation Foundation, or KBIOHealth. The Biobridge aims to support the commercialization of Korean biotech and life science startups in the U.S., foster clinical research, and boost collaboration in the public, private and academic sectors. Continue reading.

4. CPRIT CEO: Houston’s $2B in funding is transforming cancer research and prevention

Kristen Doyle, CEO of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). Photo courtesy CPRIT.

With its plethora of prestigious health care organizations like the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, UTHealth Houston, and the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston sits at the heart of cancer research and prevention in Texas. Of course, it takes piles of cash to support Houston’s status as the state’s hub for cancer research and prevention. Much of that money comes from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). Data supplied by CPRIT shows organizations in Harris County gained $2.3 billion in institute funding from 2009 through 2025, or nearly $145 million per year. That represents almost 60 percent of the roughly $4 billion that CPRIT has granted to Texas institutions over a 16-year period. Continue reading.

5. 14 Houston startups starting 2026 with fresh funding

From groundbreaking energy leaders to growing space startups, here's who secured funding in the last six months of 2025. Photo via Getty Images

Houston startups closed out the last half of 2025 with major funding news. Here are 14 Houston companies—from groundbreaking energy leaders to growing space startups—that secured funding in the last six months of the year, according to reporting by InnovationMap and our sister site EnergyCapitalHTX.com. Continue reading.

​Planned UT Austin med center, anchored by MD Anderson, gets $100M gift​

med funding

The University of Texas at Austin’s planned multibillion-dollar medical center, which will include a hospital run by Houston’s University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, just received a $100 million boost from a billionaire husband-and-wife duo.

Tench Coxe, a former venture capitalist who’s a major shareholder in chipmaking giant Nvidia, and Simone Coxe, co-founder and former CEO of the Blanc & Otus PR firm, contributed the $100 million—one of the largest gifts in UT history. The Coxes live in Austin.

“Great medical care changes lives,” says Simone Coxe, “and we want more people to have access to it.”

The University of Texas System announced the medical center project in 2023 and cited an estimated price tag of $2.5 billion. UT initially said the medical center would be built on the site of the Frank Erwin Center, a sports and entertainment venue on the UT Austin campus that was demolished in 2024. The 20-acre site, north of downtown and the state Capitol, is near Dell Seton Medical Center, UT Dell Medical School and UT Health Austin.

Now, UT officials are considering a bigger, still-unidentified site near the Domain mixed-use district in North Austin, although they haven’t ruled out the Erwin Center site. The Domain development is near St. David’s North Medical Center.

As originally planned, the medical center would house a cancer center built and operated by MD Anderson and a specialty hospital built and operated by UT Austin. Construction on the two hospitals is scheduled to start this year and be completed in 2030. According to a 2025 bid notice for contractors, each hospital is expected to encompass about 1.5 million square feet, meaning the medical center would span about 3 million square feet.

Features of the MD Anderson hospital will include:

  • Inpatient care
  • Outpatient clinics
  • Surgery suites
  • Radiation, chemotherapy, cell, and proton treatments
  • Diagnostic imaging
  • Clinical drug trials

UT says the new medical center will fuse the university’s academic and research capabilities with the medical and research capabilities of MD Anderson and Dell Medical School.

UT officials say priorities for spending the Coxes’ gift include:

  • Recruiting world-class medical professionals and scientists
  • Supporting construction
  • Investing in technology
  • Expanding community programs that promote healthy living and access to care

Tench says the opportunity to contribute to building an institution from the ground up helped prompt the donation. He and others say that thanks to MD Anderson’s participation, the medical center will bring world-renowned cancer care to the Austin area.

“We have a close friend who had to travel to Houston for care she should have been able to get here at home. … Supporting the vision for the UT medical center is exactly the opportunity Austin needed,” he says.

The rate of patients who leave the Austin area to seek care for serious medical issues runs as high as 25 percent, according to UT.

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