Congratulations to Chang-Lung Lee, PhD, and Christine Eyler, MD, PhD, who were awarded a $317,000 MPI R21 grant by the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The grant runs from August 2025 to July 2027; it aims to investigate the epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms governing the regeneration of intestinal stem cells following radiation-induced damage, with a focus on multipotent revival stem cells.
Drs. Lee and Eyler's research will address the need for countermeasures against gastrointestinal acute radiation system (GI-ARS) using mouse models and organoid systems to map the epigenetic landscapes associated with regenerative vs. non-regenerative revival stem cells after radiation; and identify key regulators of revival stem cells reprogramming and intestinal stem cell regeneration.
"Exposure of the small intestines to ionizing radiation can cause acute damage to the epithelium due to the transient loss of intestinal stem cells," said Dr. Lee. "However, no FDA-approved treatments are available to ameliorate radiation-induced acute intestinal toxicity. The findings from this project will have the potential to inform the design of novel treatments for radiation-induced acute intestinal injury."