June 3, 2025
Three UW faculty teams received the Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute’s (MolES) new Pilot Awards. These awards, sponsored by MolES, aim to seed new research initiatives and support preliminary data generation. A committee of MolES faculty chose the projects. Each team will receive up to $10,000 in funding to kickstart their work.
The awards were created to support new collaborations spawning from MolES-sponsored scientific exchanges. This year, one scientific exchange focused on women’s health/sex differences in the manifestation of disorders, and a second scientific exchange between MolES, Benaroya Research Institute, and UW Immunology faculty discussed immune biology, next-generation analytical tools for immunology, and immune therapies.
“These awards are designed to spark bold, cross-disciplinary collaboration by providing essential early-stage funding,” said Suzie Pun, MolES director and Washington Research Foundation Endowed Professor of Bioengineering. “By working together, our researchers and clinicians can drive the development of breakthrough technologies to more easily diagnose disease and deliver medicine.”
2025-26 MolES Pilot Awardees:
“A wearable sweat biosensor for frequent sex hormone monitoring,” led by Quansan Yang , professor of Materials Science, Kat Steele and Jenny Robinson , professors of mechanical engineering and David Baker , professor of biochemistry.
“Translational evaluation of alveolar macrophage-targeted SCFA nano prodrugs for immune modulation,” led by Shijie Cao , professor of pharmaceutics, Carmen Mikacenic, M.D ., Benaroya Research Institute and Elia Tait Wojno , professor of immunology.
“MD-informed influence of mechanical strain on estrogen signaling in human knee meniscus,” led by Jenny Robinson and Aniruddh Vashisth , both mechanical engineering professors.