Northwestern University recently awarded more than $2.1 million through the Pat & Shirley Ryan Family Research Acceleration Fund to advance eight biomedical research projects with strong translational potential.
This fifth round of the awards brings the fund's total support to more than $10.9 million across 41 project awards. Made possible by the Patrick G. '59, '09 H and Shirley W. Ryan '61, '19 H ('97, '00 P) Family's $35 million commitment, the initiative provides strategic support at a critical stage between academic discovery and real-world application, when promising ideas often require additional validation and development.
"The distance between discovery and impact is often where timely support matters most," Northwestern President Mung Chiang said. "Through their extraordinary generosity, the Ryan Family has created a powerful catalyst for Northwestern researchers to move bold ideas forward, accelerate their translation and improve lives. We are deeply grateful for their enduring belief in Northwestern's people and their world-class, transformational research."
Selected from 27 proposals, the latest awards span therapeutics, devices and diagnostics, and health IT and data sciences. The projects address challenges in cancer, neurodegenerative disease, maternal-fetal health, mental health, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and precision neuromodulation. Funding will help teams pursue next-stage milestones, including prototype and app development, feasibility testing, biomarker validation, preparation for regulatory studies, and the generation of evidence needed to attract additional funding and partners.
'Remarkable breadth of discovery'
The Ryan Family Research Acceleration Fund is an initiative of Northwestern and the Ryan Family Foundation that supports high-risk, high-reward research with strong translational potential. The fund helps faculty bridge the gap between academic discovery and real-world application, providing strategic support at a stage when promising ideas often need additional evidence, validation or development before they can attract external funding, commercial partners or clinical adoption.
"Northwestern has long been a place where discovery serves a larger purpose, and our family has always believed in helping promising work move forward," Pat Ryan Sr. said. "That belief is at the heart of the Ryan Family Research Acceleration Fund. The projects selected in this latest round show the remarkable breadth of discovery underway at Northwestern and the University's deep commitment to moving promising science closer to patients, families and communities."
Some awards build on earlier Ryan Family Research Acceleration Fund investments, enabling researchers to advance promising platforms toward new translational milestones. The portfolio includes investigators with appointments in the Feinberg School of Medicine, McCormick School of Engineering, and the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, reflecting the range of Northwestern's biomedical research ecosystem.
"These projects reflect the distinctive strength of Northwestern's research ecosystem: rigorous science, clinical insight, engineering creativity and a clear path toward impact," said Sumit Dhar, interim vice president for research and the Hugh Knowles Professor in Hearing Sciences. "The Ryan Family Research Acceleration Fund is helping investigators take the next essential steps toward technologies, therapies and tools that can create healthier futures."
The round 5 projects share a common goal: helping Northwestern investigators move high-potential discoveries closer to use in medicine, healthcare and everyday life. Some teams are preparing therapeutic candidates for future regulatory studies; others are developing digital platforms, clinical decision-support tools, wearable devices or evidence-based apps. Together, they reflect the breadth of the University's biomedical innovation ecosystem and the many pathways through which research can create societal benefits.
The newly funded projects are:
Glioblastoma tumors
Building on earlier Ryan Fund support to advance a biologic tri-specific T-cell engager that recognizes three proteins on glioblastoma cells and activates T cells to attack the tumor
Why it matters: Glioblastoma tumors can contain varied populations of cancer cells, allowing some cells to escape therapies directed at a single target. Targeting multiple tumor markers could help address this source of treatment resistance and position the therapy for studies required before seeking authorization to begin clinical trials.
Irina V. Balyasnikova, professor of neurological surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine
Unemployment strain
Evaluating an AI-based coach for DRIVEN, a smartphone-delivered intervention that combines psychotherapy techniques with job-seeking strategies for people experiencing unemployment-induced depression
Why it matters: Unemployment creates economic strain and has serious mental health consequences. A scalable digital coach will help improve users' mood and job-search behavior compared to a more costly human coach.
Stewart Shankman, Dunbar Professor of Bipolar Disease, Feinberg School of Medicine; Co-PI: Andrea Graham, associate professor of medical social sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine
Lewy body dementia
Creating MotiQ, an AI-enhanced tablet platform that analyzes movement during tasks that become progressively more mentally demanding to help distinguish Lewy body dementia from Alzheimer's disease
Why it matters: Lewy body dementia is often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's disease, potentially leading to inappropriate treatment and complicating clinical trials. An objective motor-cognitive profile generated within minutes could reduce diagnostic uncertainty, improve clinical decisions and support more accurate enrollment in neurodegenerative disease trials.
