Michael Verzi Receives Grossman Innovation Prize
Michael Verzi and his research team.A Rutgers scientist whose research is opening up new possibilities for treating Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) has received the 2025 Grossman Innovation Prize from the School of Arts and Sciences.
The prize, which provides financial support to faculty members pursuing research with commercial potential, will help fund the work of Michael Verzi, a professor in the Department of Genetics. The Verzi lab is developing genetic studies that could shift IBD treatment in a new direction by targeting the inner intestinal lining rather than the immune system.
“IBD is a severe and prevalent disease that affects millions of people,” says Verzi, who holds the Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Endowed Chair in Cancer Genomics. “And I think that for those who don’t stay in remission or don’t respond to therapy, it might be because we don’t have the right treatment to heal their specific underlying cause of IBD.”
The Grossman Prize, which is made possible through a gift from Rutgers alumnus Alan Grossman, allows researchers to advance their work to the proof-of-concept stage when they would be eligible for private investment funding as well as spin-off as an independent business.
“We’re thrilled that this year’s Grossman Innovation Prize will support research that could bring relief to millions suffering from a difficult and painful disease,” says SAS Executive Vice Dean James Masschaele. “We’re grateful for the research of Professor Michael Verzi and for the vision and generosity of alumni Alan Grossman.”
Inflammatory Bowel Disease is a blanket term covering illnesses that cause inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. The most common are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, between 2.4 and 3.1 million Americans suffer from IBD, with annual healthcare costs at $8.5 billion.
The disease is both difficult to diagnose and to treat, often requiring a combination of approaches to relieve symptoms. Verzi said that most current medications on the market target the immune system. But the percentage of patients responding to such treatments can vary anywhere from 25 to 80 percent according to studies. And of those patients who do respond, a total of 30 to 60 percent were in remission at the end of one year.
Verzi says the underlying genetics of the disease are pointing in a new direction. The existing research suggests that approximately one-third of the genetic contribution to IBD comes from genes that function in the intestinal epithelial barrier—a single cell layer that lines the small and large intestine.
“There have been hundreds of genes identified that are statistically associated with IBD,” Verzi said. “But if you look at where those genes are turned on in the body, about a third of them are known to be expressed in this epithelial barrier.”
There are currently no treatments that target the barrier, and Verzi suspects that has led to high rates of relapse.
Genetics Professor Michael Verzi Verzi’s lab has conducted experiments that use mouse models to pinpoint and study the epithelial genes associated with IBD, showing that the absence of those genes generates inflammation similar to the onset of IBD symptoms. With the funding from the Grossman Award, his team, which includes lab researcher Jahangir Iqbal, graduate student Anusha Gnanapragasam, and undergraduates including Marielle Rodney, will continue refining the studies with an eye towards licensing it to an outside research lab for commercial drug development.
“Current medications are aimed at fixing patients’ immune system, but what we really need to do is fix their intestinal epithelial lining,” Verzi said. “We believe we’ve developed the first pre-clinical model for an epithelial-derived IBD, and our hope is that this will be a better model for the many patients who are not responding to treatment or are falling out of remission.”
Alan Grossman, who has supported the Grossman Innovation Prize through a generous gift, received his bachelor’s degree in computer science with honors from Livingston College, Rutgers University, and went on to complete a master’s degree in computer science from Stevens Institute of Technology. He had a distinguished 25-year career in the telecommunications industry. He also helped create and fund the Alan H. Grossman Annual Scholarship, which since 2011 has provided financial support for up to three Rutgers students every academic year.