BEAR Cage

The 2027 BEAR Cage Application portal will open in late fall 2026.

Please see below for this year’s winner and finalists.

260518 134407 CS 2

12th Annual BEAR Cage Competition

The BEAR Cage (Building Education to Advance Research) Competition is hosted annually by the Drug, Device, Discovery, and Development (DDDD) Committee. The program is open to early-stage investigators with highly innovative, translational, human-focused research proposals. The top three submissions are chosen by the DDDD Committee, and the finalists are invited to pitch their proposals to a panel of translational science experts representing academia, industry, and governmental sectors in front of a live audience at the ATS International Conference.

The panel, with audience participation, will “vet” these proposals with each presenter, providing a unique “shark-tank” like learning environment that fuels real-time feedback and propels the strategic thinking required for these novel ideas to become innovations. After each presentation, the live panel and audience will have sufficient time to ask questions of each of the top three contestants. Ultimately, the panel will award one grand prize winner a $10,000 prize and the two runner-up proposals $2,500 each.

For any questions about the application process or the competition for ATS 2027, please send an email to dddd@thoracic.org.

ATS 2026 BEAR Cage Finalists

The 2026 BEAR Cage event was well received and attended. Congratulations to 2026 BEAR Cage winner Emily Mitchell, MD, and the other finalists, all receiving cash prizes as well as mentorship for the next year.

 

Emily Mitchell, MD

Co-Investigator
University of California, San Diego

“Breaking the Silence: Eye-Tracking for Restoring Patient Agency and Communication in the ICU"

Emily Mitchell, MD presenting her winning proposal at the 2026 BEAR Cage

 

Xiang Gao, PhD

Chief Scientist
Scientific Horizons Consulting

“A Precision Intranasal Nebulization Platform (PIN) for Targeted Nasal Drug Delivery”


 

Keziyah Yisrael-Gayle, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow/Founder and CEO
TollRAir/UC-Riverside

“Development of an Extended-Release Aerosol Formulation of Toll-like Receptor 4 (TLR4) Inhibitors to Protect Against Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Non-Allergic Asthma”