Richard Gershon, professor of medical social sciences and preventive medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine; Co-PI Stella Wang, senior research associate, medical social sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine
Fetal reserve
Developing a reusable wearable abdominal patch that combines fetal electrocardiography with controlled vibration to provide a standardized assessment of fetal reserve - the fetus' ability to tolerate physiological stress
Why it matters: Clinicians currently lack a standardized, objective way to evaluate fetal reserve. An automated and digitally documented assessment could improve monitoring during pregnancy, support more consistent clinical decisions and address a long-standing gap in maternal-fetal care.
Dr. Jessica Walter, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Feinberg School of Medicine; Co-PIs: John Rogers, Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Neurological Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, McCormick School of Engineering and Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences; and Dr. Amber Watters, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Feinberg School of Medicine
Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Developing and validating biomarkers to measure response to anti-LTBP4 antibody therapy, an emerging strategy designed to reduce fibrosis-related signaling in Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Why it matters: Duchenne muscular dystrophy causes progressive muscle damage and fibrosis, contributing to loss of muscle function and cardiac weakness. Reliable biomarkers would show whether the therapy is engaging its biological target and producing the intended effect, providing evidence needed to advance it toward clinical testing. The approach is designed to act locally while avoiding the potential adverse effects of broadly suppressing TGF-beta signaling throughout the body.
Alexis Demonbreun, associate professor of pharmacology, Feinberg School of Medicine; Co-PI: Dr. Elizabeth McNally, Elizabeth J. Ward Professor of Genetic Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine
Coping skills
Transforming FERNS, a positive emotion-regulation program developed and validated through multiple NIH-funded studies, into a native iOS and Android mental health app
Why it matters: FERNS is designed to strengthen people's ability to cultivate positive emotions and cope with stress. Unlike many consumer mental health apps, it is grounded in peer-reviewed research and could make evidence-based coping skills more accessible, engaging and widely available.
Judith Moskowitz, professor of medical social sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine; Co-PIs: Elizabeth Addington, associate professor of medical social sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, and DerShung Yang, founder and co-president, Bright Outcome Inc.
Neurorehabilitation conditions
Advancing Neural-Target Select, a precision neuromodulation targeting platform that maps interacting brain networks to identify individualized targets and standardize dosing for transcranial magnetic stimulation across different devices and neurologic conditions
Why it matters: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive treatment that uses magnetic pulses to stimulate targeted areas of the brain, but outcomes can be inconsistent when targeting and dosing are not individualized. The need for individualization is particularly important when brain pathology is unique to each person. More precise and reproducible TMS targeting and dosing could improve functioning in daily life and expand its use across neuropsychiatric and neurorehabilitation conditions.
Theresa L. Bender Pape, research professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, Feinberg School of Medicine; Co-PI: Sherri Livengood, research assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, Feinberg School of Medicine
Cancer fighting strategy
Developing a first-in-class small molecule that selectively inhibits the RNA-binding function of topoisomerase I (TOP1), an enzyme commonly targeted by chemotherapy, opening a new therapeutic approach that avoids DNA damage associated with conventional TOP1 therapies
Why it matters: Many advanced colorectal cancers become resistant to DNA-damaging therapies. Targeting this newly recognized function of TOP1 represents a promising strategy for resistant colorectal cancer and potentially other cancers driven by similar RNA-dependent mechanisms.
Shannon Lauberth, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics, Feinberg School of Medicine
Advancing discovery toward application
"The Ryan Family Research Acceleration Fund exemplifies Northwestern's strength in integrating foundational science, clinical insight and innovation to benefit society," Northwestern Provost Erik Luijten said. "These projects advance promising ideas at a critical stage, where targeted support can turn early discoveries into therapies, devices, diagnostics or digital health tools."
Support from this fund can preserve momentum as research teams prepare their work for follow-on funding, partnership or clinical development. By helping investigators take those next steps, the Ryan Family Research Acceleration Fund strengthens Northwestern's capacity to translate emerging therapies, technologies and tools into meaningful benefits for patients, families and communities.
To learn more about all the funded research, visit the Ryan Family Research Acceleration Fund website. The deadline for the next application round is Sept. 8, 2026.
