Six research teams won the second annual Reaching Across the Causeway award in 2024. The award recognizes and supports exceptional collaboration among researchers in the UC Davis schools of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.
Each team will receive one-year support of up to $50,000. The funding will help in planning, preparation and submission of applications for research grants. The medical and veterinary schools co-fund this award, supporting four team projects. This year, UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Clinical and Translational Science Center funded two more projects.
The winning teams:
Kermit Carraway and James Angelastro
Carraway is a biochemist and cell and cancer biologist in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine. Angelastro is an associate professor in the Department of Molecular Biosciences. Their project aims to verify how cell signaling contributes to the malignant properties of glioblastoma. The goal is to identify new and more effective treatments for this aggressive type of brain tumor.
Resmi Karalasseril Ravindran and William Culp
Ravindran is a pathologist and project scientist in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Culp is a professor of surgical and radiological sciences in the veterinary school. Their study aims to find new biomarkers of canine hepatocellular (liver) carcinoma that can aid in diagnosis and future treatments in both canines and humans.
Veterinary Medicine researchers have been
collaborating to find cures to human and
animal diseases, including cancer.
Hannah Savage and Derek Bays
Savage is an assistant professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology in the School of Veterinary Medicine. Bays is an assistant clinical professor of infectious diseases in the School of Medicine. Their team is investigating the effectiveness of drugs that restore the anaerobic environment of the gastrointestinal tract of patients receiving treatment for leukemia. They hope to discover if this form of treatment will prevent invasive candidiasis (thrush, an infection of the mouth and throat caused by a yeast-like fungus) in these patients.
Jinhwan Kim and Jessica Lawrence
Kim is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and surgery. Lawrence is a professor of surgical and radiological sciences. Their team is conducting a novel cell therapy approach to treating soft tissue sarcoma in mouse models and through clinical trials in dogs.
Tarini Ullal and Valentina Medici
Ullal is a staff faculty veterinarian of small animal internal medicine. Medici is a professor of gastroenterology and hepatology within the UC Davis Health Department of Internal Medicine. Their team will evaluate serum samples from dogs with copper-associated hepatopathy (liver disease) and humans with Wilson disease (a disorder that causes buildup of excessive copper in the organs). Their study seeks to establish biomarkers that improve non-invasive diagnosis and monitoring of both dogs and humans with copper-associated liver diseases.
