b'Since 2010, Boettcher Investigators have gone on to earn more thanTHE 2020 CLASS OF BOETTCHER $80 million in subsequent independent research funding. This ringsINVESTIGATORS AND THEIR BOET TCHER FOUNDATION true for both Dingman and Regan, each of whom have received major research funding around the same time they received the Webb- RESEARCH TOPICS ARE:INVESTSIN PROMISING Waring awards.COLORADO COLLEGEMore than 95 percent of the Webb-Waring recipients remain atJennifer F. Garcia, Ph.D., Assistant Professor BIOMEDICAL RESEARCHERS Colorado research institutions.of Molecular BiologyRNA degradation This aligns with the foundations mission to keep Colorado talentand autophagyhome, what Boettcher Foundation President & CEO Katie KramerCOLORADO STATE UNIVERSITYdescribes as the promise of Colorado.Daniel Regan, D.V.M., Ph.D., Assistant WRITTEN BY CURTIS L. ESQUIBELThis class of Boettcher investigators represent the example ofProfessor of Cancer PathologyTumor innovation in bioscience research that aims to deepen our knowledgemicroenvironment modulation of metastasis of human health issues, Kramer said. We are proud to support theirand anti-cancer drug responseWEBB-WARING BIOMEDIC AL RESEARCH AWARDS expert work. NATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH The Boettcher award was really a lifeline, said AndraJames Scott-Browne, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Dingman, a 2020 investigator who specializes in neonatalof Biomedical ResearchTranscriptional COVID INNOVATION FUND control of T-cell functionneurology. Any amount of success in science comes down to mentorship and career support, and this research grant offersRapid response isnt typically a concept the philanthropic world associatesUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ANSCHUTZ huge support. It couldnt have come at a better time.with research funding. But COVID-19 changed that thinking for the BoettcherMEDICAL CAMPUSPhoto Credit: Bryan Grant / Pixil Studio PhotographyFoundation this past spring. Petter Bjornstad, M.D., Assistant Professor The support will help Dingman, an assistant professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of Colorado AnschutzFaced with an opportunity to further invest in biomedical research, somethingof Pediatrics and MedicineMechanisms the foundation has supported since the 1940s, the organizations Trusteesunderlying early diabetic kidney diseaseMedical Campus, continue her lifes work to research the cognitivelaunched a rapid response RFP targeting the states pandemic investigators. effects of neo-natal strokes in children. Her goal is to help identifyWithin six weeks, the foundation funded nearly $1 million in support of sixSuet Nee Chen Ph.D., Assistant Professor of possible therapeutic targets to improve memory and learning.projects at Colorados top research hospitals and universities.Medicine, Cardiology DivisionMolecular The Webb-Waring award, which provides $235,000 to DingmanThe grantees are all leading experts in existing research efforts aroundgenetics and pathogenesis of inherited and other investigators for up to three years, allows the recipientsCOVID-19, with a collective emphasis on studying research factors, treatment,cardiomyopathiestesting, and vaccines. to be more competitive for major federal and private awards.We could not be prouder to support these efforts at a time when biomedicalAndra Lee Dingman, M.D., Department of Andra Dingman, M.D., was named a 2020 Boettcher investigator toDan Regan, a 2020 Webb-Waring recipient and assistant professorresearch is a public health priority for response, treatment, and future pandemicPediatrics, Division of Child Neurologysupport her research that studies the cognitive effects of neo-natalof microbiology, immunology, and pathology at Colorado Stateprevention, said Boettcher Foundation President and CEO Katie Kramer.Chronic changes in brain plasticity after strokes in children. The foundation received more than 120 applications during the 10-days theneonatal strokeUniversity, said the Boettcher award has given him visibility as anRFP was open. The winning proposals came from Colorado State University, For Colorado to be a leader in biomedical innovation, our statesinvestigator and the ability to leverage his research.University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, National Jewish Health, andSridharan Raghavan, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant most dynamic scientific minds need to be supported in the earlyUniversity of Colorado Boulder, and included several partnerships.Professor of MedicineUnderstanding genetic A veterinarian, Regan took a chance in his proposal in takingOne of those winning partnerships, CU Boulder researchers and a spinoffand non-genetic contributors to diabetes riskstages of their work and careers.a comparative oncology approachthe study of naturally company, VitriVax Inc., are working to build the next generation of a system This is the theory behind the Boettcher Foundations Webb- occurring cancers in animals, specifically spontaneous tumors inthat produces 10,000 to 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines per run thatUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDERWaring Biomedical Research Awards, which supports early careerdogs, to help understand cancer in people. would be ready for human trials in the next year.Justin Brumbaugh, Ph.D., Assistant Professor investigators at the cutting edge of their fields. In the spring ofI felt like the concept was innovative, novel, and had significantIt has to be a solution that is suitable for the entire world, Theodoreof Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental 2020, the Foundation named eight investigators, bringing theRandolph told CU Boulder Today in June. Randolph is a professorin theBiologyPost-transcriptional regulation and translational potential, Regan said. We were hopeful thatDepartment of Chemical and Biological Engineering and co-director of the total researchers awarded to 76 dating back to 2010.someone could latch onto it the way we believe in it. Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. stem cell biologyIf were going to have a drug that makes it out to the market, it has to have aFor more information about the Webb-Waring Biomedical shelf life thats long enough so that it can be made, transported and stored atResearch Awards, visit the Boettcher Foundation website.a hospital and the pharmacy, and eventually delivered to the patient. And that turns out to be two years, Randolph said.26BIOSCIENCECOLORADO//2020-2021'