We are pleased to announce the awardees of the 2017 Walther Cancer Foundation Cancer Cure Venture (CCV) and Interdisciplinary Interface Training Program (IITP) grants. The overall goals of the CCV funding mechanism is to stimulate novel multi-disciplinary integrative cancer research, seed collaborative interactions between at least 2 scientific fields, provide cross-disciplinary training environment for post-doctoral fellows, and generate high quality preliminary data for extramural application. The IITP funding mechanism aims to establish cancer-focused integrative interdisciplinary training environment, provide 2 years of support for highly qualified and productive applicants, and demonstrate efficacy of this training model to support future NIH T32 application.  

CCV AWARDEES:

Collaborators: Siyuan Zhang, Nancy Dee Assistant Professor of Cancer Research, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences; Pinar Zorlutuna, Assistant Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Project Title: An Aging-mimicking Breast-on-Chip (ABoc) for Studying the Effect of Aged Microenvironment on Breast Cancer Progression

Collaborators: Xin Lu, John M. and Mary Jo Boler Assistant Professor Department of Biological Sciences; Matt Webber, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Project Title: Novel Antibody-Drug Conjugates for Personalized Therapy of Lethal Prostate Cancer

IITP AWARDEES: 

Student: Marwa Asem

Mentors: Sharon Stack, Ann F. Dunne and Elizabeth Riley Director of Harper Cancer Research Institute, Kleiderer-Pezold Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry; Matt Ravosa, Professor of Biological Sciences, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and Anthropology; Pinar Zorlutuna, Assistant Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Project Title: Intra-peritoneal Mechanobiology and Tumor:Host Crosstalk in Ovarian Cancer

Student: Austin Boucher

Mentors: Richard Dahl, Assistant Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Indiana University School of Medicine; Karen Cowden-Dahl, Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Indiana University School of Medicine; Ryan Roeder, Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Bioengineering Graduate Program

Project Title: Targeting miRNAs to Combat Immune Suppression in Cancer

Student: Angela Poffengerger

Mentors: Brian Baker, Department Chair of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Brandon Ashfeld, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Chemistry and Biochemistry; Caroline Le Poole, Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at Loyola Univeristy Chicago

Project Title: Structural Characterization of Vitiligo Associated T-Cell Receptor: Towards the Development of Improved Melanoma Immunotherapy

Student: Casey Stefanski

Mentors: Jenifer Prosperi, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Indiana University School of Medicine; Matt Webber, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Project Title: Doxorubicin-loaded Nanoparticles for Treatment in Chemoresistant Breast Cancer Cells