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Funded Projects

Pan-cancer AI-driven cell-free DNA sequencing platform for reducing disparities in early diagnosis, molecular characterization and surveillance of multiple cancer types

Awarded in 2024
Collaborative Health Sciences Program
Updated Apr 24, 2025

At a Glance

This project aims to address disparities in cancer outcomes by investigating the biology of cancers and the factors that contribute to aggressive cancers or lead to the development of treatment resistance. Researchers will introduce a minimally invasive liquid biopsy testing approach, which is essentially a blood draw, and utilize a new type of testing called fragmentomics to gather more information about a patient’s tumor and patterns of potential treatment resistance or cancer recurrence.

More Funded Projects

research icon: microscope and stethoscope
Collaborative Health Sciences Program

Piloting Badger-Seq: a revolutionary paradigm for the genomic diagnosis of critically ill newborns

Year Awarded: 2024
Infants born with a rare genetic disorder or birth defect experience high acuity, prolonged hospital stays and a lifetime of health challenges. Molecular diagnosis is key to caring for these infants, and speed is critical. This multidisciplinary team of researchers will use an approach to screening using artificial intelligence and a revolutionary genome sequencing platform to bring state-of-the-art ultra-rapid genome sequencing to infants in hospitals across Wisconsin.
research icon: microscope and stethoscope
Collaborative Health Sciences Program

Investigating the efficacy of protoporphyrin-based photodynamic therapy in burn wound healing in porcine models

Year Awarded: 2024
Current burn treatment and care impose significant financial burdens. In Wisconsin, this is the third highest health care cost, after premature newborns and organ transplant patients. Slow wound healing, pain and scarring remain the major complications of burn survivors. To address health equity in burn wound care, this research aims to explore whether photodynamic therapy, a low-cost medical technology that can be performed by a non-specialist, can speed up burn healing. The project is also expected to yield important insights into burn wound healing that can be translated to the treatment of other wound types.