- Rita Allen Foundation

All Scholars

Since 1976, the Rita Allen Foundation has awarded millions of dollars in grants to early-career biomedical scholars. These grants allow Rita Allen Foundation Scholars to establish labs and pursue research directions with above-average risk and promise. See below for a full list of Scholars, or read more about the Rita Allen Foundation Scholars program.

2021

Aaron Mickle +
University of Florida

Aaron Mickle

Assistant Professor, Physiological Sciences

B.S., University of Wisconsin – La Crosse

Ph.D., University of Iowa

In conjunction with Margaret and Will Hearst

Chronic pain affects millions of people in the United States, and its socioeconomic burden is currently unprecedentedly high due to the opioid crisis. Almost everyone has either experienced chronic pain or had a family member affected by it. For these reasons, the Mickle lab is passionate about pain research and discovering new therapeutic options for chronic pain patients. Our lab uses a “cell to model organism” strategy to pursue the goal of understanding and delineating the causes of bladder pain dysfunction. We have multiple avenues of research that support this end goal: 1) Pursuing the development of neuromodulation strategies to alleviate bladder dysfunction following spinal cord injury, 2) Evaluating the role of urothelial cells, the cells that line the bladder, in bladder pain and dysfunction, and 3) Developing implantable biosensor and neuromodulatory technology to study bladder disorders and pain.
Nicole Scheff +
University of Pittsburgh

Nicole Scheff

Assistant Professor, Neurobiology

Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma causes severe pain, increased stress, and reduced quality of life, which exceeds the levels seen in other cancers. Beyond sensory/pain signaling, the peripheral nervous system has been identified as a component of the cancer microenvironment and may be involved in modulating tumor progression and tumor-associated immunity. The cancer microenvironment is comprised of stromal cells, glial cells, immune cells, neurons, (e.g., motor, sensory, sympathetic) and proliferating tumor cells. The Scheff lab seeks to integrate the neurobiology, cancer biology, and immunology fields in order to fully appreciate neural-immune-cancer communication and develop a more holistic approach to novel cancer pain treatment. The goal of my research is to understand how peripheral neurons evolve and adapt during cancer initiation and growth, and to investigate whether therapy targeted to neurons innervating the cancer can alleviate pain and slow tumorigenesis.
Gwendolyn Hoben +
Medical College of Wisconsin

Gwendolyn Hoben

Assistant Professor, Plastic Surgery; Cell biology, neurobiology, and anatomy

Ph.D., Rice University

M.D., Baylor College of Medicine

In conjunction with Margaret and William R. Hearst III

A truly new way to approach a problem surgically is rare and that is what has made targeted muscle reinnervation so fascinating. The unexpected observation that TMR could prevent and reduce residual limb and phantom limb pain in amputees has already impacted the lives of hundreds of patients. The Hoben laboratory has taken TMR from the bedside back to the bench to better elucidate how surgically rearranging nerves affects pain pathways. These changes in nerve connections alter neurons, the fundamental cells of the nervous system. Characterizing the changes in these cells may help identify critical components of residual and phantom limb pain that can be targeted for pain relief. Ultimately, we hope that by better understanding the foundation of TMR pain relief we will be able to apply TMR principles to amputees with chronic pain and other forms of nerve injuries.
Gregory Corder +
University of Pennsylvania

Gregory Corder

Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, Neuroscience

B.S., Tulane University

Ph.D., University of Kentucky

The mission of the Corder Lab at the University of Pennsylvania aims to decipher the neural basis of how the brain generates the perception of pain, and how pathological dysfunction within these brain networks promotes the transition to chronic pain and drug abuse. Using advanced in vivo imaging of neural activity, neuroanatomical tracing, and optical neuromodulation techniques, our group deconstructs the brain circuits and molecular mechanisms involved in pain and emotion. From these basic science investigations, we work collaboratively with others—chemists, bioengineers, and clinician-scientists—to identify translational targets for the development of novel therapeutics that reduce mental health disorders associated with chronic pain and decrease the reliance on prescription opioids.
Viviana Risca +
The Rockefeller University

Viviana Risca

Assistant Professor; Biochemistry, Biophysics, Chemical Biology, and Structural Biology

