Lyda Hill Philanthropies Awards $1.1 Million in Additional Funding to 2025 Hill Prizes Applicants

Lyda Hill Ad Hoc Hill Prize Funding

TAMEST and Lyda Hill Philanthropies are pleased to announce that $1.1 million in research funding was awarded earlier this year to 11 exceptional researchers from the 2025 Hill Prizes applicant pool. These researchers have been awarded $100,000 each in ad hoc funding from Lyda Hill Philanthropies to continue their work.

The Hill Prizes, launched in 2023 by TAMEST and Lyda Hill Philanthropies, annually award significant funding – currently totaling $3.5 million across seven categories – to recognize breakthrough innovations in Texas. This special ad hoc funding is a core element of the Hill Prizes program. It is designed to support top proposals that were not selected as recipients of the 2025 Hill Prizes, but demonstrated remarkable promise and significant potential for real-world impact. Recipients of the ad hoc funding were encouraged to reapply for the 2026 Hill Prizes, which will be announced this winter.

“The Hill Prizes are about fueling new, paradigm-shifting paths in research and innovation,” said David E. Daniel, Ph.D. (NAE), Chair of the 2025 Hill Prizes Committee and President Emeritus of The University of Texas at Dallas. “Through this generous additional funding from Lyda Hill and her team, we are able to extend the reach of the Hill Prizes program to ensure that more of Texas’ most innovative minds receive the support they need to move their bold ideas forward each year.”

This year’s recipients of ad hoc funding represent a wide range of disciplines and institutions across Texas, with research areas ranging from cancer mutation prevention, wearable health tech, environmental health and many other groundbreaking areas.

“The quality that the Hill Prizes selection committees saw in this year’s applicant pool made it clear we needed to go further,” said Lyda Hill, Founder of Lyda Hill Philanthropies. “These 11 researchers and their colleagues are exploring groundbreaking research in Texas to some of the biggest challenges we face and we are eager to see the progress they make with this support.”

2025 Hill Prizes Ad Hoc Funding Recipients ($100,000 each, totaling $1.1 million):

  • Michael Buszczak, Ph.D., UT Southwestern Medical Center: Leveraging ribosome biology to create tools for precise control of protein synthesis. *
  • Reuben Harris, Ph.D., The University of Texas at San Antonio: Developing APOBEC-blocking agents to reduce cancer mutation and improve therapeutic response.
  • David Lary, Ph.D., The University of Texas at Dallas: Combining wearable tech and AI to deliver real-time, personalized air quality health insights.
  • Elizabeth Matsui, M.D., The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School: Investigating the impact of climate change on maternal and infant health outcomes.
  • Joshua Mendell, M.D., Ph.D. (NAM), UT Southwestern Medical Center: Investigating how noncoding RNA regulates aging, with potential to delay age-related decline. * **
  • Nicholas A. Peppas, Sc.D. (NAM, NAE), The University of Texas at Austin: Designing pH-responsive oral delivery systems for autoimmune disease treatments. *
  • Shalini Prasad, Ph.D., The University of Texas at Dallas: Creating a real-time wearable biosensor to monitor IBD activity and improve chronic disease care.
  • Jonathan L. Sessler, Ph.D. (NAS), The University of Texas at Austin: Developing biomimetic tools for detection and detoxification of PFAS “forever chemicals.”
  • Anil K. Sood, M.D. (NAM), MD Anderson Cancer Center: Advancing plant-derived vesicle therapies to strengthen immune response in cancer treatment. *
  • Andrew Wang, M.D., UT Southwestern Medical Center: Engineering immune checkpoint ligands for curative treatment of autoimmune diseases like IBD.
  • Jie Zheng, Ph.D., The University of Texas at Dallas: Using nanoprobes to improve early detection and surgical treatment of brain tumors.

*Past TAMEST Protégé / **Past Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award Recipient

This additional funding reaffirms the Hill Prizes’ commitment to identifying and accelerating high-risk, high-reward research that can generate transformative impact on science and society.

A full list of the recipients of the 2025 Hill Prizes can be found on the tamest.org/hill-prizes webpage. The recipients of the 2026 Hill Prizes will be announced in January 2026, and recipients will be recognized on February 2, 2026, at the opening reception of the TAMEST 2026 Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

The Hill Prizes, funded by Lyda Hill Philanthropies, recognize and advance top Texas innovators and researchers whose work could have significant impact on science and society. The prizes propel high-risk, high-reward ideas and innovations that demonstrate significant potential for real-world impact and can lead to new, paradigm-shifting paths in research. The Hill Prizes have seven categories: artificial intelligence, medicine, public health, engineering, biological sciences, physical sciences and technology. Lyda Hill Philanthropies has committed over $10 million in funding to continue the prize program and include at least $1 million each year in discretionary research funding allocated by Lyda Hill Philanthropies on an ad hoc basis to highly ranked applicants and finalists not selected as recipients. Each prize recipient’s institution or organization will receive $500,000 in direct funding from Lyda Hill Philanthropies to accelerate their work.
 

About Lyda Hill Philanthropies:

Lyda Hill Philanthropies encompasses the charitable giving for founder Lyda Hill and includes her foundation and personal philanthropy. Her organization is committed to funding transformational advances in science and nature, empowering nonprofit organizations and improving the Texas and Colorado communities. Because Miss Hill has a fervent belief that “science is the answer” to many of life’s most challenging issues, she has chosen to donate the entirety of her estate to philanthropy and scientific research.

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