Key Takeaways
- Michael Levy received NIH Research Awards funding to develop healthier homes using 3D-printed architectural designs.
- Adam Stevens secured funding to engineer synthetic tissues for cancer research and regenerative medicine.
- Both researchers received five-year awards through the NIH’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program.
Two University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine researchers have received National Institutes of Health Director’s Awards to advance research into healthier housing and engineered tissues, earning up to $700,000 and $475,000 annually for five years, respectively.
The awards recognize epidemiology professor Michael Levy and cancer biology professor Adam Stevens through the NIH’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, according to an Oct. 7 announcement reported by The Daily Pennsylvanian. The program supports innovative research with the potential to address major scientific challenges.
Levy Seeks to Reduce Health Risks Through Home Design
Levy received the Pioneer Award, which supports scientists pursuing innovative approaches to significant research challenges. His project combines epidemiology and architecture to investigate how home design can reduce exposure to harmful organisms, disease-carrying pests, and other health hazards.
Using 3D printing, Levy aims to develop home designs that limit the cracks, crevices, and other spaces where harmful organisms can hide. His previous work treating parasite-infested homes in Peru, combined with his interest in 3D-printed structures, helped shape the research direction.
Levy said the NIH Research Awards support 3D printing, which gives architects greater control over building design than conventional construction methods. The technology allows researchers to test curvilinear structures that differ from the rectangular layouts common in existing homes.
With the award funding, Levy’s team will combine architectural and epidemiological models to identify effective housing designs. Researchers will collaborate with the University of Pennsylvania’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design on field testing and work with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to address health risks linked to poor airflow, harmful microbes, and disease-carrying pests.
Levy described the funding as a “Hail Mary” after previous difficulties securing financial support. He said the award would help establish the research program and create opportunities for students to participate.
“If we can come up with some new design that can be incorporated into the architectures of the future, that would be a real success,” Levy said.
Stevens Uses Synthetic Biology to Engineer Tissues
Stevens received the New Innovator Award, which supports early-career investigators pursuing creative research with significant potential impact. The award provides $475,000 annually for five years to support his work on synthetic biology and the molecular logic of cells.
His research focuses on how cells organize into tissues and how scientists can engineer more complex synthetic tissues. The work could contribute to cancer research, cell therapies, and regenerative medicine by improving researchers’ ability to model disease and control cellular interactions.
Stevens is studying cell adhesion and synthetic biology to develop tools that help researchers understand how cells interact and form tissues. Rather than relying only on changes to existing biological systems, his approach aims to build systems that allow scientists to investigate these processes from the ground up.
“What we really try to do is build new tools that allow us to ask questions about how cells organize in tissue,” Stevens said.
Engineered tissues could also improve the capabilities of cell-based treatments by giving researchers more control over how therapeutic cells interact with the body. Potential applications include directing cells toward specific tissues and developing engineered structures for regenerative therapies.
NIH Research Awards Support Research Into New Scientific Approaches
Both awards fall under the NIH’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, which supports projects that pursue innovative ideas and could produce significant advances in biomedical science. The program includes four distinct award categories.
For Levy, the funding offers an opportunity to connect architectural design with public health and test whether changes to housing structures can reduce exposure to disease-causing organisms. For Stevens, it provides resources to investigate fundamental questions about cellular organization and develop new tools for tissue engineering.
Stevens said the award would allow him to pursue challenging research questions that might otherwise remain beyond the reach of his laboratory’s resources.
The NIH Research Awards support projects that target different problems but use unconventional approaches to address complex scientific questions. Their findings could inform future developments in healthier housing, disease modeling, cell therapies, and regenerative medicine.
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