UH scores $18M NIH grant for chronic disease research

research funding

The initiative will focus on chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes and strokes. Photo courtesy UH

The University of Houston has received a coveted $18.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to launch a program to address the root causes of chronic disease.

Only 22 institutions nationwide receive this NIH award, and the 5-year process aligns with the newly established UH Health’s mission to expand healthcare innovations in Texas and beyond. The initiative will be housed in the UH Population Health department.

"This generous funding allows us to directly confront the root causes of chronic illness that place a heavy burden on so many families," Dr. Jonathan McCullers, vice president for health affairs at UH, said in a news release. "With the recent launch of UH Health, we have an unprecedented opportunity to translate scientific discovery into healthier outcomes for our communities by bringing together experts from across the university to improve health where it matters most.”

Through the program, UH researchers from different areas of expertise will work together to address the challenges of chronic illness by looking at biological, social and behavioral factors.

According to the university, chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, strokes and others are the leading cause of illness, disability and death in the U.S. They account for 90 percent of the nation’s $5.3 trillion in annual healthcare spending.

Bettina Beech, chief of population health and translational science at UH, serves as principal investigator for the program.

“Chronic disease management largely happens during the 8,700 hours each year that people are not visiting their healthcare provider,” Beech added in the news release. “While healthcare is indispensable, it only accounts for 20 percent of how health is created — genetics accounts for another 10 percent, and the other 70 percent is determined by behavior, social conditions and environment.”

With the funds from the grant, UH will also be able to expand research infrastructure, add to community partnerships, support complementary research, and invest in early-career investigators, according to the news release. UH also aims to develop solutions that could help ease the economic burden of chronic disease.

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The 10-year study will investigate why the immune system attacks healthy tissue in people with autoimmune diseases. Photo via Pexels

UH lands $4M NIH grant to study early signs of autoimmune disease

NIH funding

The University of Houston recently received a $4 million National Institutes of Health grant to support a 10-year longitudinal study to identify the earliest biological markers of autoimmune disease.

Led by Chandra Mohan, the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Endowed Professor of Biomedical Engineering, the study aims to examine what causes Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases (SARDs) and to identify targets for future treatments. The study will be carried out in collaboration with Dr. Karen Costenbader at Harvard Medical School, Boston.

SARDs include conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren’s syndrome and systemic sclerosis—all are considered chronic diseases currently without a cure. Autoimmune diseases affect over 30 million people globally, according to UH.

SARDs occur when the body’s immune system attacks healthy, non-threatening tissues and organs. According to UH, in these diseases, the body often attacks nuclear antigens, creating anti-nuclear autoantibodies, which can be early detection signs for SARDs in more than 50 percent of patients, Mohan says.

Researchers will study blood samples and environmental exposure over the 10 years to better understand anti-nuclear autoantibodies.

“Collectively, these studies will help identify the genetic, environmental and cellular factors that are operative at the two steps of SARD development, namely the emergence of anti-nuclear autoantibodies and disease onset,” Mohan said in a news release. “ More importantly, these studies will highlight functional molecular pathways and mechanisms that may be operative at each step."

Mohan predicts that looking at SARDs’ shared characteristics, rather than each disease individually, could help identify more treatment methods.

“Individual SARDs have been examined in silos without an attempt to discern shared underlying features at the molecular level,” he added in the release. “Current understanding of the initial (and likely shared) origins of SARDs is only rudimentary but urgently needed to develop means for prevention and treatment.”

Earlier this year, UH also received an $11 million NIH grant to conduct a first-of-its-kind study of early language development in children ages 18 to 24 months. Read more here.

CellChorus has landed its latest SBIR award. Photo via Getty Images

Houston health tech co. lands NIH grant for AI cancer prediction tool

fresh funding

Houston-based CellChorus and Stanford Medicine were recently awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant for the company's AI platform to test how certain cancer patients will respond to therapies.

The funding comes from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. According to a filing, the grant totaled just under $400,000.

CellChorus, which spun out from the University of Houston’s Technology Bridge, has developed TIMING (Time-lapse Imaging Microscopy In Nanowell Grids), which analyzes the behavior of thousands of individual immune cells over time and can identify early indicators of treatment success or failure.

The company will work with Stanford's Dr. David Miklos and Dr. Saurabh Dahiya, who have built the Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cell Therapy Biobank. The biobank manages and stores biological samples from patients treated at their clinic and in clinical trials.

"Predicting which patients will achieve durable responses after CAR-T therapy remains one of the most important challenges in the field,” Miklos said in a news release. “We aim to uncover functional cellular signatures that can guide treatment decisions and improve patient outcomes.”

The project will specifically profile cells from patients with relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma (r/rLBCL). According to CellChorus, only about half of r/rLBCL patients who receive CAR-T therapy "achieve a durable, long-term remission." Others do not respond to therapy or experience relapse.

“The sooner we know whether a cancer therapy is working, the better. To maximize patient benefit, we need technology that can provide a robust and early prediction of response to therapy. The technology needs to be scalable, cost-efficient, and capable of rapid turnaround times,” Rebecca Berdeaux, chief scientific officer of CellChorus, added in the release. “We are excited to work with Drs. David Miklos and Saurabh Dahiya and their colleagues on this very important project.”

CellChorus has previously received SBIR grants from federal agencies, including a $2.5 million award in 2024 from its National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and a $2.3 million SBIR Fast-Track award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences in 2023.

UH will work with Texas Children’s Hospital to track 3,600 children ages 18 to 24 months to better understand how language skills emerge. Photo courtesy UH

UH lands $11.8M for first-of-its-kind early language development study

speech funding

Researchers at the University of Houston have secured an $11.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct a first-of-its-kind study of early language development.

Led by Elena Grigorenko, the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of Psychology, and research professor Jack Fletcher, the study will follow 3,600 children aged 18 to 24 months to uncover how language skills develop at this critical stage and why some children experience delays that can influence later growth.

The NIH funding will also support the development of the new national Clinical Research Center on Developmental Language Disorders at UH, which aims to bring experts from psychology, education, health and measurement sciences to study how children learn language.

“This will be the first national study to estimate how common late talking is using a large, representative sample of Houston toddlers,” Grigorenko said in a news release. “By following these children as they grow, we hope to better understand the developmental pathways that can lead to conditions such as developmental language disorder and autism.”

UH’s team will partner with the pediatric clinic network at Texas Children’s Hospital, where children will be screened for early language development, allowing researchers to identify those who show signs of delayed speech. Next, researchers will follow the cohort through early childhood to examine how language abilities evolve and how early delays may lead to later challenges.

The Clinical Research Center on Developmental Language Disorders will be the 14th national research center established at UH, and will include researchers from multiple UH departments, as well as partners at Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas Center for Learning Disorders.

“This level of investment from the National Institutes of Health reflects the significance of this work to address a complex challenge affecting children, families and communities,” Claudia Neuhauser, vice president for research at UH, said in a news release. “By bringing together experts from multiple disciplines and partnering with major health systems across the region, the project reflects our commitment to advancing discoveries that impact our community.”

Houston institutions have landed $6.25 million in NIH funding to launch the HAI-KUH research training program. Photo via UH.

Houston medical institutions launch $6M kidney research incubator

NIH funding

Institutions within Houston’s Texas Medical Center have launched the Houston Area Incubator for Kidney, Urologic and Hematologic Research Training (HAI-KUH) program. The incubator will be backed by $6.25 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health and aims to create a training pipeline for researchers.

HAI-KUH will include 58 investigators from Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, University of Houston, Houston Methodist Research Institute, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Rice University and Texas A&M University Institute of Biosciences and Technology. The program will fund six predoctoral students and six postdoctoral associates. Trainees will receive support in scientific research, professional development and networking.

