Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green emphasized that cancer research and medical science are not only matters of public health, but also essential to national and global security, during a roundtable discussion at the ’s 17th Annual on January 23.

The three-day international symposium, held January 21–23, at the ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Cancer Center in Kakaʻako, brought together leading researchers and clinicians from around the world to share cutting-edge discoveries in cancer genetics and environmental carcinogenesis — the interaction between genetic and environmental factors that influence cancer risk and treatment outcomes.

Cuts, costs, commitment

Speaking before nearly 100 attendees including international and U.S. cancer researchers, ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ faculty, students and community members, Green addressed concerns about the future of medical research amid rising costs and federal funding cuts. The discussion was moderated by Michele Carbone, co-founder of the Weinman Symposium and director of thoracic oncology at the ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Cancer Center.

Cancer does not know a red state or a blue state.
—Gov. Josh Green

“The challenges are many, but there’s no question that states can help,” said Green. He pointed to a plan to provide an additional $7.5 million to the ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Cancer Center to help sustain research momentum during a difficult fiscal period.

Green warned that reductions in federal research funding threaten the nation’s ability to respond to future health crises and stressed that science should transcend politics.

“Cancer does not know a red state or a blue state,” he said. “It doesn’t know ideology. This is something we should commit ourselves to for humanity.”

He also tied biomedical research directly to global security, citing emerging technologies such as RNA-based research and vaccines. “If we don’t fund important research and someone else does—and they control that scientific discipline—we’re not just at a disadvantage during outbreaks,” Green said. “It’s unsafe to have monolithic control of major technologies.”

¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Cancer Center Director Naoto Ueno expressed appreciation for the governor’s support. “His vision, making sure that there is long-term cancer research, really makes a big difference,” Ueno said. “There are 70,000 people in Hawaiʻi with cancer. The only way to cure cancer for future generations is to advance research.”

Green also presented the 2026 Weinman Award to Antoni Ribas of UCLA, a leader in cancer immunotherapy research.

Read more at the .

University of Hawaiʻi at researcher Jesse Owens has received a $2 million NIH (National Institutes of Health) grant to advance his lab’s pioneering gene-editing technology at the (JABSOM).

Related ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ News story: Next generation gene therapy tools built by ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ scientist

“This is my dream grant,” said Owens, associate professor at JABSOM’s Department of Cell and Molecular Biology. “It’s the project I’ve always wanted to do. It funds exactly what our lab is passionate about, which is developing safer, more precise tools for gene therapy that can be used across many different diseases.”

The four-year, $2 million R01 award supports Owens’ effort to create a new generation of transposases, the specialized enzymes that insert genes into precise genome locations. Unlike other gene-editing tools such as CRISPR—which cut DNA and can sometimes lead to unwanted mutations during the repair process—Owens’ method replaces genes without cutting or exposing the DNA, allowing for safer and more precise gene delivery.

Refining precision in gene therapy

That precision is the result of years of meticulous research. Graduate student Chris Tran created and tested more than 200 mutated enzymes to find one that makes very few mistakes and changes only the intended genes without affecting others. The lab’s next goal is to improve the system’s “on-target” efficiency—the rate at which genes land exactly where intended.

“Our goal now is to find that perfect balance,” Owens said. “We’ve minimized the off-target effects; now we’re working on boosting the on-target performance so that the system is both incredibly safe and incredibly effective.”

Owens’ lab has already made remarkable progress. Early versions achieved less than 1% gene delivery efficiency. Through years of refinement, the latest system now reaches nearly 100% efficiency, a leap Owens once thought impossible.

“What we didn’t realize early on was just how fine-tuned this system needed to be,” he said. “If you move the target by just two base pairs, the efficiency can drop dramatically. We had to test hundreds of iterations to find the right combination.”

Building tools to fight many diseases

Owens describes his lab as “disease agnostic,” building tools that can be applied broadly, from hemophilia to cystic fibrosis to cancer.

