Stand Up To Cancer announced the award of $7.5 million in Innovative Research Grants focused on immuno-oncology to 10 early-career scientists, in a program funded by a grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
The awards are part of SU2C’s overall IRG program, which has provided funding to 36 early-career scientists in three classes thus far (in 2009, 2011, and 2016), in an effort to support outstanding members in the rising generation of cancer researchers.
The 2017 class is unique in that funds are being provided by BMS through a grant to SU2C, and applicants were asked to focus on some aspect of immuno-oncology. The process of selecting grantees was conducted by the IRGC, with the assistance of AACR, and was independent of BMS.
From its inception in 2008, SU2C has been committed to creating opportunities for early-career researchers. Its model for the IRGs was designed specifically to support work that utilizes new ideas and approaches to solve critical problems in cancer research.
Traditionally, the projects most likely to be funded in the oncology field are those with a demonstrable expectation of success, which means that some of the research has to be done before an investigator can submit a proposal. SU2C’s IRG program is one of the few opportunities for young scientists to receive funding for cancer research that does not have a “proof of concept” data requirement.
These innovative IRG-funded projects are characterized as “high-risk” because they challenge existing paradigms, and, if successful, the projects have the potential for “high-reward” in terms of saving lives. The 2017 class of immuno-oncology Innovative Research Grant recipients and their proposals are:
Daniel Bachovchin, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, “Harnessing Dipeptidyl Peptidase Inhibition for Cancer Immunotherapy”
David Barrett, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, “Rescuing T-Cell Function for Immunotherapy of Pediatric Malignancies”
Gregory Beatty, University of Pennsylvania, “Targeting the Pro-Metastatic Niche in the Liver for Cancer Immunotherapy”
Marie Bleakley, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, “T-Cell Immunotherapy for Core Binding Factor Acute Myeloid Leukemia”
Michael Farwell, University of Pennsylvania, “Imaging CAR T Cells with a Dual Function PET Reporter Gene”
Rizwan Haq, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, “Identifying and Targeting Mechanisms of Resistance to Immunotherapy”
Meenakshi Hegde, Baylor College of Medicine, “Reworking Negative Receptor Signals for Improved Anti-Glioma T-cell Therapy”
Marcela Maus, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center/Harvard Medical School, “Potentiating Novel Engineered Cellular Therapies for Solid Tumors”
Jennifer Wargo, MD Anderson Cancer Center, “Delineating the Role of the Microbiome in Modulating Tumor and Host Immunity”
John Wilson, Vanderbilt University, “Reprogramming Tumor Immunogenicity with STING-Activating Nanoparticles”
The term of the grants begins July 1 and runs for three years. The scientists will report their progress twice yearly to SU2C and the AACR, which organized the application and review process, and will administer the grants.
