The PBBR Laureates

Each year, the Sandler Program for Breakthrough Biomedical Research (PBBR) supports dozens of investigators whose bold ideas and revolutionary research have the potential to drive unprecedented advances in science and medicine. Here, you can find a comprehensive list of the most recent recipients of PBBR’s assorted prizes, as well as a brief description of their PBBR-funded projects.

2020

Studies Related to SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19

Tanja Kortemme, PhD, and Aashish Manglik, MD, PhD
Super-ACEs: engineering ACE2-based and de novo proteins to prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2 infections

Marina Sirota, PhD, and Chaz Langelier, MD, PhD
Transcriptomics-based computational drug repositioning for COVID-19 treatment

Xiaokun Shu, PhD
Designing imaging reporters of the spike protein and ACE2 interaction for screening inhibitors that block SARS-CoV-2 entry into human cells

Hana El-Samad, PhD
Viral pathogen detection by genetically encoded responses

Aashish Manglik, MD, PhD, and Peter Walter, PhD
Aerosol-based passive immunization for SARS-CoV-2 using synthetic nanobodies

Yifan Cheng, PhD; Charles Craik, PhD; and Aashish Manglik, MD, PhD
Structural basis of humoral immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein

Cliff Lowell, MD, PhD, and Satish Pillai, PhD
Development of a novel mouse model of COVID-19 disease

Zev Gartner, PhD
A high-throughput screening platform for identifying broadly neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2

Nadia Roan, PhD; Sulggi Lee, MD, PhD; Joshua Vasquez, MD; and Eliver Ghosn, PhD
Characterization of B-cell and antibody responses associated with efficient recovery from COVID-19

Jeremy Reiter, MD, PhD
Understanding and drugging SARS-CoV-2 NSP13

Shaeri Mukherjee, PhD
Repurposing of the secretory and membrane trafficking pathway by SARS-CoV-2

Koh Fujinaga, PhD, and Matjia Peterlin, MD
Identification of antiviral agents targeting SARS-CoV-2 replication

Jim Wells, PhD
Development of recombinant antibodies for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics and therapeutics

John Gross, PhD; Brian Shoichet, PhD; and Jack Taunton, PhD
Discovery of small-molecule inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 by targeting the essential enzyme nsp16

Jack Taunton, PhD; Davide Ruggero, PhD; and Melanie Ott, MD, PhD
Targeting viral protein biogenesis as a therapeutic strategy for COVID-19

Keith Mostov, MD, PhD
Secretory IgA for passive mucosal immunization against SARS-CoV-2

Melanie Ott, MD, PhD, and Michael McManus, PhD
Orthogonal CRISPR screens to identify COVID-19 polytherapies

Michael Keiser, PhD
Learning the key molecular interactions of drug candidates targeting SARS-CoV-2 proteins

David Morgan, PhD, FRS
Phosphoregulation of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein

Bill DeGrado, PhD, and Michael Grabe, PhD
De novo design of small proteins that bind the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2

Bruce Wang, MD; Franklin Huang, MD, PhD; Michael Kattah, MD, PhD; and Tien Peng, MD
Transcriptomic features of cellular and tissue pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 infection in human tissues

Diane Havlir, MD; Bryan Greenhouse, MD; and Gabriel Chamie, MD
SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics in longitudinal population-level assessments in the Mission District

Jeremy Reiter, MD, PhD; Melanie Ott, MD, PhD; David Erle, MD; and Semil Choksi, PhD
Mapping SARS-CoV-2 infection, replication, and transcriptional responses in human airway epithelial cells

2015 - 2019

New Frontiers Research Awards (2018-2019)

Tamara Allsiton, PhD
Mechanisms of mitochondrial transfer in spatially confined cells: Osteocytes

Roland Bainton, MD, PhD
Interrogating the biologic cost of robust chemoprotection of the brain: Using ICA to identify novel genomic markers of neuro-protection and age-related CNS pathogenesis

