METAvivor Research and Support Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for stage IV metastatic breast cancer, announced twelve grant awards totaling $1,650,000.
These research grants are focused on metastatic breast cancer. Since its founding in 2009, METAvivor has put 100% of donations into its peer-reviewed research grant program.
This is the eighth annual grant cycle funded by METAvivor, and this year, METAvivor is awarding grants from two award programs.
The newly established Young Investigator Award program is focused on funding grants for early career metastatic breast cancer researchers, while our standard awards program, now named the Translational Research Award, has changed to increase the amount of funding granted to $200,000 per grant for 2017.
METAvivor also announced the Kristin Keydel Endowment for Metastatic Breast Cancer Research Award and the Quinn-Davis Northwest Arkansas METSquerade Award. The grants named for donors and generous anonymous donors have helped METAvivor fund more exceptional research in 2017.
Following are the METAvivor 2017 grant recipients:
METAvivor Young Investigative Awards
Katherine Cook, assistant professor, Wake Forest University: “Dietary considerations effecting lung metastatic therapeutic responsiveness and co-morbidities.”
Joshua Donaldson, fellow in oncology, Johns Hopkins University: “Resistance mechanisms to palbociclib in hormone positive metastatic breast cancer”
David Soto-Pantoja, assistant professor, Wake Forest School of Medicine: “Anti-CD47 Immunotherapy as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer”
The Kristin Keydel Endowment for Metastatic Breast Cancer Research presents
Gina Sizemore, postdoctoral fellow, Ohio State University: “Targeting novel tumor-stroma interactions in breast cancer brain metastases”
Rebecca Watters, research assistant professor, University of Pittsburgh: “Discovery of Clinically Actionable Genes in Breast Cancer Bone Metastases”
Research awards
Diana Cittelly, assistant professor, University of Colorado: “Targeting BDNF/TrkB in brain metastases from young women with TNBC “
Michael Flister, assistant professor, Medical College of Wisconsin: “Personalized therapy for curing metastatic breast cancer”
Melanie Hayden-Gephart, assistant professor, Stanford University: “Halting the Progression of Breast Cancer Leptomeningeal Brain Metastases”
The Quinn-Davis Northwest Arkansas Metsquerade presents
Cheryl Jorcyk, director of clinical/translational research, Boise State University: “High impact therapeutic for the elimination of breast cancer metastasis to bone”
James McIntyre, research professor of radiology and radiological sciences, VUMC Nashville: “A Novel Self-Reporting Paclitaxel Prodrug without Systemic Neurotoxicity: Preclinical Assessment for Targeted Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer“
Vivek Mittal, professor, Weill Cornell Medicine: “Targeting epigenetic regulator PRC2 as a therapy for established metastasis”
Partha Roy, Professor of Bioengineering, Cell Biology, and Pathology, University of Pittsburgh: “Pharmacological inhibition of myocardin-family proteins as a novel strategy to combat metastatic breast cancer”
