Purdue researchers land Trask Innovation Fund awards
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A Purdue University researcher working on a new treatment for liver cancer and another working on a device to preserve freshwater resources at the Panama Canal each have received $50,000 from the Trask Innovation Fund.
Biochemistry professor Andrew Mesecar is leading a project to develop patented enzyme inhibitors into treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of liver cancer, the university said in a Tuesday news release.
“Novel HCC therapeutics are desperately needed,” Mesecar said in the release. “HCC poses significant challenges to public health systems worldwide. Developing new drugs is critical to address various societal needs.”
Treatment options for liver cancer are limited and can prove costly, the news release said. Meanwhile, incidence and mortality rates are rising.
The other $50,000 recipient is civil engineering professor Pablo Zavattieri. He is leading a project to create a patent-pending waterway barrier to prevent saltwater intrusion in the Panama Canal. The canal uses freshwater to operate its lock system.
Climate change, increased water demand to move larger cargo ships through the locks and declining freshwater availability have worsened the problem, Zavattieri said in the news release.
“These challenges threaten both human consumption of water and the number of daily transits in the canal, reducing revenue,” he said.
Zavattieri’s system uses advanced materials developed at Purdue to prevent water mixing during ship passage and preserve freshwater resources.
The Trask Innovation Fund is managed by the Purdue Innovates incubator.