Toulmin Pilot Projects Selected

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(June 30, 2025) — Two GUMC study sections, one chaired by Anna T. Riegel, PhD, vice president for biomedical graduate education and research, and the other by Michael Atkins, MD, PhD, deputy director of Georgetown’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, have selected six Toulmin Pilot Projects to receive funding in 2026. The awards support innovative research projects that have significant potential to attract additional funding in this competitive research environment.

Toulmin Pilot Projects are supported through the philanthropy of Harry and Virginia Toulmin. The Toulmins established the Warwick Evans and Mary Mason Washington Evans Medical Research Endowment in honor of Harry Toulmin’s grandparents. Warwick Evans was the first graduate of Georgetown University Medical School.

This year’s recipients of the Toulmin Pilot Projects are:

  • Michael Johnson, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Oncology, “Anti-cancer immunotherapy targeting the matriptase-EpCAM/Trop-2 axes”
  • Joanna Kitlinska, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology, “Perineural invasion-on-a-chip model for investigating cancer-nerve crosstalk”
  • Daniel Pak, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, “Mechanisms of synaptic MAP2 in learning and memory”
  • William Rebeck, PhD, professor in the Department of Neuroscience, “Reducing cerebrovascular dysfunction caused by anti-amyloid therapies in Alzheimer’s disease”
  • Blythe Shepard, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Human Science, “Investigation of renal calcium homeostasis: the role of adhesion receptor ADGRA3”
  • Aykut Üren, PhD, professor in the Department of Oncology, “Exploration of ROME knockout mouse”