Cancer Research

Amanda Linkous, research associate professor of pharmacology, has been awarded a research grant from the Merck Research Laboratories Scientific Engagement and Emerging Discovery Science (SEEDS) program to identify therapeutic intervention points to prevent the colonization and proliferation of small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer in the lung and brain. Read More

Research from the lab of Bill Tansey and other collaborators tested protein inhibitors called WINi against a panel of cancer cells and found that they have strong action against blood cancers and synergize with an FDA-approved cancer drug. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have developed a set of nanoparticles that stimulate the immune system in mice to fight cancer and may eventually do the same in humans. Read More

The study reported in the journal Nature provides a mechanistic explanation for the “obesity paradox” — that obesity can contribute to cancer progression but also improve response to immunotherapy. Read More

Researchers in the lab of Stephen Fesik, Orrin H. Ingram II Chair in Cancer Research, have added BI-0474 as the second molecule co-discovered by Vanderbilt to the open science portal opnMe.com, an initiative being driven by biopharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. Read More

Graduate student Hillary Layden studies transcriptional control of cancer in the lab of Scott Hiebert, Hortense B. Ingram Chair in Cancer Research and professor of biochemistry. She shares the results from her research in which she used a deep genomic analysis to determine how protein mutations influence gene expression to promote cancer progression. Read More

Ken Lau, professor of cell and developmental biology, and colleagues have laid out the principles governing the biology of early, precancerous lesions, which are different from the principles that govern cancers. Their authoritative perspective was published in Cancer Discovery in April 2024. Read More

Jennifer Pietenpol, Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and professor of biochemistry, is the 2024 recipient of the Science of Oncology Award, which is presented annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to basic or translational research in cancer. Read More

The A.B. Hancock Jr. Memorial Laboratory for Cancer Research in collaboration with the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center announced a funding opportunity to support a cancer-related project and investigator. The award provides $50,000 to any stage, tenure-track investigator to pursue a high-impact research project. The chosen investigator will also be named a Hancock Scholar Read More

The Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation has awarded a three-year grant to support research led by Houra Merrikh, PhD, professor of Biochemistry, and Ben Ho Park, MD, PhD, the Benjamin F. Byrd Jr. Professor of Oncology and director of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, to create an anti-evolution drug to reduce the capacity of cancer cells to develop resistance. Read More

Biomedical engineering graduate student Ismael Ortiz has been awarded a fellowship in the Ford Foundation Fellowship Programs competition administered at the Fellowships Office of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Ford Predoctoral Fellowships are highly competitive with a typical overall success rate of only 4% to 5%. Fellowships provide three years of support at... Read More

Ethan Lee, professor of cell and developmental biology and pharmacology, has been named a 2022 Innovation Fund investigator by The Pew Charitable Trusts.   Read More

Neuroblastoma is one of the most common—and lethal—forms of childhood cancer, accounting for 15 percent of pediatric cancer deaths each year. (Despite the name, neuroblastoma is not a form of brain cancer; it typically consists of tumors found in the abdomen, chest, neck, pelvis and bones.) Currently, children with neuroblastoma are treated with aggressive forms... Read More

Neuroblastoma is one of the most common—and lethal—forms of childhood cancer, accounting for 15 percent of pediatric cancer deaths each year. (Despite the name, neuroblastoma is not a form of brain cancer; it typically consists of tumors found in the abdomen, chest, neck, pelvis and bones.) Currently, children with neuroblastoma are treated with aggressive forms... Read More

Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering John Wilson has received a $3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop technology that seeks to boost a person’s immune system to better fight cancer. Read More

Mariana Byndloss, assistant professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology, and William Wan, assistant professor of biochemistry, have been named 2022 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences. The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust have selected Alexander Bick, assistant professor of genetic medicine, to join the 2022 class of Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research.  Read More

A collaborative project between William Tansey and Stephen Fesik has laid the foundation for pre-clinical and clinical trials for rare childhood tumors that are diagnosed in 25 children per year in the United States. Read More

A new data portal called Cancer-Immu established by a team of Vanderbilt University Medical Center biostatisticians can help cancer clinicians and researchers predict which patients will respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Read More

Stephen Fesik’s discovery of a cancer-targeting molecule has been made freely accessible through opnMe for global researchers to advance research into cancer therapeutics. Read More

A biomedical engineering professor has received a $1.9 million NIH grant to investigate the effects of mechanical stimuli such as shear stress on the behavior of cancer cells in blood flow. J. Lawrence Wilson Professor Mike King and his research group will develop the devices for the study as well as new cell lines to... Read More