Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) honored its new grant recipients at the Grants Reception and Dinner at the AACR Annual Meeting 2016, which was held in New Orleans April 16-20.
The AACR has been funding scientific research since 1993. Since the beginning of the grants program, AACR has awarded more than $300 million in funding to over 500 researchers. The AACR is proud to welcome these new grantees to a long and distinguished list of dedicated scientists who have been selected as AACR grant recipients.
Fellowships:
2015 AACR-Amgen, Inc. Fellowships in Clinical/Translational Cancer Research
• Marisa M. Juntilla, MD, PhD, Stanford University, Stanford, California
“Translational Regulation by a Leukemia-specific Mutation in Nucleophosmin 1”
• Danny N. Khalil, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
“Potentiating PD-1 Blockade in Resistant Cancers by Enforced APC Activation”
2016 AACR-Amgen, Inc. Fellowships in Clinical/Translational Cancer Research
• Willy Hugo, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
“Innate Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Inhibition for Melanoma Therapy”
• Aparna Lakshmanan, PhD, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
“BRAF-mediated Immunomodulation in Disseminated B-cell Malignancy”
2015 AACR-Bristol-Myers Squibb Oncology Fellowship in Clinical Cancer Research
• Marco Ruella, MD, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
“Dual Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cells for CD19-negative Leukemia Relapses”
2016 AACR-Bristol-Myers Squibb Oncology Fellowship in Clinical Cancer Research
• Yiting Lim, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle
“Dissecting Oncogenic Translation in Prostate Cancer Pathogenesis”
2016 AACR-Bayer Hepatocellular Carcinoma Research Fellowship
• Juyoun Kim, PhD, University of California, San Diego
“Role of TNF Signaling in De Novo Lipid Synthesis Upon Hypernutrition”
2016 AACR-Bayer Prostate Cancer Research Fellowship
• Sethuramasundaram Pitchiaya, PhD, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
“Androgen Receptor Regulation by lncRNA PRCAT47 in Prostate Cancer”
2015 AACR Basic Cancer Research Fellowship
• Jason J. Northey, PhD, University of California, San Francisco
“Tissue Tension Promotes Stemness and Breast Cancer Aggression”
2016 AACR Basic Cancer Research Fellowships
• Elizabeth J. Adams, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
“Characterizing FOXA1 Mutations Using a Novel Prostate Organoid System”
• Shruti Bhatt, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston
“Mitochondrial Perturbations as a Novel Approach to Personalized Therapy”
• Karuna Ganesh, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
“Investigating and Targeting L1CAM in Metastatic Cancer Stem Cells”
• Andrew W. Holle, PhD, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany
“Cancer Cell Cytoskeletal Dynamics during Confined Invasion”
• Wei Jin, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle
“Targeting Immunosuppressive Tumor Microenvironment Resulting from Therapy”
• Emil Schüler, PhD, Stanford University, Stanford, California
“Improved Therapeutic Index in the GI Tract with Ultra-fast Irradiation”
• Jie Su, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
“Dissecting TGFβ-induced Lethal EMT in KRAS-driven Pancreatic Cancer”
• April M. Weissmiller, PhD, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
“Probing a Novel Mechanism of MYC Recruitment to Chromatin”
2016 AACR Anna D. Barker Fellowship in Basic Cancer Research
• Neville Gilhooly, PhD, University of California, Davis
“How do Replication-Transcription Collisions Cause Genome Instability?”
