Purdue University has named a dozen faculty members as recipients of the 2026 Showalter Early Career Awards, including Pradip Bajgain, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences. The 12 early career faculty members received the research support for their innovative projects that address pressing challenges in human health.
Through its annual investment in Purdue research, the Ralph W. and Grace M. Showalter Research Trust supports researchers at multiple career stages through the early career investigator awards, the Showalter Faculty Scholars program, and two distinguished professorships held by Charles Bouman in electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering, and Kinam Park in biomedical engineering.
The 2026 early career awards reflect the breadth of the Showalter Trust’s commitment to research with implications for human health. This year’s selected projects span environmental science, biochemistry and molecular biology, disease prevention and treatment, food safety and production technologies, and medical and biophysical instrumentation—including approaches that draw on large-scale data analysis.
As a cornerstone of Showalter funding at Purdue, the early career investigator awards program gives early career faculty the resources to test ambitious ideas and build momentum for future discoveries. Dr. Bajgain’s funded research project is entitled “Exploiting B7-H3 to fuel CAR T cell therapy for neuroblastoma.”
Dr. Bajgain earned his PhD in translational biology and molecular medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, where he studied methods to improve the efficacy of engineered T cell therapies in solid tumors. He went on to complete his postdoctoral training at the National Cancer Institute, developing novel chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) targeting solid tumor antigens.
At Purdue, Dr. Bajgain researches innovative CAR engineering strategies to enhance the safety and potency of CAR-based cell therapies. His lab also is investigating ways to modulate the tumor-microenvironment using genetically modified T cells to augment the anti-tumor activity of endogenous and ex-vivo engineered immune cells.
Congratulations Dr. Bajgain on your Showalter Early Career Award!
