Bartosz Grzybowski named 2006 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences

July 2, 2006

Bartosz Grzybowski, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, has been named a 2006 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). The award provides $240,000 in research support over four years.

Unlike many traditional research grants with strict guidelines on how funds must be used, the Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences program allows recipients flexibility in choosing their research agenda and, in fact, encourages them to become entrepreneurs by taking calculated risks and following unanticipated leads to maximize the benefits their research brings to society. Previous Scholars have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in chemistry, the MacArthur Award and the Albert Lasker Medical Research Award.

The selection process is rigorously competitive. Applicants must be nominated by an invited institution (currently there are 138) and demonstrate excellence and innovation in their research. Awardees are chosen by a distinguished national advisory committee comprising some of the most highly respected biomedical scientists working today.

Grzybowski’s research focuses on the development of new drugs and the experimental tools used to facilitate the practice of drug discovery. He is particularly interested in bioactive small molecules targeting cytoskeletal machinery and the motility of cells. His group focuses on actin binding proteins that, by crosslinking actin filaments in a network and/or facilitating its turnover, ensure efficient pushing of the membrane, protrusion and consequent directional cell movement. The far-reaching objective of this work is to develop new chemotherapies preventing cancerous cells from acquiring a tissue-invasive, directional motility phenotype leading to metastasis, which is the major cause of mortality in cancer patients.

To achieve these goals, Grzybowski’s group uses a variety of techniques ranging from rational drug discovery to biochemical and cell biological approaches. They design potential drug candidates using in silico combinatorial algorithms, synthesize the most promising molecules, and then test their activity in both nanoparticle protein-ligand binding assays, as well as in ensembles of micropatterned living cells of controlled shapes and minimal cell-to-cell heterogeneiety. Grzybowski hopes that this interdisciplinary approach – one combining elements of cell biology, nanoscience, self-assembly and statistical mechanics – will provide a basis for an integrated computer-to-drug technology platform and, ultimately, to better medicines for the cancer patients.

In addition to the Pew award, Grzybowski recently received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a 3M Non-tenured faculty grant, and the American Chemical Society Division of Colloids and Interfaces Unilever Award.

Additional Information:

Read an article about Grzybowski from the Spring 2006 McCormick By Design

Bartosz Grzybowski's research group web site

Pew Scholars web site