“These investments enable research in critical areas of immunology by early career investigators and leaders to hopefully bring ground-breaking therapies to those fighting cancer,” said SITC President Patrick Hwu, MD.
MILWAUKEE (PRWEB)
August 10, 2021
The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Forward Fund is pleased to announce the recipients of five fellowships and two technology awards, which support the next generation of cancer immunotherapy and tumor immunology experts through dedicated funding of novel research. These awards are financially supported through the Forward Fund, which was established by SITC in 2012 to stimulate the future of science, development and application of cancer immunology and immunotherapy through financially supporting its education and research.
This year’s fellowships include:
-
SITC-Bristol Myers Squibb Postdoctoral Cancer Immunotherapy Translational Fellowship - a two-year, $200,000 award
- SITC-Amgen Cancer Immunotherapy in Hematologic Malignancies Fellowship
- a one-year, $100,000 award
- SITC-AstraZeneca Immunotherapy in Lung Cancer Clinical Fellowship
- a one-year, $100,000 award
- SITC-Nektar Therapeutics Equity and Inclusion in Cancer Immunotherapy Fellowship
- a one-year, $50,000 award
- 2021 NCI Immunotherapy Fellowship – (Co-Sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and SITC, made possible in part by an educational grant from EMD Serono) exposure to multiple clinical immunotherapeutic approaches and also to key opinion leaders in the field of clinical immunotherapy
This year’s technology awards include:
- SITC-Akoya Spatial Phenotyping Award
- access to Akoya’s Opal MOTiF™ immuno-oncology panels and the Vectra® Polaris
- SITC-NanoString Technologies Spatial Profiling Award
- access to NanoString Technologies’ GeoMx® Digital Spatial Profiler (DSP)
SITC’s Forward Fund, established to advance important new findings from the laboratory into clinical trials, has committed more than $5 million in funding to deserving early career scientists in the field of cancer immunotherapy.
“Providing these valuable fellowships and awards is made possible by the generosity of our industry partners,” said SITC President Patrick Hwu, MD. “These investments enable research in critical areas of immunology by early career investigators and leaders to hopefully bring ground-breaking therapies to those fighting cancer.”
The 2021 SITC Fellowships recipients are:
SITC-Bristol Myers Squibb Postdoctoral Cancer Immunotherapy Translational Fellowship
Awardee: Karlo Perica, MD, PhD
Institution: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Project Title: “Allogeneic CAR T Cell Therapy: Overcoming Host-Versus-Graft Immunity”
Award Amount: $200,000 (two-year)
SITC-Amgen Cancer Immunotherapy in Hematologic Malignancies Fellowship
Awardee: Benjamin Goldenson, MD, PhD
Institution: University of California, San Diego
Project Title: “Chimeric Antigen Receptor Natural Killer Cells for the Treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia”
Award Amount: $100,000 (one-year)
SITC-AstraZeneca Immunotherapy in Lung Cancer Clinical Fellowship
Awardee: Biagio Ricciuti, MD
Institution: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Project Title: “Dissecting the genomic correlates of response and acquired resistance to PD-(L)1 inhibition in non-small cell lung cancer”
Award Amount: $100,000 (one-year)
SITC-Nektar Therapeutics Equity and Inclusion in Cancer Immunotherapy Fellowship
Awardee: Elen Torres, PhD
Institution: Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Project Title: “The role of tumor cell-intrinsic Sox2 in the anti-tumor immune response in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)”
Award: $50,000 (one-year)
2021 NCI Immunotherapy Fellowship
Awardee: Nicholas Tschernia, MD
Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Award: Co-Sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and SITC, made possible in part by an educational grant from EMD Serono. This one-year program allows the fellow to have exposure to multiple clinical immunotherapeutic approaches and also to key opinion leaders in the field of clinical immunotherapy.
The 2021 SITC Technology Award recipients are:
SITC-Akoya Spatial Phenotyping Award
Awardee: Laura Donovan, PhD
Institution: University College London, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
Project Title: “The genomic and spatial hierarchy of primary and recurrent tumour ecosystems”
Award: Access Akoya’s Opal MOTiF™ immuno-oncology panels and the Vectra® Polaris whole-slide multiplex immunofluorescence platform.
SITC-NanoString Technologies Spatial Profiling Award
Awardee: Pauline Hamon, PhD
Institution: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Project Title: “Characterization of the molecular and spatial diversity of macrophages in HCC to resolve tumor resistance to immunotherapy”
Award: Access to NanoString Technologies’ GeoMx® Digital Spatial Profiler (DSP)
This year’s SITC Forward Fund Fellowships were made possible through the generosity of Amgen, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Nektar Therapeutics. This year’s Technology Awards were made possible through the generosity of Akoya and Nanostring Technologies. The fellowship and technology award recipients will be honored during a ceremony at the society’s 36th Annual Meeting, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
To learn more about current and past SITC Fellowship and Technology Award recipients, visit the society’s website, SITC Cancer Immunotherapy CONNECT.
About SITC
Established in 1984, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) is a nonprofit organization of medical professionals dedicated to improving cancer patient outcomes by advancing the development, science and application of cancer immunotherapy and tumor immunology. SITC is comprised of influential basic and translational scientists, practitioners, health care professionals, government leaders and industry professionals around the globe. Through educational initiatives that foster scientific exchange and collaboration among leaders in the field, SITC aims to one day make the word “cure” a reality for cancer patients everywhere. Learn more about SITC, our educational offerings and other resources at sitcancer.org and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.
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