Joseph Bondy-Denomy, PhD
Developing CRISPR-Cas3 technology for human genome manipulation

Pao-Tien Chuang, MD, PhD
Autonomic innervation regulates alveolar formation in development and regeneration

Evan Feinberg, PhD
Understanding hand-eye coordination

Stephen Floor, PhD
The impact of human RNA diversity on protein production and cell fate

Danica Galonic-Fujimori, PhD
Disrupting transcription through degradation of chromatin methylation readers

Andrei Goga, MD, PhD and Kole Roybal, PhD
Visualizing single cell movements in tissues

Andrea Hasenstaub, PhD
Restoring auditory critical-period plasticity using interneuron transplants

Guo Huang, PhD
Deciphering the evolutionary origin of cellular regenerative potential decline in Mammals

Martin Kampmann, PhD, and James Fraser, PhD
Deep mutational scanning of conformationally dynamic proteins in mammalian cells

Hiten Madhani, MD, PhD, and Jennifer Fung, PhD
A molecular MIMEOgraph to profile transient genomic events in single cells

Alex Pollen, PhD
Engineering a molecular synapse counter for studies of brain development, disease and evolution

Bjoern Schwer, MD, PhD
Recurrent DNA breaks as drivers of somatic brain mosaicism via intragenic recombination

Yin Shen, PhD, and Nadav Ahituv, PhD
Development of massively parallel reporter assays that use cognate promoters

Michael Stryker, PhD
Talking to the brain with electrical stimulation

Erik Ullian, PhD
Modeling complex human brain-cancer cell interactions with novel organoids

Technologies, Methodologies & Cores Projects (2018-2019)

Andrew Brack, PhD, Guo Huang, PhD, Sarah Knox, PhD, Diana Laird, PhD, Tien Peng, MD, Saul Villeda, PhD
Tapping the potential of the longest-lived rodent to study aging

Tom Ferrin, PhD, Adam Frost, PhD, Matthew Jacobson, PhD, Matthew Krummel, PhD, and Dyche Mullins, PhD
Interactive 3D analysis of molecules and cells in virtual reality

John Gross, PhD
Upgrade of the 800 MHz NMR spectrometer and cryoprobe in the UCSF NMR Core Facility

Aashish Manglik MD, PhD, and Mark von Zastrow MD, PhD
An in vitro platform for rapid nanobody discovery

Kira Poskanzer, PhD
An in vivo depth-slice imaging of the neuron-glia circuit

Jeroen Roose, PhD
UCSF Organoid core @ Parnassus

Francis Szoka, PhD, and Matthew Spitzer, PhD
CyTOF Reagent Developments

Postdoctoral Independent Research Program Projects (2018-2019)

Rachael Di Santo, PhD
Ribosome rescue in mitochondria

Marco Jost, PhD
Deciphering the molecular basis of host-microbiome interactions

Dhivya Kumar, PhD
Centriolar satellites use phase separation to remodel the centrosome

Matthew McCarroll, PhD
Understanding mechanisms of neuroactive compounds through 3D spatial mapping and whole brain imaging in larval zebrafish

Robert Newberry, PhD
Mechanistic basis for differential pathology of α- Synuclein conformational strains revealed by transcriptomic profiling

Duy Nguyen, PhD
Generation of recombinant antibodies against specific acetylated proteoforms

Poornima Ramkumar, PhD
Identifying factors in multiple myeloma controlling response to B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-targeted immunotherapy using CRISPR-based functional genomics

Chin Fen Teo, PhD
Deciphering the physiological functions of TMEM16E

New Frontiers Research Awards (2015-2016)

Adam Frost
New concepts for understanding and treating neurodegenerative disease

Bassem Al-Sady and Shaeri Mukherjee
Host chromatin reprogramming with a single bacterial histone methylase effector RomA and its lessons for chromatin biology

Benjamin Braun and Neil Shah
A high content screen to decode apoptosis regulation and signal transduction in cancer

Bo Huang and Noelle L'Etoile
Visualizing RNA polymerase II engaged in RNA-dependent interfering RNA biogenesis