B.S., Stanford University

Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley

In order to fit into our cells, the human genome is packaged by proteins that protect it from breaks and cancer-causing mutations. These proteins also help cells maintain cell identity by suppressing expression of genes that belong to other cell types. The Risca lab is studying one such protein, called macroH2A, which has been shown to suppress several types of cancer. I recently developed a cutting-edge method for mapping the folding of DNA within cells. We are using this method in combination with biochemical studies of DNA wrapped around purified proteins to study the structural mechanisms that macroH2A uses to regulate gene expression. MacroH2A also interacts with PARP1, a major cancer drug target involved in DNA repair and regulation of transcription, and we hope that these insights will inform future innovations in targeted therapy.
Guosong Hong +
Stanford University

Guosong Hong

Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering

B.S., Peking University

Ph.D., Stanford University

Research from the Hong lab aims to study how the brain changes at the level of single neurons over time as well as the circuits encompassing these neurons. The brain is a dynamically changing structure. The time-dependent evolution of neural circuits during brain development—learning and memory, and aging—occurs over many years and in many different brain regions. However, this evolution involves physiological changes that must be quantified at the millisecond and micrometer scales of individual neurons. A substantial challenge in understanding the dynamically changing brain arises from the spatiotemporal mismatch between the neural activity of interest and the available tools to study it. Therefore, we aim to fill the knowledge gap by developing novel bioelectronic and biophotonic tools to study the long-term evolution of neural circuits during neurodegeneration. The knowledge obtained therein will offer therapeutic strategies for devastating diseases such as Alzheimer’s, thereby improving life quality for the families affected and society as a whole.
Ellen Foxman +
Yale University

Ellen Foxman

Assistant Professor, Laboratory Medicine and Immunobiology

B.S., Yale University

Ph.D., Stanford University School of Medicine

M.D., Stanford University School of Medicine

Our first line of defense against harmful infections is known as innate immunity—an inborn system of protective mechanisms that guards against harmful viruses or bacteria, even when the body has never encountered the infection before. Many individuals infected with dangerous viruses such as influenza or coronavirus can recover quickly with only mild symptoms, even without immunity from prior exposure or vaccination, because of these defenses. The Foxman lab studies the biology of innate immune responses in tissues that are not traditionally considered part of the immune system, such as the cells that form the lining of the nasal passages and lung airways. Understanding how innate immunity is regulated in these tissues could help answer unsolved questions in infectious diseases—why the same viral infection can be asymptomatic in one person, but lead to a serious illness in another; or, on a larger scale, why certain viruses spread through families or communities at certain times but not others.
Lucas Cheadle +
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Lucas Cheadle

Assistant Professor

B.A., Smith College

Ph.D., Yale University

The brain is one of the most exquisitely complex networks in the known universe, and its precise connectivity is established through a convergence of genetic and environmental influences (i.e., nature and nurture, respectively). While many of the genetic factors that drive early stages of embryonic brain development are known, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of how the environment—in the form of sensory experiences—shapes neural circuits in the developing brain. We unexpectedly discovered that sensory experiences engage microglia, a unique class of brain-resident immune cells, to promote the refinement of synaptic connections between neurons early in postnatal life. Based upon this finding, the Cheadle lab combines functional, structural, and genomics approaches to systematically disentangle the mechanisms microglia and neurons use to interact with one another to facilitate postnatal brain development, and to understand how impairments in microglial function contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders.
Joshua Modell +
Johns Hopkins University

Joshua Modell

Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics

B.S., Duke University

Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Joshua Modell has been designated the Milton E. Cassel Scholar for the 2021 class of Rita Allen Foundation Scholars. This special award honors the memory of a longtime President of the Rita Allen Foundation who passed away in 2004.

CRISPR technologies have led to revolutionary new modes of genetic inquiry in the basic sciences, and they are in development as therapeutics for many genetic diseases. Less is known about how CRISPR systems function in nature, where they provide bacteria with adaptive immunity against viruses and plasmids. The Modell Lab seeks to understand how these systems interact with the biology of their bacterial hosts and viral targets, and how their activity is regulated to provide strong immunity against viruses while preventing autoimmunity.

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