Collaborative Accelerator for Transformative Research Endeavors

Collaborative Accelerator for Transformative Research Endeavors (Accelerator) grants support highly integrated, complex research projects among teams of investigators from both The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. This Accelerator brings together the unique strengths of each institution through research projects that possess strong potential to grow into signature programs of research. Five cross-institutional collaborative teams have eachbeen awarded up to $4 million in seed funding over 4.5 years to conduct complex research projects in areas relevant to cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and survival.

The seed funding is intended to position researchers to seek and obtain sustaining external funding for their research, and to continue beyond the seed period to make progress toward high impact research.

Projects

In March 2025, five teams, each composed of researchers from both UT Austin and MD Anderson, were awarded Accelerator grants to support research projects aimed at addressing some of the most pressing unmet needs in oncology.

• EMPATHIC: Environmental Microplastics and systemic PATHology, Inflammation and Carcinogenesis
• Metal Intervention Network and Therapy (MINT) Program: Studying and Targeting Metal Response in Tumor Radioresistance
• TRIUMPH-IBC: Translating Research Insights at UT Austin and MD Anderson into Progress & Hope for Inflammatory Breast Cancer
• IG-RABIT: Image-Guided, Robot-Assisted, Biomechanically-Informed Osteotomy and Surgical Implants for Orthopaedic Oncology
• PODS-PACK: Precision Oncology Decision Support – Protein AI Companion Knowledge