Two Yale researchers awarded Connecticut Bioscience grants

The labs of two Yale scientists will receive $1 million from Connecticut Bioscience Innnovation Fund.

Connecticut Innovations Inc. announced $1.8 million in funding for the second quarter under the state fund, which will allocate $200 million to help commercialize bioscience research projects in the state over the next 10 years.

Yale’s Craig Crews will receive $500,000 to develop drugs that will help prevent the development of resistance to treatments for bone marrow cancer multiple myeloma.

Crews is the Lewis B. Cullman Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, and professor of chemistry and pharmacology, and executive director of the Yale Center for Molecular Discovery core at West Campus. He recently founded New Haven biotechnology startup Arvinas to develop new cancer therapies.

Richard Flavell, department chair and Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and an investigator for Howard Hughes Medical Institute, will also receive $500,000 in research grants. The money will support work on a next-generation humanized mouse model that could revolutionize how research is conducted and how drugs are developed. This project is a collaboration between Yale and The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine in Farmington, Connecticut.

A program to describe how to apply for Bioscience Innovation Fund grants will be held at Harkness Auditiorium on Friday, Nov. 21 at 9 a.m. Registration is required.