Winners will receive human biospecimens and support for pilot studies in kidney, cardiovascular, and respiratory diseases, as well as osteoarthritis and chronic pain 

The National Disease Research Interchange (NDRI) has announced the fourth cohort of winners of its Pilot Award Program: Oleh Akchurin, MD, PhD; M. Alicia Carillo Sepulveda, PhD; Rebecca F. Hough, MD, PhD; Ana Maria Jaramillo Hernandez, PhD; Qimanguli Saiding, MD, PhD; and Alison Xiaoqiao Xie, PhD.  

Launched in 2024, the Pilot Award Program is a component of NDRI’s NIH-supported Human Tissues and Organs for Research Resource (HTORR) program, which facilitates the collection of preliminary data necessary for an investigator to obtain subsequent funding. Over the course of two years, the awarded investigators will receive project-specific human biospecimen service to support the advancement of their scientific goals. All sample, preservation, pathology assessment, and shipping costs are covered by the award, as well as supplementary support to develop grant applications to the NIH Institute that supported their award. The awards are supported by several NIH institutes, including:  

• The Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) 

• The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)  

• The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) 

• The National Eye Institute (NEI)  

• The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) 

• The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) 

“We are proud to support the newest cohort of Pilot Award recipients, who are dedicated to understanding and treating some of today’s most pressing health issues,” said Valerie Estela-Pro, PhD, NDRI’s Director of External Scientific Affairs. “We are so excited to work with this year’s awardees as they advance their research.” 

The Spring 2026 awardees are: 

Oleh Akchurin, MD, PhD | Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics | Weill Cornell Medicine 

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects millions of people and is commonly complicated by anemia, a condition in which the body cannot produce enough healthy red blood cells. Although iron therapy is widely used, many patients do not respond adequately. Importantly, this is not because they lack iron. In many cases, iron is present in sufficient amounts but cannot be used effectively to support red blood cell production. Dr. Akchurin and his team are investigating how liver cells store and export iron, with the aim of finding more effective treatments for anemia in CKD, addressing a major unmet clinical need.

Alicia Carillo Sepulveda, PhD | Associate Professor | New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine

Cardiovascular disease kills more American women than any other cause, accounting for one in five female deaths each year, and risk rises sharply at menopause, when ovarian hormone production permanently ends. The biological pathways that drive this surge in cardiovascular risk remain poorly understood, and no therapies specifically target the changes that occur in women’s bodies after this transition. Dr. Carillo Sepulveda’s research investigates how a recently discovered fat-tissue hormone called asprosin impairs blood vessel function in postmenopausal women. Her team will identify the origin of excess asprosin after menopause and work to produce the first cell-type-resolved map of how the postmenopausal arterial wall fails. This could lead to the first targeted protection strategy for women’s vascular health across one of the most consequential and understudied transitions in their lives, directly addressing a public health crisis that will affect more than 90 million U.S. women by 2060. 

Rebecca F. Hough, MD, PhD | Assistant Professor of Pediatrics | Columbia University 

Dr. Hough is investigating Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), a severe manifestation of hypoxemic respiratory failure, leading to death in 30-40% of patients. No disease-specific treatments exist, reflecting a critical gap driven by incomplete understanding of the mechanisms underlying ARDS pathophysiology. Through research into changes in mitochondrial metabolism that occur in the lung endothelium after pneumonia, Dr. Hough and her team have identified a new, targetable mechanism of pulmonary edema in ARDS. Their work will compare endothelial mitochondrial responses in lungs from patients with and without ARDS, treating healthy lung samples with bacteria and assessing the mitochondrial and metabolic impact of these treatments.  

Ana Maria Jaramillo Hernandez, PhD | Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine | University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute, Inc. 

Our lungs rely on the mucus they produce to trap and clear tiny particles of dust, pollutants, and germs. In healthy lungs, this mucus is thin and easy to clear, but in diseases where airways become blocked with mucus, it becomes thick, leading to breathing problems and infections. Dr. Jaramillo Hernandez and her team are working to better understand how cells in the lungs produce and manage mucus, focusing on a protein called MIA3, which helps move large molecules inside the cell. Elucidating how certain structures within these cells are organized to handle the heavy workload of mucus production could point to better strategies to restore the lung’s natural cleaning system and improve breathing and quality of life for patients. 

Qimanguli Saiding, MD, PhD | Instructor | Brigham and Women’s Hospital 

Osteoarthritis (OA) causes progressive breakdown of the cartilage that cushions our joints, particularly the knee, leading to chronic pain, stiffness, and loss of mobility. Despite decades of research, there is still no medication available that can stop or reverse the underlying disease process. Dr. Saiding’s research focuses on using lipid nanoparticles to deliver mRNA directly to cartilage cells, instructing them to produce both Klotho, a natural protein that protects cell from aging and deterioration, and NAD+, a naturally occurring molecule that boosts cellular energy and resilience. This dual-action approach targets two of the key biological mechanisms driving OA, cellular aging and metabolic dysfunction, with the goal of restoring cartilage health from within. This research could accelerate the development of a first-of-its-kind disease-modifying nanomedicine therapy for the millions of patients living with OA.  

Alison Xiaoqiao Xie, PhD. | Associate Professor | University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus 

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is associated with disorders across a range of body systems and significantly impacts the quality of life. CPP symptoms are driven by the hyperexcitability and hyperactivity of pelvic sensory neurons in dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Research has shown that pelvic sensory neuronal activity is shaped by the interactions of surrounding glial and immune cells, and the pain-associated changes are largely sex-specific: in female animals, the pelvic pain symptom is associated with strong immune responses and lymphocyte activation, while in male animals, it is associated with macrophage activation and increased lipid metabolism. Dr. Xie is investigating why these sex differences occur by studying cell composition, cell activation states, and cell-cell communication in human DRG.  

Applications for the next round of awards are currently open, with the next cohort being announced in Winter 2027. For more information or to apply, click here.

About the Pilot Award Program: 

Primary diseased and control human tissue samples are a vital resource for starting new programs focusing on human disease research, but they can be both expensive and difficult for investigators to obtain, especially before securing a grant. The Human Tissues and Organs for Research Resource Pilot Award Program (PAP) seeks to enable the completion of pilot studies necessary for an investigator to obtain subsequent funding. These 2-year awards provide up to 10 biological samples per awarded investigator, covering all costs associated with obtaining the biospecimens, including tissue preservation reagents and shipping costs. Pilot Award Program awardees will also receive additional technical support for tissue procurement protocol design to help bolster rigor and reproducibility in their experimental data and analysis. 

Importantly, as this Pilot Award is intended to generate the preliminary data necessary for an investigator to obtain subsequent funding, a stipulation of this award is that the data generated through the completed Pilot Award study is expected to be used in at least one subsequent grant application to at least one of the following NIH Institutes by the end of the 2-year project period: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Eye Institute (NEI), the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), or the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP).