AACR Grants and Awards

Johnson & Johnson Grants Support Lung Cancer Research

In 2018, Johnson & Johnson announced the largest pharmaceutical partner gift ever given to the AACR, $4.86 million, to fund three AACR-Johnson & Johnson Lung Cancer Innovation Science Grants. 

The grant recipients are:

James V. DeGregori, PhD, professor at the University of Colorado Denver, and Tullia Bruno, PhD, research assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The team will focus on deciphering the role of microenvironment-mediated clonal evolution in lung adenocarcinoma. Watch this video of Drs. Bruno and DeGregori discussing their grant project. 

Elizabeth A. Platz, ScD, professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Dominique S. Michaud, ScD, professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, and Karl T. Kelsey, MD, professor of epidemiology at Brown University. The team will look at improving early detection of lung cancer by identifying candidate immune markers. Watch this video of Drs. Michaud, Platz, and Kelsey discussing their grant project. 

John V. Heymach, MD, PhD, associate professor, and Jianjun Zhang, MD, PhD, assistant professor, both from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Harvey I. Pass, MD, professor of cardiothoracic surgery at New York University Langone Medical Center (not shown). The team will work on advancing understanding of immunogenomic and microbiota evolution from premalignancy to lung cancer. Watch this video of Drs. Zhang and Heymach discussing their grant project. 

This year, Johnson & Johnson renewed its commitment to support breakthrough cancer science by funding two new team science grants at $1 million each. The AACR will offer the grants to support lung cancer prevention research. 

AACR-Bayer START Grants Offer Academic and Industry Experience

AACR-Bayer Stimulating Therapeutic Advancements through Research Training (START) Grants advance innovative mentored research training by allowing postdoctoral and clinical fellows to conduct groundbreaking research for two years in an academic research lab and for a year at Bayer under the guidance of a dedicated industry mentor. Each fellowship provides a grant of $225,000.

Mark Labrecque, PhD, senior fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle, and Shyamal Subramanyam, PhD, research fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, have been selected as the recipients of the inaugural AACR-Bayer START Grants. Dr. Labrecque will evaluate the combination of FGF receptor inhibitors and androgen suppression in treating men with androgen receptor (AR)-expressing castration-resistant prostate cancer. Watch this video of Dr. Labrecque discussing his grant project. Dr. Subramanyam will seek to determine the role of CHK2 phosphorylation on BRCA1 in DNA end resection, which could lead to the identification of new therapeutic avenues in cancer treatment. Watch this video of Dr. Subramanyam discussing his grant project.

The grant term begins July 2019.