Imagine something that started in your PhD eventually becoming part of a therapy that fights cancer.
—Jesse Owens

“It’s a special type of R01 (grant),” he explained. “It’s not tied to one disease area, which is perfect for us. We can focus on making the best tool possible, and then share it with researchers who specialize in different diseases.”

Ultimately, Owens hopes the technology will accelerate CAR T immunotherapy, which reprograms immune cells to destroy cancer. His team plans to test the system in human T-cells before collaborating with clinical researchers.

“The really exciting thing is that this could one day help treat actual patients,” Owens said. “Imagine something that started in your PhD eventually becoming part of a therapy that fights cancer. That’s what drives us.”

The grant also supports two JABSOM graduate students, providing hands-on experience at the forefront of gene therapy research.

“Dr. Owens and his team are not only advancing the science of gene editing, they’re inspiring the next generation of scientists who will continue our legacy of innovation and discovery,” said JABSOM Dean Sam Shomaker.

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With Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Asian populations facing some of the highest diabetes rates in the nation, the University of Hawaiʻi at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s has received a $2.35 million renewal grant from the National Institutes of Health to expand research, strengthen infrastructure and train the next generation of scientists. In its seventh year of funding, the center is part of ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s Centers for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) and continues to focus on tackling this critical public health challenge.

“Diabetes and prediabetes affect nearly half of the U.S. population, and even more so in underserved communities,” said Mariana Gerschenson, professor in the at the (JABSOM), who leads the initiative as principal investigator. “Our goal is to build a sustainable, collaborative center that addresses both the biological mechanisms and health differences associated with diabetes in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific.”

Related ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ News story: $11.7M grant renewal advances diabetes research in Hawaiʻi

Since its inception, the center has played a pivotal role in mentoring seven research leaders and seven pilot investigators. Phase 2 will significantly expand this mission through several key initiatives:

• Investigating diabetic complications: Focused research on complications that occur at higher rates in racial and ethnic minorities.
• Faculty recruitment: Bringing in four new tenure-track faculty members specializing in translational diabetes and insulin resistance research.
• Pipeline development: Supporting pilot projects to cultivate a robust pipeline of future research leaders.
• Community engagement: Strengthening community outreach through an annual symposium and enhanced digital resources.

The renewed award will support key research project leaders, including cell and molecular biology faculty Kathryn Schunke and Michael Ortega, as well as graduate students, postdocs, and the led by Chair Olivier Le Saux.

Innovative research projects

Current research projects at the Diabetic Research Center are exploring innovative solutions and deeper understandings of diabetes, including:

• Developing non-invasive sweat sensors for monitoring complications.
• Studying the genomic links between diabetes and stroke in Native Hawaiians.
• Understanding diabetic autonomic neuropathy using animal models.
• Investigating diabetic renal disease using animal models.

When retired U.S. Army Col. Jason Barnhill steps into the lab at the University of Hawaiʻi at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ (JABSOM), he brings more than 30 years of active duty experience and a mission to protect soldiers on the battlefield.

Barnhill, now an associate professor in JABSOM’s , is working to build human tissue models through bioprinting, a cutting-edge technique that uses “bio-inks” instead of plastic to produce organ-like structures. These models, created from human stem cells, could help improve treatments for burns, chemical exposure, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and more.

This work is part of a new collaboration between ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ and the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM CBC).

“We plan to use these models for biomedical testing, instead of using animal models,” said Barnhill. “Animal models have various drawbacks that we hope to avoid with our models.”

Barnhill explains that human-based models are more accurate than testing on animals. “Reactions in human genomes are very distinct to those in ‘little white lab mice,’” he said. “It’s really critical that we develop bioprinting and other advanced manufacturing techniques here in HawaiÊ»i because we’re so isolated. Ideally we can build up our capacity and then be in a position to assist others.“

A personal focus on eye health

While the partnership covers a range of threats, Barnhill is particularly drawn to eye research. “I’m especially interested in the cornea… and how we could make models of the cornea that could then be used to look at chemical exposure or infectious disease exposure,” he said.

Inspired by a family history of macular degeneration, he’s also exploring the idea of 3D-printed contact lenses that could protect against chemical burns.

