Translational Bridge Program

The Translational Bridge Program was established to foster innovative, high-impact research and to support translation of this research into clinical advancements. To achieve this goal, teams are made up of a trainee researcher paired with a basic researcher, a clinical investigator, and/or a population scientist. The teams meet monthly to discuss research progress. Monthly curriculum is offered to guide the teams in their efforts toward translation. An annual Translational Bridge Symposium brings in external speakers to foster innovation and collaboration. The program has successfully resulted in clinical trials, grants, patents, manuscripts, and more.

Translational Bridge Awardees

The translational research teams and focal points of their research projects are:

Bladder

HSP90 inhibitors for bladder cancer

Blagg Vanderweele Mishra

Brian Blagg, PhD
Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame

David Vanderweele, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology), Northwestern University

Sanket Mishra, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Notre Dame

Brain

Aging induced immunoregulation in subjects with gliobastoma

Wainwright Lukas ladomerksy

Derek Wainwright, PhD
Neurological Surgery, Medicine (Hematology and Oncology) and Microbiology-Immunology

Rimas Lukas, MD
Neurology (Neuro-oncology)

Erik Ladomerksy, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Genetically engineered T cells for GBM immunotherapy

Irina Balyasnikova Matt Lesniak Katarzyna Pituch Markella Zannikou, PhD

Irina Balyasnikova, PhD
Neurological Surgery

Maciej (Matt) Lesniak, MD
Neurological Surgery and Neurology

Katarzyna Pituch, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Markella Zannikou, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

ATO nanobins in brain PDX

Thomas O’Halloran, PhD Jeffrey Raizer, MD Elden Swindell, PhD

Thomas O’Halloran, PhD
Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor in the Department of Chemistry and in the Department of Molecular Biosciences and Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Feinberg School of Medicine

Jeffrey Raizer, MD
Adjunct Professor of Neurology

Elden Swindell, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Enhancing the activity of temozolomide in gliobastoma through intra-carotid artery administration

Craig Horbinski Roger Stupp Anh Nhat Tran

Craig Horbinski, MD, PhD
Professor of Pathology/Neurological Surgery and Pathology

Roger Stupp, MD
Professor of Neurological Surgery, Medicine (Hematology and Oncology) and Neurology

Anh Nhat Tran, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Neurological Surgery

Production of B-cell vaccination for a first-in human clinical trial for newly diagnosed glioblastoma

Lee-Chang Lesniak Stupp Vasquez

Catalina Lee-Chang, PhD
Neurological Surgery

Maciej Lesniak, MD
Neurological Surgery

Roger Stupp, MD
Neurological Surgery, Neuro-Oncology, Hematology and Oncology

Gustavo Ignacio Vasquez-Cervantes, PhD
Trainee

Breast

SIRT3 in endocrine resistance

David Gius Cesar Santa-Maria Yueming Zhu

David Gius, MD, PhD
Radiation Oncology, Pharmacology

Cesar Santa-Maria, MD
Hematology/Oncology

Massimo Cristofanilli, MD
Hematology/Oncology

Yueming Zhu, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Tissue Regeneration after mastectomy

Samuel Stupp Seema Khan Kohei Sato

Samuel Stupp, PhD
Endocrinology

Seema Khan, MD
Breast Surgery

Kohei Sato, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

PIMK and PI3K inhibition in TNBC

Dai Horiuchi Ratika Kunder

Dai Horiuchi, PhD
Pharmacology

Massimo Cristofanilli, MD
Hematology/Oncology

Ratika Kunder, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

New generation Selective Progesterone Receptor Modulators (SPRMs) efficacy in benign breast and breast cancer

Julie Kim Seem Khan Davaadelger

Julie Kim, PhD
Obstetrics and Gynecology

Seema Khan MD,
Breast Surgery

Batzaya Davaadelger, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Breast cancer microenvironment in aging and obesity

Zorlutuna Cristofanilli shah Bahcecioglu

Pinar Zorlutuna, PhD
Associate Professor of Engineering, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame

Massimo Cristofanilli, MD
Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology), Northwestern University

Ami Shah, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology), Northwestern University

Gokhan Bahcecioglu, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Notre Dame

Establishing preclinical efficacy of licochalcone A for primary prevention of invasive breast cancer

Khan Bonini Hajirahimkhan

Seema Khan, MD
Breast Surgery, Cancer Prevention

Marcelo Bonini, PhD
Hematology and Oncology

Atieh Hajirahimkhan, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

The Role of CXCR2 in Breast Cancer Metastasis to Bone

Littlepage kulkarni_swati sheeley

Laurie Littlepage, PhD
Biochemistry, Notre Dame

Swati Kulkarni, MD
Breast Surgery

Madeline Sheeley, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Cancer Prevention

Managing Stressful Burden to Attain Both Healthful Lifestyle and Medical Regimen Adherence by Cancer Survivors

Bonnie Spring June Robinson Stump

Bonnie Spring, PhD
Preventative Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

June Robinson, MD
Dermatology

Tammy Stump, PhD
Research Assistant Professor

Cell and Developmental Biology/ Autophagy

The metabolic mechanism of the autophagy protein Becn1 in tumor suppression

Congcong He, PhD Ankit Bharat, MBBS Kenta Kuramoto, Ph

Congcong He, PhD
Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

Ankit Bharat, MBBS
Associate Professor of Surgery (Thoracic Surgery) and Medicine (Pulmonary and Critical Care)

Kenta Kuramoto, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Cervical Cancer

Racial disparities in cervical cancer

laimins maniar wei gusho

Laimonis A Laimins, PhD
Professor, Microbiology-Immunlogy

Kruti Maniar, MD
Associate Professor, Pathology

JJ Wei, MD
Professor, Pathology and Obstetrics and Gynecology

Elona Gusho, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Esophageal

Role of the modulation of immune checkpoints in the treatment of esphageal cancer

Tetreault Villaflor Dava Mahalingam

Marie-Pier Tetreault, PhD
Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Victoria Villaflor, MD
Hematology/Oncology

Devalingam Mahalingam, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine

Kelsey Wiles
Graduate Student, Cellular and Molecular Basis of Disease Training Program

New strategies to overcome immunotherapy resistance in advanced esophageal cancer

Zhang Sosman Roh Chen

Bin Zhang, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology) and Microbiology-Immunology

Jeffrey Sosman, MD
Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology)

Meejeon Roh, PhD
Research Assistant Professor Medicine (Hematology and Oncology)

Siqi Chen, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Head & Neck Cancer

Crosstalk between BET and eIF4E in Thyroid cancer

Hidayatullah Munshi Maria Matsangou Thao Pham

Hidayatullah Munshi, MD
Hematology/Oncology

Maria Matsangou, MBChB
Hematology/Oncology

Thao Pham, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Targeting NSD1 histone methyltransferase in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Schiltz Boumber Topchu

Gary Schiltz, PhD
Professor of the Center for Molecular Innovation and Drug Discovery and Pharmacology

Yanis Boumber, MD, PhD
Hematology/Oncology

Iuliia Topchu
Graduate Student, Driskill Graudate Program

Development of a spheric nucleic acid (SNA) based nanoparticle vaccine for the treatment of HPV associated malignancy

Mirkin Lorch Hwang

Chad Mirkin, PhD
Professor of Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering, and (by courtesy) Chemical and Biological Engineering and Biomedical Engineering

Jochen Lorch, MD
Professor, Medicine (Hematology and Oncology)

Jeongmin Hwang, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow