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Pilot Project Awardees

Current Pilot Projects

Principal Investigator
Kristen Engevik, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Regenerative Medicine & Cell Biology
Early Career Investigator

Overview
Diarrheal disease remains a major global health burden driven by excessive chloride secretion from intestinal epithelial cells. While pathogens initiate disease through different mechanisms, they converge on shared host signaling pathways.

This project investigates purinergic signaling through the P2Y1 receptor as a regulator of calcium signaling and chloride secretion. The central hypothesis is that Clostridioides difficile toxins exploit this pathway to drive diarrhea severity.

Specific Aims
• Define how C. difficile toxins activate P2Y1-dependent calcium signaling and chloride secretion.
• Determine the in vivo role of epithelial P2Y1 signaling in mediating diarrhea.

Research Approach
This project integrates human intestinal organoids, live-cell imaging, and biochemical assays to quantify nucleotide signaling and chloride flux, and uses living models of infection to assess physiological relevance.

Use of Center Core Resources
• Advanced Imaging Core
• Cell Models Core

Innovation
• Identification of P2Y1 as a conserved host pathway in infectious diarrhea
• Shift toward host-directed therapeutic strategies

Expected Impact
This project will establish a new epithelial signaling mechanism driving secretory diarrhea and support the development of host-targeted therapies, while generating preliminary data for future NIH funding.

Principal Investigator
Lu Han, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Early Career Investigator

Overview
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by a dense tumor microenvironment dominated by cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which play multifaceted roles in tumor progression and therapeutic resistance. Emerging evidence highlights substantial heterogeneity within CAF populations, with distinct subtypes exerting tumor-promoting or tumor-restraining effects.

This project focuses on the transcription factor FOXF1 as a key regulator of fibroblast identity within the PDAC microenvironment. The central hypothesis is that FOXF1 expression defines a fibroblast lineage with unique functional properties that influence tumor progression.

Specific Aims
• Define the lineage hierarchy of pancreatic cancer-associated fibroblasts
• Determine the functional role of FOXF1 in regulating fibroblast behavior during tumor progression

Research Approach
This project employs genetically engineered models, inducible lineage tracing, and fibroblast-specific gene manipulation to interrogate CAF biology in vivo. These approaches are complemented by multiplex imaging and translational analyses of human tumor specimens.

Use of Center Core Resources
• Animal Models Core
• Advanced Imaging Core

Innovation
• Identification of FOXF1 as a regulator of CAF heterogeneity
• Application of lineage tracing to define fibroblast origin and function

Expected Impact
This project will define mechanisms governing fibroblast heterogeneity in pancreatic cancer and identify potential stromal targets for therapeutic intervention, generating preliminary data for extramural funding.

Director: Caroline Westwater, Ph.D.

The objectives of the CDLD Pilot Project Program (PPP) are to attract new and established investigators into digestive and liver disease research, promote use of CDLD cores, develop new technologies, stimulate new programmatic research grants, and ultimately build the Center’s long-term sustainability.

The CDLD will offer three types of awards, as outlined below, allocating a combination of institutional and COBRE funds to provide at least $100,000 annually to support 3 to 4 proposals per year. Exceptionally, PPP recipients are eligible to renew their projects for one additional year of funding if they demonstrate adequate progress and the EC determines that additional support could lead to extramural funding. An annual RFA will be advertised each winter (with a spring due date) using campus- and state-wide communication systems, including SCTR, COBRE and INBRE channels. Reviews and recommendations will occur in May/June, and awards in July. While PIs must be MUSC faculty, we will ensure a state-wide solicitation process to encourage collaboration and promote CDLD growth and sustainability.

Pilot Projects Archive

  1. Wenjian Gan, Ph.D. - Department of Biochemistry
  2. Silvia Guglietta, Ph.D. - Department of Microbiology
  3. Tim Barnoud, Ph.D. - Department of Biochemistry
  4. Katie Chetta, M.D. - Department of Pediatrics

Types of Criteria for Pilot Project Categories

Early Career Pilot

  • Discovery grant for junior faculty at MUSC within six years of first full-time faculty appt; no prior independent grant as PI. Mentor must be an established investigator in GI/liver disease. Up to $35,000 per year.

New Direction Pilot

  • High impact/high risk project in GI/liver disease and/or significant departure from PI’s normal research program. Open to MUSC faculty of any rank. Up to $35,000 per year.

Collaborative Pilot

  • Projects that stimulate collaboration at MUSC and/or increase collaborations between GI/liver disease investigators at MUSC and elsewhere, especially at SC INBRE affiliates and/or other COBREs. PI must be full-time MUSC faculty; collaborators may be at any accredited research institution. Up to $35,000 per year.

Standard requirements for all Pilot Projects: annual open call for applications; use of SCTR web-based pilot project platform; use of at least one CDLD core; rigorous peer review; EAB oversight; direct costs only; no faculty salary support.