“I’ve been tossing around the idea with some of my colleagues (at DEVCOM)…maybe being able to 3D print some type of contact lens or other thing that would be protective for the eye,” Barnhill said.

A return home to Hawaiʻi

Barnhill’s ties to Hawaiʻi run deep. After arriving in 2000 for a master’s in biomedical sciences at ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹, he kept returning—earning his PhD, working at Tripler Hospital, and living in the islands for more than a decade.

Related ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ News story: New ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ manufacturing tech makes wearable health sensors more affordable, September 2024

“Really, Hawaiʻi has become home for me and my family,” he said.

Now, he’s mentoring undergraduates at JABSOM and hopes to spark collaborations across ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹, including with Associate Professor Tyler Ray from the , whose lab houses several bioprinting devices.

“Hawaiʻi‘s home for me now, so I want to help my home as much as I can,” said Barnhill. “I’m excited to have the chance to do this work that I think will be beneficial to both our service members and to the people of Hawaiʻi.”

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A new drug delivery system developed by researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ (JABSOM) and Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea may significantly reduce serious lung damage. The study was recently published in the .

The team designed tiny particles, called lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), to carry two drugs directly to immune cells in the lungs called neutrophils. Using COVID-19 as a model, they showed that the LNPs only targeted these lung cells, didn’t cause harm and reduced inflammation and early signs of scarring in mice.

The researchers hope this new method can also be used to treat other lung conditions like the flu and sepsis by targeting different immune cells or delivering other types of medicine.

“This project is a great example of how interdisciplinary research can facilitate the development of novel drug delivery platforms and evaluate their efficiency in animal models,” said Saguna Verma, JABSOM professor of tropical medicine. “Recently, LNP-based selective organ targeting (SORT) has been developed for specifically targeting the liver, lung or spleen. However, the strength of this study is that our LNPs are designed not only to target the lung but specifically to lung neutrophils.”

Researchers used ¶«¾«Ó°Òµâ€™s high-security lab to safely study the virus. For the first time, they were able to send two drugs—DNase I and Sivelestat—directly to infection-fighting cells in the lungs using a new delivery method.

Normally, these immune cells release web-like traps (called NETs) to catch germs. However, when too many are made, they can harm the lungs and lead to serious problems, especially in illnesses like COVID-19, explained Juwon Park of ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹.

“Although drugs that block NETs exist, they often require high doses due to instability in the body and nonspecific off-target effects,” Park said. “Our new approach overcomes these limitations by delivering both drugs directly to lung neutrophils using lipid nanoparticles, which improves drug effectiveness and minimizes side effects.”

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Decades of support for underrepresented students in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific has been shut down due to federal budget cuts. Two student research programs run by the University of Hawaiʻi at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s (JABSOM) have been ended by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

If the decision stands, we’ll feel the void in five to 10 years—in our classrooms, our clinics and our communities
—Angela Sy

The unexpected termination of the (STEP-UP) and the is anticipated to have lasting effects on local students and the state’s ability to grow its own biomedical workforce.

Pathways cut short

Pacific STEP-UP, a high school research pathway program active since 2002, has served more than 445 students directly and hundreds more through laboratory education. Its director, George Hui, explained that the program trained underserved students, often from rural or isolated communities in the Pacific, to conduct research relevant to their communities.

“From studying taro farming in the presence of global warming and sea level rising, to investigating pollution in the Marshall Islands, students tackled real-world, locally rooted problems,” Hui said.

NIH recently and unexpectedly ended funding for the program. “They said we were engaged in DEI activities that are not aligned with the current administration,” Hui said.

The cut came despite Pacific STEP-UP changing its eligibility rules in March 2024 to include everyone in the Pacific, removing race, ethnicity or sex as criteria for application reviews or funding decisions.

“We were confident we wouldn’t be affected,” Hui said. “We adjusted a year ago. And we had more applications than ever, over 500 this cycle. Now, we’re telling kids they can’t participate. There’s no time, no backup plan, and no comparable alternative.”

