The funding will support 24 research projects at seven Alabama institutions.
BCRFA media contact: Wright Wiggins Rouse
Media contact: Bob Shepard
The funding will support 24 research projects at seven Alabama institutions.The Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama today announced a total investment of $1,275,000 in breast cancer research in Alabama in 2022. The grants will fund 24 research projects at seven institutions across the state, including the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Auburn University, CerFlux, the Mitchell Cancer Institute at the University of South Alabama, Tuskegee University, the University of Alabama and the Hudson Alpha Institute for Biotechnology. This year’s grants bring BCRFA’s lifetime investment to nearly $14 million since 1996.
“With this year’s historic investment in research, the BCRFA is proud to continue our legacy of advancing breakthroughs in breast cancer throughout Alabama,” said Beth Davis, BCRFA President and CEO. “From advances in early detection to treatment options, BCRFA-funded research brings hope to the countless people affected by breast cancer – and ultimately saves lives.”
BCRFA dollars act as seed funding for early-stage trials, allowing researchers to generate the additional data needed to attract larger national funding. Many BCRFA-funded projects have later received multimillion-dollar national grants from the National Institutes of Health and others.
“The Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama has made notable investments in cancer research in our state, particularly by funding researchers and projects with significant potential to improve cancer outcomes,” said Barry P. Sleckman, MD, Ph.D., Director from the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. “The BCRFA has been an incredible partner and we are grateful for their support.”
The 2022 scholarship recipients include:
Auburn University (Auburn, AL)
Alexei F. Kisselev, MD, Highly Active Liposomal Formulation of the Proteasome Inhibitor Carfilzomib for the Treatment of TNBC
In partnership with the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL)
Robert D. Arnold, Ph.D., (Auburn University) and Yuping Bao, Ph.D., (University of Alabama): Carrier-Free Quercetin Nanoparticles for Overcoming Breast Cancer Drug Resistance
CerFlux (Birmingham, AL)
Karim Budhwani, Ph.D., and Chelsea Crawford, Ph.D., Putting the right treatment in the right patient by tailoring therapies to the patient’s pre-treatment biopsy
HudsonAlpha Institute of Biotechnology (Huntsville, AL)
Sara Cooper, Ph.D., Screening and Educating the Risk of Inherited Breast Cancer – Historically the Expansion of Black Colleges and Universities
Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, AL)
Deepa Bedi, MD, Ph.D. Cancer genomic study to characterize the genetic and epigenetic diversity of the immune landscape in triple-negative breast cancer in women of African descent
University of Alabama at Birmingham (Birmingham, AL)
Rita Aneja, MD, Assessing associations of rural and neighborhood disadvantage with racial disparity in breast cancer mortality among women in the state of Alabama
Smita Bhatia, MD, Predicting the risk of heart failure in breast cancer survivors
James Bibb, Ph.D., and Tika Benveniste, Ph.D.: Cellular and molecular basis of the neurological effects of chemotherapy
Anindya Dutta, Ph.D., FAM129B/NIBAN2 as a biomarker for NRF2 inhibitor therapy
Blake Eason Hildreth, III, Ph.D., Targeting CSF1R/PU.1 Signaling and PU.1 Superenhancer Regulation in Tumor Progression Across Breast Cancer Subtypes
Katia Khoury, MD, Phase II single-arm study of low-dose capecitabine in patients with advanced breast cancer
Jianmei Leavenworth, MD, Ph.D., Hijacking Axonogenesis to Promote Breast Cancer by a Subset of Regulatory T Cells
Catherine Parker, MD, Research Support for the Breast Surgery Fellowship
Amr Rafat: Elucidating the effects of hypoxia on ribosome biogenesis in breast cancer
Bin Ren, MD, Ph.D., and Lizhong Wang, MD, Ph.D., Unique Arteriolar Niche in Expansion of Breast Cancer Stem Cells for Metastasis
Rajeev Samant, Ph.D., Identification of HIF-1a Interactors in the Nucleolus of Breast Cancer Cells
Lalita Shevde, Ph.D., A Novel Clinically Actionable Approach to Preventing Recurrence and Metastasis of Triple Negative Breast Cancer
Keshav Singh, Ph.D., Intercellular mitochondrial trafficking as a novel mechanism in breast cancer progression and metastasis
Jia Xu, Ph.D., Development of a novel AKT degrader to selectively inhibit the growth of PI3K/AKT/PTEN pathway mutant breast cancer
Eddy Yang, MD, and Zhuo Zhang, MD, Ph.D., RNF2 Ablation Stimulates Durable NK-CD4+ T Cell-Dependent Anti-Tumor Immunity
Chao Zhang, MD, Ph.D., Chronic stress-regulated tumor neuroimmune network in triple-negative breast cancer
University of South Alabama Mitchell Cancer Institute (Mobile, AL)
Debanjan Chakroborty, Ph.D., WNK1, A novel regulator of metastatic breast cancer
Luis del Pozo-Yauner, MD, Ph.D. Contribution of PERK+ polyploid giant cancer cells to ethnic disparity of triple-negative breast cancer
Seema Singh, Ph.D., Impact of stress on the immune landscape and spatial heterogeneity of breast cancer
