Two Interdisciplinary Teams Awarded Trainee Pilot Grant

February 16, 2026

Two AIRFoundry trainee teams have been awarded the BioFoundry’s inaugural Trainee Pilot Grant. These grants provide up to $15,000 to interdisciplinary and collaborative teams to conduct new research that bridges the gap between the lab and AI.

The 2026 awardees are:

  • Project title: Development of an approach to identify multiple ribonucleolytic DNA/XNAzymes for AI prediction
    • Awardees: Lisa Nakayama, Hong Kang, & Jiatao Liang
    • Labs: Lijun Zhou & Yoseph Barash
  • Project title: Bayesian optimization of lipid nanoparticle formulations for predictive ex vivo immune engineering
    • Awardees: Andrew Hanna & Sam Huang
      • Labs: David Issadore/Michael Mitchell & Jacob Gardner

Congratulation to the teams, and we look forward to your exciting developments and findings!