Over the last two decades, Pacific STEP-UP was a proven success with students launching successful careers in STEM. Most recently, Nichelle Torcelino from Guam was accepted to Yale, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania. Others from American Samoa have gone to Harvard and claim advanced degrees in public health.

Programs offered more than research experience

“We don’t just give our students lab time,” Hui added. &dquo;We help them believe they belong in science and research. Without programs like this, that path disappears for many.”

The MHRT program, launched in 2013 by Vivek Nerurkar, and now led by Angela Sy, both from the Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology, sent underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students to conduct mentored research in places such as Thailand, India, American Samoa, Guam, Cameroon and Liberia.

“These students often had never traveled beyond the state. They return transformed—not just as budding scientists, but as global citizens,” said Sy.

More than 123 students participated, with 66% pursuing graduate degrees and many now working in medicine, research, and academia.

Sakaria Laisene Auelua-Toomey a MHRT 2015 alumni who graduated from ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ in 2016 earned a PhD in psychology from Stanford University in 2024 and is now a faculty at ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹.

Impact on Hawaiʻi’s research future

Program leaders say the cuts hurt Hawaiʻi’s ability to build a local workforce. “These are resource-limited areas,” Hui said. “Without exposure to science, there’s no pipeline.”

JABSOM officials are hoping for a legal reprieve. The termination is being challenged as part of a multistate lawsuit against NIH’s rollback of DEI programs.

“If the decision stands, we’ll feel the void in five to 10 years—in our classrooms, our clinics and our communities,” said Sy.

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Diabetes affects 10% of Hawaiʻi‘s population, with another 37% living with pre-diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. To address this significant health issue, the University of Hawaiʻi at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s (JABSOM) secured a $11.7 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) five-year grant renewal for its Diabetes Research Center, originally funded with $11.3 million in 2017.

“Living in Hawaiʻi, many of us have diabetes or know someone who has it, so it is our obligation as researchers in Hawaiʻi to investigate problems that affect the people of this state,” said Mariana Gerschenson, JABSOM associate dean for research and director of the Diabetes Research Center. “The renewal of this grant allows us to continue to do this critical research, and we are excited about starting Phase 2 of this research, which will explore the impact diabetes has on other parts of the body.”

Related story:$10.4M to ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ researchers links environmental microbiomes to human health

Originally, the NIH-funded Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant enabled JABSOM to study the mechanisms behind diabetes and pre-diabetes using cell and animal models. This initiative also facilitated the training of five young investigators across ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ to continue to contribute to local research and education.

“This is a very exciting time for us to have the opportunity to give young people in Hawaiʻi an opportunity to study this abundant disease and its complications here at home,” said Majorie Mau, the center’s deputy director and professor in the Department of Native Hawaiian Health.

Impact on local community

The next research phase will focus on how diabetes leads to complications such as stroke, heart disease and kidney issues, with a special emphasis on Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations, which are disproportionately affected by diabetes.

Gerschenson’s team includes JABSOM assistant professors Kathryn Schunke, who is researching diabetic cardiomyopathy; Stacy Brown, who studies the genetics of diabetes and stroke among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders; and Noemi Polgar, who investigates glucose transport in skeletal muscle. Additionally, Tyler Ray, assistant professor from ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s , is developing wearable technology to monitor kidney function.

The renewal of the grant not only supports ongoing research but also boosts Hawaiʻi’s economy. According to the United for Medical Research report, every dollar received in grants adds $2.46 in new economic activity. The funding supports the recruitment and development of new faculty and young investigators, ensuring the continuation of innovative diabetes research and education at JABSOM and across ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ.

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The University of Hawaiʻi was awarded just over $58 million in federal biomedical research grants from the (NIH) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 (July 1, 2022—June 30, 2023), generating $158 million in economic activity in the state and supporting 819 local jobs. This is according to the United for Medical Research that assesses the economic impact of NIH funding in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

NIH funding awarded to researchers supports employment and purchase of research-related goods, services and materials. The income generated from these jobs and purchases cycles through the economy to produce new economic activity. The report estimates that every $1 of NIH funding generates $2.46 in new economic activity.