According to the organizations, Houston has a high burden of kidney diseases, hypertension, sickle cell disease and other nonmalignant hematologic conditions. HAI-KUH will work to improve the health of patients by building a strong scientific workforce that leverages the team's biomedical research resources to develop research skills of students and trainees and prepare them for sustained and impactful careers. The funding comes through the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

The principal investigators of the project include Dr. Alison Bertuch, professor of pediatric oncology and molecular and human genetics at BCM; Peter Doris, professor and director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine Center for Human Genetics at UT Health; and Margaret Goodell, professor and chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor.

“This new award provides unique collaborative training experiences that extend beyond the outstanding kidney, urology, and hematology research going on in the Texas Medical Center,” Doris said in a news release. “In conceiving this award, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases envisioned trainee development across the full spectrum of skills required for professional success.”

Jeffrey Rimer, a professor of Chemical Engineering, is a core investigator on the project and program director at UH. Rimer is known for his breakthroughs in using innovative methods in control crystals to help treat malaria and kidney stones. Other co-investigators include Dr. Wolfgang Winkelmeyer (Baylor), Oleh Pochynyuk (UTHealth), Dr. Rose Khavari (Houston Methodist) and Pamela Wenzel (UT Health).

“This new NIH-sponsored training program will enable us to recruit talented students and postdocs to work on these challenging areas of research,” Rimer added in a release.

Rice University scientists Jeffrey Hartgerink, Brett Pogostin and Kevin McHugh have developed SABER, a peptide hydrogel system for drug delivery. Photos courtesy Rice University.

Houston scientists create platform for long-lasting, precise drug delivery

drug breakthrough

A team of Rice University scientists has developed a new drug delivery platform that researchers say can slow the rate of drug release, which has major implications for drug efficacy and potentially cancer immunotherapy.

The research was published in Nature Nanotechnology, and supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and the Welch Foundation.

In the study, the team demonstrated how a peptide hydrogel functions as a three-dimensional network that controls the rate of release across a range of medication types, including small-molecule drugs and biologics such as insulin and antibodies. The system, called self-assembling boronate ester release (SABER), uses reversible chemical bonds between the peptide and the drug molecule to extend the duration of drug release. Instead of passing quickly through the net, the drug gets temporarily “stuck” each time it binds to the peptide, which slows its passage out of the hydrogel, according to Rice.

The researchers formulated a tuberculosis-treating drug into a hydrogel. They used it to treat infected mice with a single injection of the drug-laden hydrogel. In the test, the hydrogel outperformed almost daily oral administration of the medication over two weeks. Insulin packaged in SABER hydrogels successfully controlled blood sugar levels in diabetic mice for six days in another set of experiments.

Brett Pogostin, a Rice doctoral alum who led the development of SABER and served as first author of the study, began working on self-assembling peptides as an undergraduate student at Rice. Jeffrey Hartgerink, a professor of chemistry and bioengineering at Rice, and Kevin McHugh, associate professor of bioengineering and chemistry and a Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas scholar, advised Pogostin and served as corresponding authors on the study.

Pogostin’s work aimed to bridge foundational materials research and biomedical applications. SABER was inspired by a drug delivery course taught by McHugh, where Pogostin learned about dynamic covalent bonds used in glucose sensing, where the bonds reversibly form and break apart. That quality inspired Pogostin to adapt the concept for drug delivery.

“Brett really drove this project in a way that is, in my experience, unusual for a graduate student,” Hartgerink said in the news release. “It’s a very versatile approach. You can make both small-molecule drugs and very large biologics sticky with the type of chemistry that Brett developed.”

The team demonstrated the platform in two different use cases with Tuberculosis and Type 1 diabetes, with SABER simplifying dosing and enhancing the efficacy of the drugs. Hartgerink described the current SABER system as “generation one,” and plans to work to make it widely applicable. He is looking into how SABER could be applied to cancer immunotherapy.

“What I’m really passionate about right now is cancer prevention — trying to think about how we can use materials to prime the immune system to prevent cancer from ever happening as opposed to just treating it,” Pogostin added.

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Abbott assembles expert team to help lure U.S. Space Academy to Texas

space race

State Rep. Greg Bonnen of Friendswood has been tapped to lead a new team that will promote Texas as the future home of the U.S. Space Academy.

