Grantee Archive

Research Funding Impact

Since 1993, the AACR has awarded more than $540 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.

A Mechanosensitive Hormone Signaling Pathway Increases Breast Cancer Risk

Jason Northey, PhD, recipient of the 2015 AACR Basic Cancer Research Fellowship and 2017 AACR-Janssen Fellowship in Cancer Interception Research, and his colleagues uncovered how a stiff extracellular matrix, such as that observed in high mammographic density breast tissue, promotes ERK activity, progesterone receptor-dependent RANK signaling, and increased stemness, pointing to a potential benefit of RANK signaling inhibition as an anti-cancer treatment and prevention strategy.

Category: Grantee Impact

Learn More

From Biomarkers to Clinical Trials: A Decade Long Partnership Funds Innovative Research to Combat Ocular Melanoma

Just over ten years ago, the AACR and the Ocular Melanoma Foundation (OMF) began a partnership dedicated to funding research to find a cure for ocular melanoma. Although a rare disease, uveal melanoma is the most common ocular cancer in adults with a poor long-term prognosis. The ten-year history of the AACR-OMF Grants Program is a clear example of the power of partnership in combating cancer.

Category: Grants News

Learn More

A Predoctoral Fellow Shares His Journey to Target the “Undruggable”

Raymond E. Moellering, PhD, a recipient of the 2008 AACR Centennial Predoctoral Fellowship in Cancer Research, shared how the grant given to him by the AACR as a doctoral candidate encouraged him to work at the interface of chemistry, biology, and cancer.

Category: Grantee Story

Cancer Knows No Bounds, and Neither Should Equitable Cancer Research or Treatment

Yuanyuan Fu, PhD, discussed the impact of receiving the 2022 AACR-Merck Cancer Disparities Fellowship on her career and research on colorectal cancer disparities in Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders.

Category: Grantee Story

Learn More

H. Pylori Infection Alters the Trajectory of Gastric Cancer Beyond Initiation

Valerie O’Brien, PhD, recipient of the 2018 Debbie’s Dream Foundation-AACR Gastric Cancer Research Fellowship, in memory of Sally Mandel, and her colleagues discovered a precancerous gastric epithelium cell type whose expansion is driven by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (Hp), a bacterium that colonizes the stomach of half the world’s population.

Category: Grantee Impact

Learn More

AACR Grantees Share their Findings

We are extremely proud of our past and present grantees who presented and published their findings this past year. Their accomplishments have been made possible through the support of the AACR and its funding partners.

Category: Grantee News

Learn More

NCI Director Shares Impact of AACR Grants on Her Research and Career

W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, formerly of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and now director of the National Cancer Institute, shares the impact on her career and her research of two AACR-supported research grants that she received during her academic career.

Category: Grantee Story

Learn More

Celebrating 30 Years of Impact Across the Globe

As we continue our celebration of 30 years of impact of the AACR Research Grants Program, we share how recipient of a 2022 Victoria’s Secret Global Fund for Women’s Cancers Career Development Award, in partnership with Pelotonia and the AACR, Chemtai Mungo, MD, MPH is seeking to make a difference in the lives of women from low and middle-income countries.

Category: Grantee Story

Remodeling of the Tumor Microenvironment in Ewing Sarcoma

Emma Wrenn, PhD, recipient of the 2022 AACR-QuadW Foundation Sarcoma Research Fellowship, in memory of Willie Tichenor and her colleagues recently uncovered a mechanism by which rare sub-populations of tumor cells expressing low levels of EWS::FLI1 remodel the tumor microenvironment in Ewing Sarcoma.

Category: Grantee Impact

Learn More

Celebrating 30 Years of Impact: From AACR Grant to AACR Award

As we continue our celebration of 30 years of impact of the AACR Research Grants Program, we feature recipient of the 2022 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Basic Cancer Research, Dr. Christina Curtis. Dr. Curtis shares the impact of her AACR Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) Foundation / Carol’s Crusade for a Cure Foundation Career Development Award on her research.

Category: Grantee Story

Learn more