Related ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ News story: ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ a national leader in federal health funding

“The funding that we receive from NIH is vital to sustaining the important work of our researchers, as they seek to cure diseases, eliminate cancer, and to improve health equity amongst under-represented groups and in rural communities across Hawaiʻi and the Pacific,” said ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Vice President for Research and Innovation Vassilis L. Syrmos. “At the same time, these extramural grants inject much needed dollars into our state’s economy through research-related expenditures.”

Hawaiʻi received $68.7 million in NIH funding in FY 2023 with 85% going to ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ, including 79 of the 93 NIH grants awarded. The ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Cancer Center and the ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ were responsible for the majority of the NIH-funded research projects in FY 2023.

Nationally, NIH funding totaled $37 billion in FY 2023 and supported 412,041 jobs and generated $92.9 billion in new economic activity.

A national center of excellence at the is doing much more than groundbreaking biomedical research. The (ICEMHH) is building infrastructure and capacity to better Hawaiʻi’s human, environmental and economic health.

“We’re designated a center of excellence for microbiome research. It means that people are really looking to Hawaiʻi to make the next vanguard discoveries in this field,” said Principal Investigator Anthony Amend, a professor with the . “We’re making incredible discoveries about microbiomes—symbiotic microbes, things like bacteria, fungi, viruses that are inside living hosts, including us—and this underpins life on Earth as we know it.”

Utilizing two grants from the National Institutes of Health (COBRE) totaling more than $21 million, ICEMHH has also developed three state-of-the-art “cores”—an insectary, a microbial genomics laboratory and a microscopy imaging center—for cross-disciplinary public impact research beyond how microbiomes impact human health.

Fruit flies, mosquitos, related diseases

The Insectary for Scientific Training and Advances in Research or InSTAR promotes research on insect microbiomes (the microorganisms of a particular site or habitat) and advanced research in medical entomology (study of insects). It offers insect-rearing equipment and services, a collaborative lab and rearing space, insect containment, and other training and insect-management services.

Amend said, “Users of this core include some of our researchers here at the university and state agencies that are trying to understand disease—how it spreads in our state and how to mitigate those risks.”

Some of those mosquito-carried diseases include zika, dengue fever and malaria.

DNA sequencing, genetic analysis

The Microbial Genomics and Analytical Laboratory or MGAL houses the necessary instrumentation to provide a wide variety of services, such as high-throughput DNA/RNA extractions (to examine molecules that make up our genomes, and to generate “barcodes” for identifying microbes), amplicon library preparation (a highly targeted approach that enables researchers to analyze genetic variation in specific genomic regions), natural product and small molecule analysis, and culturing and storage of microbial strains.

“What this core does is enable somebody to come in with a sample of an animal or a soil sample or any sort of environmental sample. They can bring it to the core, drop it off and in a matter of weeks come out with a list and a figure of all of the microbes and their genomes that are within that sample,” Amend said. “This has really revolutionized our ability to determine ecological processes that are happening on microscales.”

Photons, electrons, more in high resolution

The Microscopy Imaging Center for Research through Observation or MICRO provides researchers with state-of-the-art instrumentation, training and services for high-resolution scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, optical, fluorescence, laser scanning confocal microscopy and image analysis.

“You can look at photons. You can look at electrons—all these different tools to study microbes in their host environments,” Amend said.

The three research cores have already attracted a wide variety of users.

“We host researchers from all over the world, who come to learn about microbes, to use our facilities and to take that knowledge back to their countries, to develop their own expertise,” Amend said.

At the other end of the spectrum, there was the gentleman who walked in off the street and wanted to know which microbes were in his sourdough starter—which he thought made the most delicious bread and helped to keep his skin clear. In a matter of weeks the MGAL facility had a list of all the beneficial bacteria and yeasts contained in that flour and water sample.

Sustaining excellence

COBRE grants are awarded in three sequential five-year phases.

