2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Research Grants

In 2016, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network will invest $9.7 million in research, a 40 percent increase over last year’s investment. Of this total, $7.1 million has been awarded through our competitive Research Grants Program.

In total, we awarded 19 grants and two travel scholarships to 27 researchers at 20 institutions across the United States – representing the largest single year’s portfolio since our grants program was launched in 2003. Grant recipients include postdoctoral fellows, early-career independent investigators and senior researchers in the field. In addition, we are funding projects that range from studying fundamental biological features of the disease to conducting an advanced clinical trial, in addition to awarding a record-high eight Translational Research Grants that support the final, critical laboratory-based experiments needed before a hypothesis can be tested in patients.

This year, we introduced a new grant type, the Research Acceleration Network-2 Grant, which provides $2 million to a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional team conducting a phase 2 pancreatic cancer clinical trial. We also awarded two KRAS Fellowships and two new Travel Scholarships in partnership with the National Cancer Institute Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research. Eight early-career grants were administered in partnership with the American Association for Cancer Research this year.

grantee-Abel-98x98 2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network – AACR Pathway to Leadership Grant
Ethan Abel, PhD
University of Michigan
The Role and Regulation of HNF1A in Pancreatic Cancer Cells

2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Translational Research Grant
Pratip Bhattacharya, PhD
Co-PI: Florencia McAllister, MD
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Early Detection of PanIN by Hyperpolarized Metabolic MR Imaging

2016 Samuel Stroum – Pancreatic Cancer Action Network – NCI, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research KRAS Fellowship
Marco Biancucci, PhD
Northwestern University – Chicago Campus
Ras Inhibition by a Novel Bacterial Protease

2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Translational Research Grant
Erica Carpenter, MBA, PhD
Co-PI: Ben Stanger, MD, PhD
University of Pennsylvania
Real-time Monitoring of Exosomes as a Biomarker for Pancreatic Cancer

2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network – AACR Pathway to Leadership Grant
Rohit Chandwani, MD, PhD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
The Epigenetic Plasticity of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network – AACR Career Development Award (Grant funded by an anonymous foundation)
Shuibing Chen, PhD
Weill Cornell Medical College
Targeting Chemoresistant Stem Cells in Pancreatic Cancer

2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Translational Research Grant
Claudia Gravekamp, PhD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Co-PI: Jennifer Chuy, MD, Montefiore Medical Center
Improving Cancer Immunotherapy and Gemcitabine Sensitivity through Listeria

2016 Abby Sobrato – Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Translational Research Grant
Philip Greenberg, MD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Targeting PDA with T-Cells Engineered to Express a Mesothelin-Specific TCR

2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Translational Research Grant
William Hawkins, MD
Washington University in St. Louis
Targeting Tumor Infiltrating Myeloid Cells to Enhance Immunotherapy

2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Translational Research Grant
David Iannitti, MD, Carolinas Medical Center
Co-PI: Rafael Davalos, PhD, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Developing Next Generation IRE to Treat Pancreatic Cancer

2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network – NCI, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research KRAS Fellowship
Perry Kennedy, PhD
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Discovery of Small Molecules that Bind to and Inhibit Mutant K-Ras

2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Translational Research Grant
Ann Leen, PhD
Co-PI: William Fisher, MD
Baylor College of Medicine
T-Cell Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer

grantee-Lim-98x98 2016 Laurie MacCaskill – Pancreatic Cancer Action Network – AACR Career Development Award
Kian-Huat Lim, MD, PhD
Washington University in St. Louis
Deactivating the Innate Immune Defense Mechanism of Pancreatic Cancer

2016 The Shirley Sadoff – Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Research Acceleration Network-2 Grant
David Linehan, MD, University of Rochester
Co-PI: Brian Wolpin, MD, MPH, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Targeting Macrophages to Improve Chemotherapy in Metastatic Pancreas Cancer

2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network – NCI, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research KRAS Travel Scholarship
Bjoern Papke, PhD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Visualization of KRas Perturbations in 3-dimensional Pancreatic Organoids

2016 Skip Viragh – Pancreatic Cancer Action Network – AACR Career Development Award
Rushika Perera, PhD
University of California, San Francisco
Targeting Nutrient Scavenging Pathways That Fuel Pancreatic Cancer Growth

2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network – AACR Career Development Award (Grant funded by an anonymous foundation)
Amber Simpson, PhD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
CT Texture Analysis: A Radiomics Approach to Predicting Malignancy in IPMN

2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network – NCI, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research KRAS Travel Scholarship
Kamini Singh, PhD
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Targeting KRAS Protein Production in PDAC

2016 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Translational Research Grant
Aatur Singhi, MD, PhD
University of Pittsburgh
Diagnostic Markers of Malignant Transformation in Mucinous Pancreatic Cysts

2016 The Daniel and Janet Mordecai Foundation – Pancreatic Cancer Action Network – AACR Career Development Award
Christopher Vakoc, MD, PhD
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Enhancer Reprogramming as a Driver of Pancreatic Cancer Progression

2016 Carina Rogerson – Pancreatic Cancer Action Network – AACR Pathway to Leadership Grant
Wantong Yao, MD, PhD
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Syndecan-1 is a Novel Regulator for Nutrient Salvage Pathway