APRIL 30, 2020
Grants Awarded 

Extramurally funded research grants awarded to Rogel Cancer Center members

Program Key:
CB - Cancer Biology; CG - Cancer Genetics; CHI - Cancer Hematopoiesis and Immunology; DT - Developmental Therapeutics; HBO - Health Behavior and Outcomes; CEP - Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention; TACR - Translational and Clinical Research
In the spotlight
From Translational and Clinical Research
Partnering primary investigators, Sofia Merajver, M.D., Ph.D., and Goutham Narla, M.D., Ph.D., received two inter-programmatic Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program Breakthrough Awards. The three year awards, totaling $2.3M, study the therapeutic reactivation of the PP2A tumor suppressor for breast cancer treatment.
From Cancer Biology
The National Institutes of Health awarded $2.6M multi-PI grant to Andrzej Dlugosz, M.D., and Monique Verhaegen, Ph.D., for studies that will yield new insights into the molecular basis of Merkel Cell Carcinoma and validate a much-needed mouse model of MCC.

Christopher Halbrook, Ph.D., a mentee of Costas Lyssiotis, Ph.D., earned an NIH K99 grant for his work on disrupting macrophage metabolism to reduce immunosuppression and enhance therapy in pancreatic cancer.

$100K+ Grants Awarded in March
NCI

Joshi Alumkal, M.D. : P50 SubK [Overall PI: Peter Nelson (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)] ($132K) “Targeting Emerging Vulnerabilities in AR-Independent Prostate Cancer” (DT)

Tomasz Cierpicki, Ph.D. : R01 ($2.1M) "Targeting epigenetic reader GAS41" (DT)

Howard Crawford, Ph.D. : R01 ($2.4M) "Metaplastic Tuft Cells in Pancreatic Cancer" (CB)

Meredith Morgan, Ph.D. : R01 ($2.3M) "Targeting the DNA damage response in combination with radiation to induce innate immunity and improve immunotherapy efficacy in pancreatic cancer" (DT)
Other External

Marcin Cieslik, Ph.D. : $150K from Bristol-Myers Squibb for “Identification of novel therapeutic vulnerabilities across immunophenotypes of refractory and metastatic tumors” (CB)

Qing Li, MD, Ph.D. : $150K Bridge Grant from the American Society of Hematology for “The role of ER associated degradation (ERAD) in hematopoietic stem cells” (CHI)

Costas Lyssiotis, Ph.D. : $200K SubK from Cornell University (Prime Sponsor: The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research) for “Malic enzyme dependence is a therapeutic vulnerability in pancreatic cancer” (CB)

Duxin Sun, Ph.D. : $423K from NanoMedicine Innovation Center LLC. for "Drug optimization altering tissue targeting to improve efficacy/safety" (DT)

Duxin Sun, Ph.D. : $369K from NanoMedicine Innovation Center LLC. for "Nanoformulations of anticancer drugs to eliminate cancer stem cells" (DT)
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