Charlie Kim
Monocyte-mediated immunoregulation during Plasmodium infection

Christian Vaisse, Jeremy Reiter, and Mark Von Zastrow
Controlling long-term regulation of energy homeostasis through cilia specific neuronal signaling in vivo

Danica Fujimori and Shingo Kajimura
Metabolic rewiring in brown adipose tissue

Dengke Ma
Establishing "Vertebrate C. elegans" to discover novel mechanisms of extreme physiology

Edward Hsiao
Identifying novel neuronal links in a disease of abnormal bone formation

Evan Feinberg
Deciphering sensory responses of dopamine neurons

Geeta Narlikar
Conformation-specific antibodies for mapping and modulating nucleosome conformations in vivo

Ian Seiple
Platform for the discovery of novel pleuromutilin Antibiotics

Jacquelyn Maher and Aras Mattis
Development of an in vitro model of human non-alcoholic fatty liver disease using hepatocyte-like cells

JJ Miranda
Next-generation antivirals: dual mechanism inhibitors

Joachim Li
Exploring a role for replication timing in epigenetic inheritance

Kaveh Ashrafi
Unexpected effects of common insecticides on circadian rhythms and feeding

Keith Mostov and Jeremy Reiter
Novel ciliary signaling controls intestinal length

Kira Poskanzer
Seeing the extracellular space: nanosensors for astrocyte-neuron biology

Lani Wu
How do different alpha-synuclein varients affect human neuron-astrocyte interactions?

Mark Looney
The lung is a site of platelet biogenesis and a niche for hematopoietic stem cells

Michael German, Robert Blelloch, Ingrid Block-Kurbisch, Susan Fisher, Michael McManus, and Kirsten Salmeen
Assaying circulating placental exosomes

Michael Keiser
Decoding emergent pharmacology in cells and whole organisms

Michael Oldham
Modeling low-grade glioma in cerebral organoids using Cas9 ribonucleoproteins

Nadav Ahituv
Functional characterization of early neuronal enhancers

Natalia Jura and Ophir Klein
Canopies as novel chaperones of fibroblast growth factor receptors

Nevan Krogan and R. Kate Kelley
Translation intergration of genomic and viral interaction data in hepatocellular carcinoma

Peter Turnbaugh and Joseph Bondy-Denomy
Editing the human gut microbiome for precision medicine

Raul Andino
Profiling exosomal small RNAs for viral infection diagnosis and prognosis in immunocompromised patients

Rik Derynck, Danica Galonic Fujimori, and Nevan Krogan
Intracellular signaling control by arginine demethylation

Rushika Perera
Novel genetic models to interrogate organelle function in cancer

Sourav Bandyopadhyay
Chemical-genetic interations maps to guide cancer chemotherapy

Steven Altschuler
Reverse engineering brain wiring of the fly visual system

Suneil Koliwad and Mervyn Maze
A strategy that targets microglia to reduce cognitive decline following surgery

Tejal Desai and Lawrence Fong
Oncolytic virus inspired nanoparticle based intratumoral immunotherapy for prostate cancer

Willian Degrado
FLAMES (Fluorescent Amyloid Multiple Emission Spectra) microscopy for the determination of distinct strains of amyloids and prions

YW Kan
Elevation of fetal hemoglobin for the treatment of sickle cell anemia and beta thalassemia

Zev Gartner
Tissue morphing: a paradigm shift for organ regeneration

Technologies, Methodogies & Cores (2015-2016)

Charles Craik
Robotic overture 96-channel peptide synthesizer for peptide-enabled technologies at UCSF

Evan Feinberg
A novel genetic approach to map, monitor, and manipulate synaptic circuits

Jason Cyster and Susan Fisher
Lipid mass spectrometry core

Rosemary Akhurst
Acquisition of high resolution computer tomograph-guided X-irradiator for Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center Preclinical Therapeutic Core Facility

William Weiss and James Wells
Recombinant antibody probes for next-generation cytometry platforms