Brian Belardi Wins Ono Pharma Foundation Breakthrough Science Initiative Award
The chemical engineer is the first UT faculty member to receive the award
Brian Belardi has been named an awardee of the Ono Pharma Foundation’s Breakthrough Science Initiative. He is the first researcher at The University of Texas at Austin to receive this award.
Belardi, an assistant professor in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, will receive a $1 million grant to support his project titled “receptome profiling for the oral delivery of biologics.” Generally, the work will support Belardi’s efforts to develop oral delivery options for biologic drugs typically administered intravenously.
“Brian’s work aims to make powerful biological therapies more readily accessible to patients by engineering them for oral delivery—this would mean swallowing a pill, instead of receiving an injection,” said Jennifer Maynard, chair of the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering. “This approach has the potential to revolutionize drug delivery, and we’re excited to see how this award propels Brian’s work forward.”
His research is steering away from problematic technologies for oral delivery that present significant side effects and limited effectiveness. Recently, he has been developing an advanced chemical proteomics platform designed to identify previously unknown proteins in the gastrointestinal tract that can shuttle biologics from the gut into the bloodstream. The grant will support the continued development of his research.
“I’m honored to join the ranks of past Breakthrough Award winners — a group that represents some of the most creative scientists working at the chemistry-biology interface today,” Belardi said. “The Ono Pharma Foundation has a remarkable track record of backing high-risk, high-reward science, and this support will allow my lab to push forward our work developing molecular technologies that could transform biologic drugs into pill form.”
Belardi first joined Cockrell in 2021, and his research focuses on how cells within tissue interact, communicate and go awry in diseased or damaged organs. In 2023, Belardi was awarded the prestigious David and Lucile Packard Foundation Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, a high honor that recognizes the nation’s top young scientists and engineers and spurs them to take on risky, impactful projects.
The Ono Pharma Foundation’s Breakthrough Science Initiative Awards program supports creative research by early to mid-career faculty at the intersection of chemistry and biology. Belardi and the other recipients will be recognized by the foundation later this month.