Since 1993, the AACR has awarded more than $542 million in grants to fund meritorious research projects across the spectrum of cancer science, including basic, translational, and clinical research. See how the AACR grants program has contributed to the AACR's mission.
Sarah Bohndiek, PhD, of the University of Cambridge. once thought she wanted to be an astrophysicist. She trained instead in radiation physics, and a grant from the AACR and Amgen helped her move into molecular imaging and early detection of cancer.
A grant from the AACR in 2000 helped Karlyne Reilly, PhD, launch her career in cancer research. She is now head of the Rare Tumor Initiative at the National Cancer Institute and works to involve scientists, patients, family members, advocates, and healthcare providers in the search for treatments for rare cancers.
Cachexia is a muscle-wasting syndrome that is commonly found in pancreatic and other cancer patients. A group led by 2017 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network-AACR Career Development Award recipient Jason D. Doles, PhD, identified Perp as a novel tumor promoter and mediator of cancer-associated muscle wasting.
The AACR-AstraZeneca Clinical Immuno-oncology Research Training Fellowship Program is designed to encourage exceptional clinical research by bridging close collaboration between academia and industry. 2020 grant recipient Justin A. Chen, shares his perspectives on the impact of the grant.
2019 AACR-Amgen Fellow, Julia Frede, PhD, reported in Nature Cell Biology, how treatment can induce the expression of a distinct set of actionable immunotherapy targets in multiple myeloma, such as CXCR4, which can be exploited to keep treatment resistance at bay.
For David A. Tuveson, MD, PhD, FAACR, a career development grant from the AACR initiated the development of a model to help understand one of the deadliest and most difficult-to-treat types of cancer.
At the start of his career, Sunil Hingorani, MD, PhD, now at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, had a life-altering experience in caring for a patient with pancreatic cancer. A grant from the AACR in 2005 led him into an investigation that changed his approach to the disease.
In 2008, an AACR Centennial Postdoctoral Fellowship Award enabled Heiko Enderling, PhD, to build a mathematical model that could explain some of the dynamics of cancer stem cells. This research yielded several other papers and helped Dr. Enderling compete for a position at Moffitt Cancer Center, where he currently serves as an Associate Professor, Integrated Mathematical Oncology, Radiation Oncology.
The AACR and Bayer have been collaborating since 2015 to support the most promising and innovative cancer-focused research through different grant mechanisms. This partnership has yielded significant fruits, as indicated in this article.
In 2003, Patrick Ma, MD, received the AACR-AstraZeneca-Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation fellowship and used it to study c-Met mutations in lung cancer and the therapeutic potential of targeting c-Met. He's now leader of the multidisciplinary thoracic oncology disease team at the Penn State Cancer Institute. Read how the AACR fellowship helped launch his career.