Mount Sinai's newly launched Institute for Liver Research has funded its first two pilot projects, chosen from among 11 applications submitted by basic, translational, or clinical research teams, and awarded one-year grants of $30,000 each in hopes of generating preliminary data sufficient to stimulate broader funding and research collaborations. One project focuses on genomics and genetic sequencing of patients to determine how many and which abnormalities are linked to liver disease, while the other proposes to develop a lipid nanoparticle platform for hepatic stellate cell-specific drug delivery.