Andrew Goodman, PhD, chair and C.N.H. Long Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis at Yale School of Medicine and director of the Yale Microbial Sciences Institute at West Campus, has received an Innovation Fund award from the Pew Charitable Trusts. The award brings together pairs of researchers to establish interdisciplinary partnerships and launch creative research projects.
Goodman won the award with Ivaylo Ivanov, PhD, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University, and together, they will continue their work examining how drugs and gut microbes activate antimicrobial proteins that alter the gut microbiome. Their research has so far identified how both a gut microbe and a medication for congestive heart failure awaken antimicrobial proteins that then eliminate good gut bacteria. And their findings could inform approaches to optimize gut composition.
The Pew Innovation Fund supports creative and cross-disciplinary partnerships among alumni of Pew’s biomedical programs. Goodman was named a Pew Biomedical Scholar in 2013.
“Many of the best scientific breakthroughs happen when researchers work together to tackle pressing problems,” Donna Frisby-Greenwood, Pew’s senior vice president for Philadelphia and scientific advancement, said in the organization’s announcement of the 2025 class of Innovation Fund investigators. “We’re thrilled to welcome these talented scientists back into the Pew community as Innovation Fund investigators. Their pioneering collaborative projects will drive the next advancements in biomedical research.”
Seven pairs of researchers are included in this year’s class of investigators.