• Phase 1 awards build capacity in an area of biomedical research through the establishment of a center of excellence that helps develop a critical mass of investigators who are able to compete effectively for independent research funding and improve infrastructure in the center’s research area. Researchers in ¶«¾«Ó°Òµâ€™s Phase 1 $10.4-million grant generated almost $22 million in extramural funding.
• Phase 2 awards strengthen successful COBRE Phase 1 centers through continued development of investigators to compete effectively for independent research, pilot project funding and further improvements to research infrastructure at the institution. Improving the three research cores is a focus of ¶«¾«Ó°Òµâ€™s $10.7-million Phase 2 grant.
• Phase 3 awards provide support for maintaining research cores developed during Phases 1 and 2 to sustain a collaborative, multidisciplinary research environment with pilot project programs, mentoring and training components.

¶«¾«Ó°Òµ will be applying for a Phase 3 award to sustain its world-class microbiome research and three research cores. According to Amend, the center is accelerating many kinds of projects that people care about.

He said, “We hope that by launching this center of excellence and by maintaining these three cores, it puts Hawaiʻi at the forefront of this research where we can make these discoveries to promote our own livelihoods, economic opportunities and sustainability going into the future.”

—by Kelli Abe Trifonovitch

A University of Hawaiʻi at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ (JABSOM) program that builds the foundation for the next generation of biomedical researchers has been funded $21.3 million for another five years by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

The Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) received funding from the National Institutes of Health to continue the work of expanding research opportunities in Hawaiʻi. is administratively based at JABSOM with a mission to fortify research programs statewide in order to put more undergraduates on the road to a biomedical science career.

The renewal of the INBRE grant allows the JABSOM program to continue to increase the pipeline of students in STEM and strengthen the biomedical research expertise at undergraduate institutions and community colleges in Hawaiʻi. This is a pathway for these students to pursue biomedical research and workforce careers. The grant will also facilitate infrastructure development, support postdoctoral fellows and expand the state-of-the-art Data Science Core.

This includes strategic approaches to providing resource and mentorship opportunities to junior and pilot investigators as a means to incorporate research into curriculum. INBRE increases biomedical research capacity across the state by providing these resources and expertise to community colleges and primarily undergraduate institutes across the state.

Professor Robert Nichols led the last previous two cycles.Peter Hoffmann, a professor who is also with the department, will take over as principal investigator with Ben Fogelgren, associate professor of , taking on the role of program coordinator.

“We are thrilled to have this competitive renewal fully funded so that we can continue to build upon our past successes and expand the Hawaiʻi network of biomedical researchers, scholars and students,” said Hoffmann. “Our leadership works closely with the participating faculty with the goal of strengthening our research capacity throughout Hawaiʻi. We have many exciting programs and lofty goals set for the INBRE V cycle—time to get to work!”

Engaging with ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ community colleges, other institutions

INBRE has worked closely with faculty and students from , , , , , , Chaminade University and Hawaiʻi Pacific University. Engaging students interested in biomedical research at the community college level and other higher education institutions is the first step in building a strong community of health science research in Hawaiʻi. INBRE provides aspiring biomedical researchers opportunities to investigate complex issues such as obesity and vaccine development, which impact the population of Hawaiʻi and beyond.

I found people who were willing to spend time nurturing the education and skill set of future scientists.
—Lance Nunes

In the past five years alone, HI-INBRE has engaged more than 600 students from more than 20 different ethnic groups in research opportunities with the goal of building a &lduqo;pipeline” for biomedical research careers in our state. In so doing, HI-INBRE enhances biomedical science and technological knowledge amongst our state’s workforce.

Lance Nunes is one of them. He was part of the INBRE program during his time at the ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ and is now at the JABSOM pursuing a doctorate in developmental and reproductive biology, winning awards along the way such as the Kai Bowden ARCS Award in Medicine as well as the 2023 Biomedical Symposium Best Presentation award.

“INBRE is one of the main reasons I became a scientist,” Nunes said. “Going through undergraduate school, you try different things. You never know what you want to do until you try it, and INBRE introduced me to different research labs. I found people who were willing to spend time nurturing the education and skill set of future scientists.”