The AACR-AstraZeneca Stimulating Therapeutic Advances through Research Training (START) Grants represent an exciting initiative to encourage and support collaboration between academia and industry. The combined academic and industry training provided through this program will be invaluable to young investigators, allowing them to attain a comprehensive research experience.  Projects have direct applicability to cancer with a specific focus on DNA Damage Response (DDR) pathways.

2022 Grantee

Research

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive disease characterized by silent onset and diagnosis in advanced stages. Improved understanding of factors driving PDAC progression is required to identify novel therapeutic concepts that may impact patient outcomes. Screens in multiple models identified members of the COMPASS-like complex as critical mediators of DNA stability essential for PDAC maintenance. Dr. Citron aims to characterize genomic instability induced upon COMPASS-like complex silencing and to uncover the mechanisms that underlie the role of COMPASS-like complex to sustain PDAC tumor growth.

Biography

Dr. Citron obtained her Doctor of Pharmacy in 2014 and her doctorate in Molecular Biomedicine in 2018 at University of Trieste, Italy. Her doctoral research at CRO-Aviano NCI focused on the role of microRNAs as possible biomarkers in breast, and head and neck cancers. She then moved to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas where she is currently studying the role of chromatin modulators in maintaining DNA stability and shaping pancreatic cancer progression.

Acknowledgement of Support

“I am honored and grateful to receive the 2022 AACR-AstraZeneca Stimulating Therapeutic Advances through Research Training (START) Grant. This represents a milestone in my training that will support my eventual transition to independent research. This funding inspires me to fulfill my responsibility to patients and the research community to ask impactful questions to advance oncology practice.”

2020 Grantee

Research

In prostate cancer, adenocarcinoma cells can transdifferentiate into neuroendocrine cells upon treatment with androgen receptor-targeted therapies, leading to a highly aggressive and metastatic disease. Dr. Nunes de Almeida hypothesizes that DNA damage repair (DDR) genes drive this transdifferentiation. Thus, she aimed to investigate the role of DDR genes in prostate cancer progression by studying genetically engineered mouse models. In addition, she plans to develop a co-clinical analysis of candidate drugs predicted to function in patients with altered DDR genes. She anticipates that targeting DDR genes will reduce neuroendocrine transdifferentiation, improving the outcome of men with lethal prostate cancer.

Biography 

Dr. Nunes de Almeida completed her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at the University of Porto, Portugal and a master’s degree in Biology at Uppsala University, Sweden. In pursuit of her doctorate, she joined the MRC Laboratory for Molecular and Cell Biology at University College London, England, where she investigated the mechanisms that regulate epithelial cell polarity in Drosophila. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Irving Cancer Research Center at Columbia University, studying the role of DNA damage repair in lineage plasticity and treatment resistance in prostate cancer.

Acknowledgement of Support

“Receiving the 2020 AACR-AstraZeneca Stimulating Therapeutic Advances through Research Training (START) Grant is a unique opportunity to develop my postdoctoral project in an environment that fosters a culture of collaboration between industry and academia. I am truly honored and grateful for receiving this career-defining fellowship.”