Bonnen, a neurosurgeon, chairs Houston Physicians’ Hospital and the powerful Texas House Appropriations Committee. His House district is close to NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

Gov. Greg Abbott appointed the seven-member team. Last month, President Trump signed an executive order establishing the Presidential Commission on the U.S. Space Academy. Commission members, who held their first meeting this month, will recommend a permanent location for the academy.

Texas officials are pushing a site near Johnson Space Center to host the academy. Alabama, Colorado and Florida are among Texas’ competitors.

In a joint statement, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, both of Texas, issued a statement backing the state’s bid for the academy. Cruz lives in Houston. Babbin lives in Woodville, about 55 miles south of Beaumont.

“America’s space program is built across the country, but Texas is where the pieces come together,” the lawmakers said. “We are ready to lead the next generation of space pioneers and look forward to showing why Texas is the right home for the U.S. Space Academy.”

The academy’s curriculum will include technical education, leadership development and public service components. Graduates will be set up for careers in the U.S. military, civil service, and aerospace sectors.

The Abbott-appointed team will work with the Texas Space Commission to prepare the state’s proposal for the academy.

In addition to Bonnen, team members with ties to Houston include:

  • Robert Ambrose, who grew up in Houston. He worked at Johnson Space Center before becoming associate director of the Texas A&M Space Institute.
  • Former NASA astronaut Nancy Curry-Gregg, director of the Texas A&M Space Institute. She earned a doctoral degree from the University of Houston and previously worked at Johnson Space Center.
  • Former NASA astronaut Jack Fischer, senior vice president of Houston-based Intuitive Machines. The company builds spacecraft, delivers payloads to the moon and launches satellites.

“Texas is the home of America’s human spaceflight program,” Abbott said in a release. “No state can match what Texas brings to this mission.”

“NASA’s Johnson Space Center, world-class universities, a premier commercial space industry, major military installations, and an unmatched aerospace workforce give Texas every asset the United States Space Academy requires,” the governor added.

Houston university named No. 10 in nation and more top innovation news

Trending News

Editor's note: September sees a flurry of news for the innovation community, with one Houston university topping a nationwide ranking and one Houston-area NASA contractor poised to go public. Here are the five most-read Houston innovation headlines published September 1-15, 2026:

Houston university ranks No. 10 best in the U.S. in new 2027 report

Education ranking and review website Niche has released its 2027 rankings of the best colleges in the U.S., and Rice University leads as the No. 1 best university in Texas, and No. 10 best nationwide. Rice University ranked 10th in three national lists: Best Colleges in America, Top Private Universities, and Colleges with the Best Professors. Continue reading.

Houston-area NASA contractor plans Nasdaq IPO

Webster-based NASA contractor Rothe Development Inc. has filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to go public. Rothe, a minority- and woman-owned business, hasn’t yet identified how many shares it will sell and how much money its IPO might raise. Rothe plans to offer Class B common stock on the Nasdaq exchange. Continue reading.

10+ can't-miss Houston business and innovation events for September

The energy transition and AI will be the talk of this town this month, thanks to a packed calendar of Houston events. September brings the return of Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week and some of its signature anchor events, plus AI conferences and talks exploring how the technology is impacting everything from healthcare to leadership. Here’s what not to miss and how to register. Continue reading.

Amazon's robotaxi service Zoox rolls out in 'sprawling' Houston market

Amazon-owned robotaxi ride-hailing service Zoox is zooming into Houston in September, becoming the latest robotaxi operator jockeying for local riders. Initially, self-driving retrofitted SUVs with safety drivers on board will serve downtown Houston, centrally located tourist hotspots, and certain residential neighborhoods. The SUVs will test Houston roads before Zoox rolls out autonomous robotaxis here, the company says. Continue reading.

10 Houston billionaires land on Forbes' 2026 list of richest Americans

The richest billionaires in America have a collective worth of $8 trillion in 2026, a staggering $1.4 trillion increase since last year, says Forbes. American billionaires are so wealthy that it now takes an unprecedented $4.4 billion net worth to be considered one of the richest people in the country. And one local billionaire has regained the title as Houston's wealthiest resident. Oil tycoon Jeffery Hildebrand, 67, now reigns as the No. 1 richest Houstonian, the 9th richest Texan, and the 88th richest person in America for 2026. Continue reading.