2016 AACR-John and Elizabeth Leonard Family Foundation Basic Cancer Research Fellowship
• Fides D. Lay, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
“The Role of Ldb1-mediated Enhancer-Promoter Communication in T-ALL”
2016 AACR Judah Folkman Fellowship for Angiogenesis Research
• Amelia A. Rand, PhD, University of California, Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center
“Regulation of Cancer Angiogenesis from the Metabolism of Epoxy Omega-6 Fats”
2016 AACR-Incyte Corporation Fellowship in Clinical Lymphoma Research
• Santosha A. Vardhana, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
“Response and Resistance to Checkpoint Blockade in Hodgkin Lymphoma”
2016 AACR-Ocular Melanoma Foundation Fellowship
• Jessica Teh, PhD, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia
“Utility of CDK4/6 Inhibitors in Uveal Melanoma”
2015 AACR Millennium Fellowships in Lymphoma Research
• Maite Alvarez, PhD, Stanford University, Stanford, California
“Improving Cancer Therapy for Lymphoma by Preventing NK-cell Exhaustion”
• Shenqiu Wang, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
“Genetic Causes of B-cell Receptor Activation in Follicular Lymphoma”
2015 AACR-Millennium Fellowship in Multiple Myeloma Research
• Bruno Paiva, PhD, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
“Defining MRD and Stem Myeloma Clones to Understand Ultra-chemoresistance”
2016 AACR-Takeda Oncology Fellowships in Lymphoma Research
• Matthew Frank, MD, PhD, Stanford University, Stanford, California
“A Novel Bispecific Antibody for the Treatment of B-cell Lymphoma”
• Hsia-Yuan Ying, PhD, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York
“Mutational Cooperativity of CREBBP and KMT2D in B-cell Lymphoma”
2016 AACR-Takeda Oncology Fellowships in Multiple Myeloma Research
• Neelam Bhardwaj, PhD, University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City
“Generation of a Monoclonal Antibody Against VISTA for the Immunomodulatory Therapy of Multiple Myeloma”
• Barbara Castella, PhD, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
“Targeting Immune Inhibitory Pathways in the Bone Marrow of Myeloma Patients”
2016 Debbie’s Dream Foundation-AACR Gastric Cancer Research Fellowship
• Holly A. Martinson, PhD, University of Alaska Anchorage
“Discovering Biomarkers for Early Detection and Treatment of Gastric Cancer”
2016 Never Too Young Coalition-AACR Fellowship in Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Research, supported by the Colon Cancer Alliance
• Tatianna C. Larman, MD, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
“Exploiting a Common Metabolic Susceptibility in Early-onset Sporadic CRC”
2016 Never Too Young Coalition-AACR Fellowship in Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Research, supported by Michael's Mission and the Colon Cancer Alliance
• Sarah B. Stringfield, MD, University of California, San Diego
“Young-onset Colorectal Cancer - A Virally Mediated Process?”
Translational Cancer Research Award:
2016 AACR-Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Young Investigator Translational Cancer Research Award
• Julia Carnevale, MD, University of California, San Francisco
“New Treatments for Pancreatic Cancer with Homologous Recombination Defects”
Career Development Awards:
2016 AACR-Aflac, Inc. Career Development Award for Pediatric Cancer Research
• Birgit Knoechel, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston
“Mechanisms of Enhancer Rewiring in Drug Resistant T-ALL”
2015 AACR-Genentech BioOncology Career Development Award for Cancer Research on the HER Family Pathway
• Christine M. Lovly, MD, PhD, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
“Novel and Therapeutically Actionable EGFR Rearrangements in Lung Cancer”
2016 AACR-Incyte Corporation Career Development Award for Pancreatic Cancer Research
• Laura DeLong Wood, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
“Investigation of Genetic Heterogeneity in Pancreatic Cancer Precursors”
2016 AACR-Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation-Carol’s Crusade for a Cure Foundation Career Development Award for Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer Research
• Christina Curtis, PhD, MSc, Stanford University, Stanford, California
“Delineating the Dynamics of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Metastasis”
2016 Breast Cancer Research Foundation-AACR Career Development Awards for Translational Breast Cancer Research
• Brooke M. Emerling, PhD, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, California
“Targeting PI5P4K for Triple Negative Breast Cancer Therapy”
• Wenqi Wang, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
“Targeting the Hippo-YAP Pathway for Breast Cancer Treatment”
2016 Debbie’s Dream Foundation-AACR Career Development Award for Gastric Cancer Research
• Elise S. Demitrack, PhD, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
“Mechanisms of Wnt Activation in FAP Gastric Polyps and Gastric Cancer”
Independent Investigator Awards:
2015 Kure It-AACR Research Grant for Immunotherapy in Kidney Cancer
• Eliezer M. Van Allen, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston
“Response Predictors to PD-1/PD-L1 Inhibitors in Renal Cell Carcinoma”
2016 Kure It-AACR Research Grant for Immunotherapy in Kidney Cancer
• Anna Meseguer, PhD, Vall D'Hebron University Hospital Research Institute, Barcelona
“Could TIM-1 Constitute a New Target for Renal Carcinoma Immunotherapy?”
2016 Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation-AACR Grant
• Xianxin Hua, MD, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
“Targeting Neuroendocrine Tumors by Suppressing a Cell-surface Protease”
