$1.6 Million in cancer research grants were awarded.

Ten researchers were awarded a total of $1.6 million in grants by the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) at the group’s Twelfth Annual Lung Cancer Awareness Luncheon held on November 1^st in New York. The annual awards cover a range of research topics including improving the understanding of lung cancer biology and the genetic and diagnostic tools to identify new treatment pathways. In a statement at the luncheon, LCRF’s Executive Director Nancy M. Sanford, reminded guests that lung cancer remains the number one cause of cancer death worldwide, and reflected that it is also the most underfunded, relative to other cancers. "We are proud to be the largest charity dedicated to funding lung cancer research,” she said, “and are confident that LCRF's investigators are moving the needle in the fight against this deadly disease."

Although all 2017 grant recipients’ research program’s merited their awards, the LCRF highlights particularly promising work with its Scientific Merit Award and the William C. Rippe Award for Distinguished Research in Lung Cancer.

Presented to the investigator whose proposal is selected for outstanding overall merit by LCRF's Scientific Advisory Board, this year’s The Scientific Merit Award was given to Nikhil Joshi, Assistant Professor at Yale Medicine’s Department of Immunobiology for his project titled, "Investigating anti-tumor T cell function in autochthonous models of lung adenocarcinoma."

"This is the second time I've been fortunate enough to have support from LCRF for my research,” said Joshi, “and it's been essential for my ability to do research in this area. I'm excited that we're in a good position to start figuring out what immune cells [do in lung cancer] and why they don't work without help."

The William C. Rippe Award for Distinguished Research in Lung Cancer is presented for projects with both exceptional scientific merit and that exemplify an enduring commitment to lung cancer research excellence. Assistant Professor within the Department of Medicine and Assistant Director of the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University, Christopher Maher was named the 2017’s award recipient for "Understanding the regulatory roles of long non-coding RNAs in lung cancer."

"I am very grateful to receive support from LCRF to accelerate our lung cancer research," said Maher. "This funding will enable us to understand how a tumor spreads throughout the body to ultimately guide the development of better treatments." According to LCRF, program grants provide up to $150,000 over a two-year funding period and that in 2017 the organization received 172 applications representing 103 institutions from 16 countries.