Collaboration awards enable scientists to design new medicines, more precisely edit DNA and fight drug-resistant bacteria Scripps Research announces its 2024 recipients of Collaborative Innovation Fund grants.
February 06, 2025
LA JOLLA, CA Scripps Research is proud to announce the recipients of its Collaborative Innovation Fund (CIF) grants for 2024. These awards aim to empower three multidisciplinary teams in their quests to address some of the most pressing challenges in science and medicine through high-risk, high-reward research. By bringing together scientists with unique expertise, the CIF helps spark discoveries that can improve lives worldwide. Each project reflects Scripps Research's commitment to advancing science for the greater good.
The CIF exemplifies the power of teamwork and bold thinking in science, says CIF founder Tom Daniel, who is also a Scripps Research board member. The awarded projects tackle some of the most difficult dilemmas in medicine, combining diverse expertise to create solutions that have the potential to effect change globally.
Professor Phil Baran and Assistant Professor Yuzhong Liu comprise one of the winning teams. Their project, Biosynthesis and evolution of new-to-nature peptide antibiotics, strives to develop next-generation antibiotics to fight superbugs. Antimicrobial resistance poses a critical threat worldwide, claiming millions of lives each year. To help solve this problem, Baran and Liu are leveraging non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) enzymes that act like tiny assembly lines to build complex molecules such as antibiotics. Using these enzymes, the researchers will generate and screen libraries of new antibiotics that can target drug-resistant bacteria like tuberculosis and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Another team of grant recipients includes Professors Sumit Chanda, John Teijaro, Christopher Parker and Benjamin Cravatt. For their grant-winning endeavor, Therapeutic discovery through programmable protein heterodimerization, the researchers are working on a technology that rewires how proteins interact inside our cells. By pairing proteins in unique ways, the team aspires to find hidden biological processes that could be harnessed to create therapies for various conditions. This work could lead to entirely new types of treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases and viral infections.
Participants of the third team are Scripps Research Fellow Shannon Miller and Professor Howard Hang. Their project, A CRISPR-free precision genome editing system for large DNA manipulations, entails developing a next-generation tool to edit DNA in human cells without relying on traditional CRISPR technology, which can sometimes cause harmful side effects. These issues include unintended cuts in DNA that can lead to damage in healthy cells. By avoiding the breaks in DNA that CRISPR requires, the team's method offers a safer and more precise way to develop therapies for genetic disorders like Crohn's disease.
The CIF is awarded through an internal grant competition that provides seed funding for research projects in their early stages, helping them progress to a level where they can secure additional funding from more conventional sources.
The fund emphasizes groundbreaking basic research with strong potential to drive significant technological advancements, apply emerging technologies in new ways, repurpose existing technologies for novel uses and integrate diverse methodologies across disciplines. The CIF has been supported by multiple donors, including prominent gifts from Daniel and philanthropists Charles and Gail McCabe.
These are the kind of visionary projects that embody the spirit of the CIF, says Daniel. They show how collaboration can drive transformative breakthroughs.
Learn more about, or contribute to, the Collaborative Innovation Fund.
Institute News Awards and Honors
North America Stories
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
22/12/2025
Back to All News
Global Anime Hits and New Releases Take Center Stage at Jump Festa 2026
Entertainment
22 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clipboar...
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
20/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking ProRes RAW recording from the...
20/12/2025
CJP Broadcast has completed the digitisation of the European Gymnastics tape archive, converting 328 tapes containing more than forty years of recorded material...
20/12/2025
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced the launch of the Stream Lab MCP Server, to give AI agents and large language model...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Barack Obama Includes Laufey on His 2025 Favorite Music List The former presidents roundup of books, music, and movies includes a song from the Berklee alums ...
20/12/2025
Study reveals a key hormonal circuit in the kidneys Scripps Research scientists identify the protein that helps kidney cells regulate renin, providing foundatio...
19/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Diversified's Jared Timmins on AI for Broadcast Sports and Cre...
19/12/2025
2025 SVG Summit Audio Recap: Say What?The Audio Production and Distribution Workshop at the SVG Summit 20 took on issues including speech intelligibility, Next-...
19/12/2025
Gamified fun: Channel 5 on its NFL Big Game Night ambitions with Hungry Bear Med...
19/12/2025
College Football Playoff Preview: For ESPN, Round 1 is a Fantastic Yet Familia...
19/12/2025
AWS's Jason Dvorkin on Developing Partnerships With the NBA and PGA Tour, Em...
19/12/2025
Netflix Kicks Off Packed Sports Week with Paul-Joshua Fight Before Shifting to N...
19/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Nareev Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
19/12/2025
Mounted to the pylon of an AH-1Z Viper helicopter, a Red Wolf vehicle successful...
19/12/2025
L3Harris technology for the SDA Tranche 3 Tracking Layer program will provide in...
19/12/2025
Partnership brings Nielsen ONE measurement activation directly into XR's adv...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Berklee Announces Spring 2026 Signature Series This season's highlights include the Gospel Extravaganza, the 40th International Folk Festival, special gue...
19/12/2025
Performing arts centres across the globe have doubled down on live production infrastructure in recent years. For venues like the Queensland Performing Arts Cen...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Ricardo Coke-Thomas Named Chair of Theater for Boston Conservatory at Berklee The distinguished theater educator, director, and performer will join the Conser...
19/12/2025
Back to All News
Salvador Arrives to Netflix on February 6
Entertainment
19 December 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
WHEN THERE IS NOTHING LEFT ...
19/12/2025
As the year comes to a close, it's the perfect time to give your WO Automation for Radio system a quick tune up. At the top of your year end checklist is on...
Collaboration awards enable scientists to design new medicines, more precisely edit DNA and fight drug-resistant bacteria Scripps Research announces its 2024 recipients of Collaborative Innovation Fund grants.