Houston space companies take off with new tech, deals and contracts

space update

Space City has had a busy month.

Houston-based aerospace institutions Venus Aerospace, Axiom Space, and Aegis Aerospace have each recently announced advancements in their respective fields that include expansions and new contracts from U.S. and international government agencies.

Here’s the latest:

Venus launches new test stand

Earlier this month, Venus Aerospace added infrastructure to support the ongoing progress of its Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) with the opening of its new propulsion test stand at the Houston Spaceport.

The Texas Space Commission's Space Exploration and Aeronautics Research Fund is funding the test stand, which is part of a larger effort from the state to increase investments in the aerospace economy. The ribbon-cutting event on Sept. 10 welcomed officials from Venus Aerospace, the Texas Space Commission, the Houston Spaceport, Houston business and local community leaders.

With the new stand, Venus will be able to test at higher thrust and for longer durations, which will allow the company to better replicate real-life conditions.

"Building and testing propulsion systems at this pace requires the right infrastructure around the technology," Sassie Duggleby, CEO and co-founder of Venus Aerospace, said in a news release. "We're grateful to the Texas Space Commission and the State of Texas for investing alongside companies like Venus. Public investment like this helps companies move faster and keeps critical aerospace capability growing here in Texas."

Venus closed a $91 million Series B in July and expanded its leadership team.

Axiom partners in Europe

Axiom Space has signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Space Agency for “sustained European access to low-Earth orbit (LEO)” following the retirement of the International Space Station, according to a news release from the company.

Under the agreement, Axiom and the ESA agreed to explore future astronaut missions on the ISS and Axiom Station, research, transportation and spacesuit partnerships. The organizations will explore using the ESA’s European Cargo Return service and potentially a future European crew vehicle to support operations at Axiom Station, the company's forthcoming commercial space station. The partnership could also involve Axiom's AxEMU spacesuit for orbital and lunar applications, according to the release.

“With the upcoming de-orbitation of the ISS, it is our duty to anticipate and prepare future solutions to ensure our access to low-Earth orbit,” Daniel Neuenschwander, director of human and robotic exploration at ESA, said in the release. “The two documents signed today underline both our commitment to safeguard our ability to pursue in-orbit science and to keep offering flight opportunities to our European astronaut corps, as well as the growing interest of international partners for our ongoing project to develop an autonomous European cargo vehicle.”

The announcement comes as Axiom has made several international moves this year. The company shared plans to establish Axiom Space Switzerland this summer and launched Axiom Space Japan in July.

"The path to a sustainable human presence in space runs through international collaboration — reliable supply chains, shared innovation, and partners who bring real capability," Jonathan Cirtain, CEO and President of Axiom Space, said in the release. "Europe's contributions to microgravity science and deep space technology make ESA exactly that kind of partner. This MoU strengthens our work together, and we look forward to ESA and its member states joining us as customers for future astronaut missions."

Aegis expands DoW deal

Webster, Texas-based Aegis Aerospace announced that it has won a new task order to continue supporting the U.S. Space Force’s Space Test Program.

The contract starts in October and covers designing, building, testing and operating Department of War payloads or equipment on NASA, government, and commercial launch vehicles and platforms. The contract was issued by the USSF Space Systems Command, Space Test Program under NASA Johnson Space Center’s Research, Engineering, and Mission Integration Services 2 (REMIS 2).

Currently, the company is working on three payload facilities on the ISS and has plans for two more in development.

“Aegis Aerospace is grateful to continue our exceptional payload integration support to the USSF and the STP to meet their critical mission objectives,” President Matt Ondler added in the release. “This work is more important than ever to maintain U.S. superiority in space. This new contract will take us beyond the current life of the ISS and see us integrate and test payloads on commercial space stations, free-flyers, and cislunar missions.”

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